SQF Complex
The SQF Complex fire—also called the SQF Lightning Complex—was a wildfire complex that burned in Tulare County in Central California in 2020. Comprising the Castle and Shotgun fires, it affected Sequoia National Forest and adjacent areas. Both fires began on August 19, 2020, and burned a combined total of 175,019 acres (70,828 hectares) before the complex as a whole was declared 100 percent contained on January 7, 2021. In the course of the fires, 232 structures were destroyed. There were no fatalities.
| SQF Complex fire Part of the August 2020 California lightning siege | |
|---|---|
Fire near Cedar Slope on September 15, 2020 | |
| Location | Tulare County, California, United States |
| Coordinates | 36.255°N 118.497°W |
| Statistics | |
| Total fires | 2 |
| Total area | 174,178 acres (70,487 ha) |
| Cost | $122.3 million |
| Date(s) | August 19, 2020 - January 5, 2021 |
| Cause | Lightning |
| Buildings destroyed | 228 |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 17 |
| Evacuated | >3,000 |
| Map | |
Location in California | |
The Castle and Shotgun fires were both begun by lightning, part of a 'siege' of hundreds of wildfires caused by dry thunderstorms across California in mid-August 2020. The lightning siege contributed to California's largest wildfire season, by burned acreage, ever recorded. The Castle Fire is notable for its devastating effects on native sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) groves in the southern Sierra Nevada. It is estimated to have caused the death of 10–14 percent of the native large sequoia population there. While the SQF Complex consisted of the two fires together, the Castle Fire was responsible for nearly all of the burned acreage.