CZU Lightning Complex fires

The CZU Lightning Complex fires were wildfires that burned in Northern California starting in August 2020. The fire complex consisted of fires in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, including fires that had previously been separately tracked as the Warnella and Waddell fires. The firefighting effort was primarily administered by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). The first fires started around 3:30 am on August 16, 2020, the result of a thunderstorm that produced close to 11,000 bolts of lightning and started hundreds of fires throughout California. These lightning strikes initially started fires separately known as the Warnella Fire, near Davenport and the Waddell Fire, near Waddell Creek, as well as three fires on what would become the northern edge of the CZU Complex fire. Two days after the fires began, a change in wind conditions caused these three northern fires to rapidly expand and merge, growing quickly to over 40,000 acres. The fires destroyed 1,490 buildings, including in the communities of Boulder Creek, Bonny Doon, Swanton, and along Empire Grade Road. Fires burned in both Butano and Big Basin Redwoods state parks, where a number of historic buildings were destroyed, including the visitor center at Big Basin. The fire also threatened to burn down the University of California, Santa Cruz campus, reaching within one mile of the campus before firefighters established two fire breaks that stopped the fire, saving both the University and the city of Santa Cruz. On September 22, Cal Fire reported that the complex, which had covered 86,509 acres (35,009 ha), had been fully contained. On December 23 Cal Fire announced that the fire was controlled, stating that the fire was fully extinguished and has no risk of reignition. However, it was later discovered that the fire was not quite completely extinguished;...