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Fires Continue to Burn Through the Bay Area, Leaving at Least 5 Dead

Updates on the the LNU, SCU and CZU Lightning complexes, the three sets of massive lighting-sparked blazes raging in and around the Bay Area
Lisa Pickoff-WhiteMatthew Green
Tyrone Clark sprays water on the roof of Boulder Creek American Gas to attempt to protect it from wildfire embers on Thursday Aug. 20. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

Smoke continues to blanket the Bay Area after a record-breaking heat wave and lightning strikes sparked hundreds of fires burning throughout California.

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Cal Fire and local law enforcement officials have so far reported the deaths of five people in the fire, including three in Napa County and two in Solano County. Among them was a PG&E worker helping fire crews near Vacaville clear downed electrical infrastructure who was found unresponsive in his vehicle Wednesday and pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly thereafter.

Latest Developments

When separate fires are burning near each other Cal Fire often dubs them “complexes.” There are three such massive groups of fires currently burning in and around the Bay Area:

  • LNU Lightning Complex: Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Yolo, Lake counties (including the Hennessey, Gamble, Walbridge, Meyers and Green fires)
  • SCU Lightning Complex: Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus counties (including fires in the Deer, Calaveras and Canyon zones)
  • CZU August Lightning Complex: San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties (including the Warnella, Waddell fires)

LNU Lightning Complex

Click on each of the following links to see each county’s evacuation updates: Napa County, Solano County, Lake County, Yolo County and Sonoma County.


The LNU complex of fires, ignited by lightning strikes in Napa early Monday morning, consists of seven separate blazes raging across five different counties, including Sonoma, Napa, Solano and small sections of Yolo and Lake counties. By Friday, the fire complex had grown exponentially to more than 302,000 acres, nearly quadrupling in size in just two days, making it the 10th largest group of fires in state history, Cal Fire reported. So far, the blazes have claimed the lives of five people and destroyed nearly 500 homes and other buildings, while continuing to threaten 30,500 more structures. The fires were 15% contained as of Friday evening.

SCU Complex

The SCU Lightning Complex is approximately 20 separate fires broken into three zones: the Canyon, Calaveras Zone and Deer zones. As of Friday evening, the fires had collectively burned 274,968 acres — the seventh largest complex in California history — and were 10% contained, Cal Fire said. The blazes are largely burning in steep, rugged terrain in mostly less populous areas across Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, and have led to some evacuation orders, mainly near San Jose, with four injuries reported. The fires have so far destroyed five structures and threaten more than 20,000 others.

CZU Lightning Complex

The CZU August Lightning Complex consists of multiple smaller lightning-sparked fires in the Santa Cruz mountains that merged into a massive blaze in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties, forcing more than 77,000 residents to evacuate, including the entire UC Santa Cruz campus. As of Saturday morning, the fires had burned 63,000 acres and were 5% contained.

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