California wildfires scorched 525,000 acres in 2025. See biggest blazes

The Golden State weathered 8,013 wildfires in 2025, including the destructive Palisades Fire in Southern California, fire officials reported.

In all, California wildfires blackened 525,223 acres, killed 31 people and burned 16,512 structures in the past year, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

Those statistics cover only fires managed by the agency and do not include blazes handled by local agencies or the U.S. Forest Service.

While the Palisades Fire near Los Angeles killed 12 people and destroyed 973 structures in January, it wasn’t the largest wildfire in California in 2025. The Gifford Fire near San Luis Obispo burned 131,614 acres in August.

The Palisades Fire ranks fifth on the list of top wildfires in the state by size in 2025, scorching 23,488 acres.

Wildfires in California burned 1,049,963 acres in 2024, Cal Fire said. Over the past five years, wildfires scorched an average of 1.4 million acres a year in the state.

The number of wildfires in California remained about the same from 2024 to 2025, a slight uptick over the 5-year average of about 7,000 blazes per year.

Here are the top wildfires as ranked by Cal Fire by acreage burned:

Gifford Fire

The Gifford Fire in the Los Padres National Forest in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties blackened 131,614 acres, injured three civilians and 15 firefighters, and burned three structures, Cal Fire said.

The fire broke out on Aug. 1 and was declared contained on Sept. 28. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

“This whole region is very fire prone, and these fires could have happened any other year” Los Padres Forest Watch conservation director Bryant Baker told The San Luis Obispo Tribune. “As you get later in the dry season, these places are just inherently flammable because they have low vegetation moisture.”

Scant rainfall over the previous winter dried out vegetation, making it extremely flammable.

The steep, rugged terrain with few roads also complicated efforts to stop the blaze.

Madre Fire

The Madre Fire, also in San Luis Obispo County, burned 80,779 acres, injured two firefighters and destroyed one structure. The fire broke out July 2 and was contained 24 days later.

The cause of the wildfire remains under investigation, Cal Fire said.

Garnet Fire

The Garnet Fire, in Fresno County, scorched 60,263 acres. Lightning sparked the blaze Aug. 24 and it took 32 days to contain.

Salt 14-2 Fire

The Salt 14-2 Fire in Fresno and Monterey counties burned 25,580 acres. The cause of the blaze, which began Sept. 2, remains under investigation. It took 10 days to contain.

Palisades Fire

The Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County blackened 23,448 acres, killed 12 civilians, injured one firefighter, and destroyed 6,837 structures.

The arson blaze began Jan. 7 and took 24 days to contain.

The fire erupted in the Pacific Palisades community in the Santa Monica Mountains, spreading rapidly to engulf entire neighborhoods and prompt tens of thousands of evacuations, KNBC reported.

The Eaton Fire, which began at almost the same time in another part of Los Angeles County, burned 14,201 acres and killed 19 people before being contained on Jan. 31.

This story was originally published January 7, 2026 at 10:14 AM.