Where are wildfires burning in Northern California? See updates
A wildfire in Shasta County is 95% contained one month after lightning triggered a blaze that has charred nearly 30 square miles, according to a U.S. Forest Service update Friday.
The Green Fire was only smoldering deep inside its perimeter, the update said, as 359 firefighters continued to work toward containing it fully. The Forest Service reported the fire at 19,022 acres.
The fire sparked July 1 due to thunderstorms and lightning, according to a federal wildfire tracking website. Thunderstorms were forecast again for Sunday, the Forest Service said.
Here are other updates on Northern California wildfires.
Orleans Complex fire
The Orleans Complex fire spanning Del Norte and Siskiyou counties was 80% contained, according to a Friday update from firefighting agencies. The cluster of fires started July 8 and, since early Thursday morning, includes the Big Cliff Fire, an uncontained blaze that has spread to 247 acres.
The entire Orleans Complex has affected 21,421 acres — more than 33 square miles — according to fire officials.
The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday it was removing evacuation warnings from certain areas of the Orleans Complex due to firefighters’ progress in suppressing the burning.
A hotshot firefighter responding to the Orleans Complex last month suffered significant injuries when a tree abruptly fell. El Cariso Hotshots firefighter Renzo Reginato was left with a broken tibia and fibula and a traumatic spinal injury, a GoFundMe page supporting him said.
“Renzo has dedicated himself to the grueling and selfless work of firefighting,” wrote his sister-in-law Morgan Reginato. “He trained, sacrificed, and showed up every day to protect lives and communities. Now he needs our support.”
Shasta-Trinity lightning strikes
Firefighter have in recent days confronted a slew of smaller fires resulting from lightning strikes in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, the Forest Service said in a news release Friday.
Thunderstorms caused 913 lightning strikes in a 48-hour period, the news release said. Although the storms included significant rainfall, the lightning generated 22 “wildfire incidents,” of which 20 were already contained or out, according to the Forest Service.
“We closely monitored the weather and we increased our resource availability and staffed our stations appropriately for the threat of thunderstorms,” Kevin Osborne, the Shasta-Trinity National Forest’s fire management officer, said in a statement in the news release.
“Over the last week, the increased availability of resources and longer staffing hours led to highly effective initial attack success,” he added.
Gifford Fire
The blaze in the Los Padres National Forest in southern San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties had burned 23,588 acres by Saturday and remained only 5% contained, according to the Forest Service. The wildfire was actively burning in dense brush on both sides of Highway 166 and had prompted new evacuation orders in zones northeast of Santa Maria.
Highway 166 was closed from Highway 101 to New Cuyama, and authorities said the closure was expected to continue indefinitely. The blaze began as multiple vegetation fires on Friday, just west of the recent Madre Fire burn scar. The terrain and heavy fuels made suppression difficult, fire officials said.
An air quality alert was issued for the Cuyama area, and the National Weather Service warned of continued hot, dry, and gusty conditions over the weekend, with temperatures near 98 degrees and winds up to 25 mph.
A regional Type 3 strike team from the Sacramento area was deployed by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to assist. The team includes equipment and personnel from the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District and departments from Sacramento city, the Cosumnes Community Service District, West Sacramento and Manteca, officials from Metro Fire said Saturday.
This story was originally published August 1, 2025 at 4:05 PM.
