In the early morning hours of Sunday, August 16 through Monday, August 17, a series of highly unusual thunderstorms rolled through most of northern California, which came from the moisture of the diminishing
Tropical Storm Fausto. With these thunderstorms came a reported 10,849 lightning strikes that – within a 72-hour period – sparked 376 known fires across much of the state.
Monday, August 17 Early on Monday, August 17, at around 6:40 am PDT a spot fire was reported burning in the 60 block of Hennessey Ridge Road near
Lake Hennessey which was initially dubbed the 14-3 Fire but then later named the Hennessey Fire. The incident was reported alongside several other fires nearby. These included the Gamble Fire, which began burning in an area off Berryessa Knoxville Road north of
Lake Berryessa and west of
State Route 16; the Spanish Fire, which was burning near Spanish Flat; the 15-10 Fire, burning near Putah Bridge; and the Markley Fire, near
Monticello Dam. Resources to fight these fires were scarce due to the high number of other fires burning throughout California at the time. Because of this, the fires were not suppressed during their most critical early phases, and by the evening of that day, the multiple conflagrations sizes were all ranging between 1,000 and 8,000 acres with 0% containment for each fire. Air attack reported additional spot fires beginning to flare up due to the deteriorating weather conditions, as at least 20 to 30 new fires ignited by lightning the day prior were discovered. One of those ignitions was the actively expanding Walbridge Fire (then the 13-4 Fire) that had started in rugged hills north of the
Austin Creek State Recreation Area of
Sonoma County. Evacuation warnings were put in place for the rural area in the hills between
Healdsburg and
Stewarts Point as the fire burned virtually unchecked. Evacuations orders that initially were put in place for roads near the Hennessey Fire off of Hennessey Ridge Road and Highway 128 and along Chiles Pope Valley Road and Lower Chiles Valley Road began to expand for much of the surrounding Lake Berryessa area as the fire and multiple other conflagrations effectively exploded in size in that area. These mandatory evacuations were put in place for the
Berryessa Highlands and Spanish Flat areas as the fires rapidly raged towards those communities. By 11:30 pm, the Hennessey Fire was seen still burning at a critical to dangerous rate of spread as the massive conflagration had traveled 13 miles to the southeast scorching the Vaca Mountains and rolled down the canyons towards the city of
Fairfield and
Vacaville. This dangerous fire spread spurred additional mandatory evacuations for north Fairfield and northwest Vacaville as the fireline made its way down Mix Canyon Road to Pleasants Valley Road and proceeded to destroy hundreds of structures in areas to the west and north of the cities.
September In September, fire activity decreased significantly within the complex, as firefighters brought most of the fire complex under control. By mid-September, only the Hennessey and Walbridge Fires were still burning within the complex. On October 2, 2020, CAL FIRE reported that the entire complex had been extinguished. ==Fires==