Mendocino Complex: California’s Largest Wildfire

The 2018 Ranch and River fires in Northern California are known jointly as the Mendocino Complex fire, the largest wildfire since reliable record-keeping in California began in 1932. The July image was taken the day before the fires broke out. (The reddish burn scar visible in that image is from the Pawnee fire of late June 2018.) Under hot, dry, windy conditions, the Ranch and River fires spread rapidly, burning more than 328,000 acres by the time of the August image and some 459,000 acres in all. Images taken by Landsat 8. Source: U.S. Geological Survey’s National Land Imaging Image Collections and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE).