Creek Fire climbs the ranks among biggest California wildfires as it tops 280,000 acres
Note: This story has been updated with acreage figures as of Tuesday morning.
It started on Sept. 4, on the eve of the Labor Day weekend. In just over two weeks, the Creek Fire now has burned more than 280,000 acres in the Sierra National Forest in eastern Fresno and Madera counties, and continues to climb the ranks of big, historic California wildfires.
As of Tuesday morning, the fire that erupted near Big Creek, wedged in the forest between Shaver and Huntington lakes, was estimated at 283,724 acres. That ranks it sixth among the biggest wildfires to burn in California since modern records started to be kept in the early 1930s.
It has also become the 17th most destructive wildfire in California history, destroying 855 structures, according to Cal Fire.
Fire crews from across the western U.S. have managed to build containment lines around about 30% of the fire’s perimeter. But the remaining 70% of the fire area that is not contained means there’s still the potential for it to keep growing in the tinder-dry forest.
On Monday, the Creek Fire ranked seventh and was about 1,500 acres shy of overtaking the 2017 Thomas Fire, which burned in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties and previously occupied the No. 6 spot on the list.
The Creek Fire and the SQF Complex fire, about 70 miles to the south in the Sequoia National Forest of eastern Tulare County, are among 10 fires of at least 100,000 acres currently burning across California.
They include:
- The August Complex, which has burned more than 878,000 acres in Mendocino and Humboldt counties since it started Aug. 17.
- The SCU Lightning Complex, which started Aug. 18 and has burned almost 397,000 acres in Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.
- The LNU Lightning Complex, which has burned more than 363,000 acres in Napa, Sonoma, Lake, Yolo and Solano counties since it began on Aug. 17.
- The North Complex, which began Aug. 17 and has burned almost 300,000 acres in Plumas and Butte counties.
- The Creek Fire, which started Sept. 4 and has burned almost 284,000 acres in eastern Fresno and Madera counties.
- The Slater and Devil fires, which together have burned almost 149,000 acres in Siskiyou County and into southern Oregon since it began on Sept. 8.
- The SQF Complex, which began burning on Aug. 19 and has burned more than 141,000 acres in eastern Tulare County.
- The Dolan Fire, which has burned more than 128,000 acres in Monterey County since it began on Aug. 18.
- The Bobcat Fire, which began Sept. 6 and has burned almost 110,000 acres in the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County.
- The Red Salmon Complex, which has burned almost 105,000 acres in Humboldt County since it began on Aug. 18.
Cal Fire reports that there have been almost 8,000 wildfires across California so far in 2020, burning more than 3.6 million acres, destroying more than 7,100 structures or homes, and claiming 26 lives.
This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
