Talk:List of California wildfires

Which fires should we list?

I think we should develop some guidelines about which wildfires we list on this page. There are hundreds of wildfires in California every year, a significant number of which go into extended attack. Listing every single extended attack fire would quickly drive this list beyond any manageable size. NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 03:45, 11 September 2013 (UTC)

There are different ways to create criteria for this list. The common selection criteria include listing only those fires that are (or can potentially be) Wikipedia articles. We would then use the general notability guidelines, such as appearing in multiple secondary sources.

Or, we can set up our own criteria. This is a little tricky, because there are multiple reasons why a fire should be on the list. It could be size (Rim Fire), structures destroyed (1923 Berkeley Fire), or firefighter fatalities (Rattlesnake Fire). We could establish thresholds for each of these (20000 acres? 100 structures? 5 fatalities?). I don't know if we can come up with satisfactory criteria. —hike395 (talk) 13:23, 11 September 2013 (UTC)

I have an issue with all the fires of this October being lumped together as one fire. If we do this, then all the fires of the lightning sieges of 1977 and 2008 should be combined also. Most of the fires this October were separate fires only connected by region, the winds (to a point) and possibly the cause. Thoughts? BigWhiteFireDog (talk) 14:49, 21 October 2017 (UTC)

The list of notable fires is missing the second largest fire recorded in California, which is the Cedar Fire of 2003. Also, I agree with the the previous comment that if fires are lumped together then the Old/Grand Prix fore of 203 would rank much higher. It depends on the definition of a fire, it is a land mass affected by fire or a named fire, even if it merges with other fires into a complex. It depends whether the purpose is to focus on impacts or ignition source. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.176.14.201 (talk) 00:45, 25 December 2017 (UTC)

As well as the Onion and Megram fires out in Weaverville. As a child I remember the smoke was so thick in my hometown, my grandmother and I had to spend several weeks in San Diego to escape the smoke. Hundreds of others in the northernmost region had to head south as well. The air was so thick with smoke.

Pitifully the internet seems to have nearly forgotten about these fires, despite a cumulative 82,000 acres burned between the 3 of them, actoss nearly 3 months. It started in August and didn't quit until October. 68.185.8.170 (talk) 02:40, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

Huge 1970 file Newhall to Malibu not listed: Would rank #2 on list of largest fires at 435,000 acres. The Region's Worst Fires, LA Times, July 02, 1985. Any reason why this is this not on list? Ttulinsky 03:36, 11 November 2018 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ttulinsky (talk • contribs)

This seems to have been added with the above reference and this second reference SCVHistory.com. The above reference does not contain a fire name, however the other one does have quite a bit more information. Specifically, it states that the "20 mile wall of flame" was from the Clampitt fire and Wright fire merging. The first fire burned 107,103 acres and the second burned 27,925 acres making the merged total approximately 135,000 acres. The Clampitt fire was the largest fire in LA County until Station surpassed it. I suggest that the newspaper article contains a typo and this newly named "Simi fire" needs to be removed. Both of these sources are secondary at best anyway. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.111.10.171 (talk) 02:17, 14 November 2018 (UTC)

I think especially given the number of other articles covering fires from 1970 that omit any reference to a Simi Fire, and unanamously refer to the 175,425 acre Laguna fire as the largest fire. I would think we should take CalFire's list of largest fires as the authoritative list. I am going to be bold and remove the Simi entry. 75.85.182.42 (talk) 06:27, 14 November 2018 (UTC)

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Dixie now the largest?

Politico is now reporting that the Dixie Fire has grown to the "largest single wildfire in state history". Is this correct, and helpful for our purposes? AllegedlyHuman (talk) 16:23, 7 August 2021 (UTC)

Why aren't all the largest fires in the Notable Fires table?

I'm curious about the "Notable Fires" table. What is its purpose? Is it supposed to be notable fires not mentioned in other tables on the page? If it's supposed to be all notable fires, then why doesn't it include the largest fires such as the August Complex, since by definition the very large fires are also notable? Is this just an omission or lack of updating? Thanks! Chrisspurgeon (talk) 19:59, 19 October 2021 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, the "notable fires" tables was just a random subset of fires with articles in WP. Given that there was no criterion from a reliable source which governs whether a fire belonged in the table, I just removed the entire table. — hike395 (talk) 02:17, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

Is there another article about California fires that is independent of the year, and is not a list?

This article is specifically a list of fires in California.

Wikipedia also has articles about California fires by year, such as 2021 California wildfires.

I found this article, and I think it would be useful in a general article about California wildfires, without it being a list of fires, or limited to any one year. Is there such an article where this link could be cited as a source?

Thanks for your help.

54mmkds (talk) 23:39, 29 January 2022 (UTC)