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How do they name wildfires? Where “Park Fire,” “Nixon Fire” and others come from
How the largest wildfires of the year — including the Park Fire — get their names comes down to simple geography. But not all incidents are easy to map.
There are 16 active major firefights in California as of Aug. 1, according to Cal Fire’s incident map. More than a half-dozen wildfires are also active in Colorado.
Nearly all of those fires have quickly identifiable names – like the Park Fire, which started off of Upper Park Road in Upper Bidwell Park east of the city of Chico, and the Nixon Fire, which spread from Richard Nixon Boulevard in the Aguanga area.
The 2018 Camp Fire in California that killed 85 people was named after Camp Creek Road, the first road that firefighters took to get to the flames.
That simple naming convention is key, fire officials say.
Who decides on the names of wildfires?
As detailed by the National Interagency Coordination Center, most wildland fires are named by first responders to the scene, who rely on a nearby landmark or street to simplify locating and expediting the initial attack on a blaze.
This convention has led to some memorable names, such as the 2014 Butts Fire near Lake Berryessa that was named after Butts Canyon Road. Two people were killed in that incident.
As seen on Cal Fire’s list of currently active incidents, sometimes several fires are grouped together as a “complex” incident.
The 2024 SQF Lightning Complex Fire burning in Tulare County is made up of three smaller fires: the Borel, Trout and Long incidents. These kinds of incidents were caused by lightning strikes that led to several fire starts over a large area.
Notably, the largest wildfire in recorded California history was a lightning-caused incident: 2020’s August Complex Fire that burned parts of Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Tehama, Trinity and Shasta counties. That wildfire, which saw several fires merge, totaled 1,032,648 acres burned.
The 2024 Park Fire has grown to be California’s fifth-largest wildfire.
When did they start naming wildfires?
Reliable fire records didn’t start being kept in California until after the 1930s. Still, some experts rank one major incident from the 1800s among the top 10 largest wildfires ever in the state: the 1889 Santiago Canyon Fire.
Exact acreage numbers affected by the Santiago Canyon Fire aren’t known, but it’s believed to have burned around 300,000 acres in Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties.
All other wildfires among the top 10 largest ever in California date back just to 2017.
U.S. and European law enforcement agencies are working together to investigate whether incendiary devices detonated in July at DHL logistics hubs in Germany and the U.K. were part of a larger operation directed by Russian Intelligence services (in particular, the GRU — Russian military intelligence), the highest level of the Russian government or by outside individuals acting in the interests of Russia, a source familiar with the matter said.
Officials are working to determine whether the larger operation was to place similar devices on aircraft servicing the U.S. and U.S. allies. The Wall Street Journal first reported the alleged plot targeting U.S. aircraft.
The 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment published at the end of October said the U.S. continues to be concerned about threats to the aviation and air cargo systems, including the “potential use of the air cargo supply chain to ship concealed dangerous and potentially deadly items.”
DHL said in a statement that it was aware “of two recent incidents involving shipments in our network. We are fully cooperating with the relevant authorities to protect our people, our network and our customers’ shipments.”
“We continually adjust our security posture as appropriate and promptly share any and all relevant information with our industry partners, to include requirements and recommendations that help them reduce risk,” the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.
“Over the past several months, as part of a multi-layered security approach, TSA worked with industry partners to put additional security measures for U.S. aircraft operators and foreign air carriers regarding certain cargo shipments bound for the United States, in line with the 2021 TSA Air Cargo Security Roadmap,” the TSA’s statement continued.
The FBI declined to comment.
contributed to this report.
Boeing’s 33,000 unionized machinists on Wednesday voted to approve the plane manufacturer’s latest contract offer, ending a seven-week strike that had halted production of most of the company’s passenger planes.
The union said 59% voted to accept the contract. Members have the option of returning to work as soon as Wednesday, but must be back at work by Tuesday, November 12, the union said in a statement.
Union leaders had strongly urged members to ratify the latest proposal, which would boost wages by 38% over the four-year life of the contract, up from a proposed increase of 35% that members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) had rejected last month.
The revised deal also provides a $12,000 cash bonus to hourly workers and increased contributions to retirement savings plans. The enhanced offer doesn’t address a key sticking point in the contentious talks — restoration of pensions — but Boeing would raise its contributions to employee 401K plans.
Average annual pay for machinists, now $75,608, would climb to $119,309 in four years under the current offer, Boeing said.
The vote came after IAM members in September and October rejected lesser offers by the Seattle-based aerospace giant.
“In every negotiation and strike, there is a point where we have extracted everything we can in bargaining and by withholding our labor,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers stated last week in backing Boeing’s revised offer. “We are at that point now and risk a regressive or lesser offer in the future.”
Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su has played an active role in the negotiations, after recently helping to end a days-long walkout that briefly closed East and Gulf Coast ports.
The Boeing strike that began on Sept. 13 marked the latest setback for the manufacturing giant, which has been the focus of multiple federal probes after a door plug blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The incident revived concerns about the safety of the aircraft after two crashed within five months in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.
Boeing in July agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for deceiving regulators who approved the 737 Max.
During the strike, Boeing was unable to produce any new 737 aircraft, which are made at the company’s assembly plants in the Seattle area. One major Boeing jet, the 787 Dreamliner, is manufactured at a nonunion factory in South Carolina.
The company last month reported a third-quarter loss of $6.1 billion.
contributed to this report.
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