Wildfires called the LNU Lightning Complex fires burning around the North Bay have now burned more than 300,000 acres as of Friday night, making it the second-largest fire in California history and one of many burning around the Bay Area following a series of lightning strikes last weekend.
The estimated size of the fires burning in Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Lake and Yolo counties as of late Friday was 302,388 acres, behind only the Mendocino Complex fires that burned more than 459,000 acres in 2018. The LNU Lightning Complex fires are only 15 percent contained, Cal Fire said.
Four people have died in the fires, three from Napa County and one from Solano County, and four other people were injured. The fires have destroyed 480 structures, damaged 125 others, and 30,500 structures remain threatened, according to Cal Fire.
The state agency's incident update Friday night described multiple fires on the north side of Lake Berryessa merging into the Hennessey Fire -- the largest of the LNU Complex fires at 256,102 acres -- and spreading into large areas of timber.
The Walbridge Fire raging in Sonoma County and threatening the Russian River communities of Guerneville and Rio Nido and, to the northeast, Healdsburg, are the second-largest in the complex of fires, burning more than 43,000 acres.
A list of areas under evacuation orders and warnings, as well as where evacuees can go and other information about the LNU Lightning Complex fires, is available from Cal Fire at https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/17/lnu-lightning-complex-includes-hennessey-gamble-15-10-spanish-markley-13-4-11-16-walbridge/.
