Lightning Fire Update and Fire Prevention Reminder from the Shasta-Trinity National Forest

Forest Service News Release

Redding, Calif., August 1, 2025 — Recent thunderstorms across the Shasta-Trinity National Forest prompted a wide-ranging response from the forest’s firefighting crews, engaging 22 wildfires going back to July 25.

Storms that passed through the forest over the past 48 hours produced frequent lightning strikes – 913 in total. Since July 25 numerous storms have produced nearly 3,332 lightning strikes in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest alone and over 31,754 in the north state. 

Fortunately, these storms have been generally wet, with moderate to heavy rainfall. Even so, lightning from these storms caused numerous wildfires to ignite.

The Forest Service planned for this, ensuring that staffing and resources were ready to engage any new fires that emerged following the storms.

“We closely monitored the weather and we increased our resource availability and staffed our stations appropriately for the threat of thunderstorms,” said Kevin Osborne, fire management officer for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. “Over the last week, the increased availability of resources and longer staffing hours led to highly effective initial attack success.”

Firefighters are engaged in full-suppression efforts to respond to these incidents. Of the 22 wildfire incidents that came with these storms, 20 are either contained or out. All this was accomplished on the heels of storms that caused nearly 30 fires – including the 19,022-acre Green Fire – that started between June 30 and July 2.

Forest Service crews are patrolling the forest, looking for any new fires that could emerge from past lightning strikes. Fires can start hours or even days after a lightning event.

The Forest Service is asking the public to please avoid areas where crews are working. Your cooperation helps firefighters contain these fires quickly and safely.

The public is also asked to refrain from any activities that could start a new fire.

“As we move into the peak of our fire season, I would reiterate the potential for human-caused ignitions will increase,” said Alex McBath, deputy fire management officer for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. “I’d like to remind our public to be vigilant when recreating in our national forest and driving along our roadways to ensure that all safety precautions are being made.”

Campfires should not be left unattended and must be fully extinguished before campers leave their campsites. Drivers should make sure they are not dragging chains and that the tires on their vehicles and trailers are properly inflated.

“One less spark is one less wildfire,” McBath said.

For more information on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/shasta-trinity or go to the forest’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ShastaTrinityNF.

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