The Happy Camp Complex Fire was a massive

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

that broke out on August 12, 2014, at 1:00 AM PDT, as a result of a

lightning strike A lightning strike or lightning bolt is a lightning event in which an electric discharge takes place between the atmosphere and the ground. Most originate in a cumulonimbus cloud and terminate on the ground, called cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning ...

s in the

Klamath National Forest Klamath National Forest is a United States National Forest, national forest, in the Klamath Mountains and Cascade Range, located in Siskiyou County, California, Siskiyou County in northern California, but with a tiny extension (1.5 percent of th ...

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

. The fire, which would eventually consume of land, was the largest fire of the 2014 California wildfire season and as of 2018, ranks 20th on the list of largest fires in state history.

Progression

During the first couple of weeks, the wildfire gradually expanded to . However, during the following 4 weeks, the wildfire quickly spread to by September 19, making the Happy Camp Complex the largest wildfire of the 2014 California wildfire season. The wildfire also ignited smaller spot fires to the northwest of the main fire, all the way up to a couple miles of the California-Oregon border. By September 21, the fire complex had reached 80% containment. On September 22, the Happy Camp Complex expanded to , but the containment remained at 85%. During the next 2 weeks, the Happy Camp Complex gradually increased in size, reaching on September 27; however, the containment of the fire complex also reached 97% on the same day. On October 31, the Happy Camp Complex was finally extinguished by precipitation from a

winter storm A winter storm (also known as snow storm) is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental and subarct ...

that was moving through California. The total cost of suppressing the Happy Camp Complex was estimated by the

National Interagency Fire Center The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho, is an American physical facility which is the home to the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) and the National Multi-Agency Coordination Group (NMAC or MAC). The center w ...

at $88.2 million.

References

External links

* {{2014 California wildfires 2014 California wildfires Wildfires in Siskiyou County, California Klamath National Forest August 2014 in the United States September 2014 in the United States October 2014 in the United States

Progression

See also

References

External links