Rush Fire

Rush Fire
Date(s)
  • August 12, 2012 (2012-08-12) –
  • August 30, 2012 (2012-08-30)
LocationLassen County, California
Washoe County, Nevada
Coordinates40°37′16″N 120°09′07″W / 40.621°N 120.152°W / 40.621; -120.152
Statistics[1][2]
Burned area315,577 acres (1,280 km2)
  • 271,911 acres (1,100 km2) in CA
  • 43,686 acres (177 km2) in NV
Impacts
Structures destroyed1
Ignition
CauseLightning

The Rush Fire was the largest wildfire of the 2012 California wildfire season.[3] The fire, which started in Lassen County, California, eventually spread into Washoe County, Nevada. The fire consumed a total of 315,577 acres (490 sq mi; 1,280 km2) of sagebrush, of which 271,991 acres (1,100 km2; 420 sq mi) were in California.[1] At the time, the burn area in California made the Rush Fire the second-largest wildfire in California since 1932 (when accurate area estimates became available).[1] In December 2017, the Thomas Fire surpassed the Rush Fire to become the second-largest wildfire in modern California history, in terms of the area burned in California.[4][5] In mid-August 2018, the Ranch Fire in the Mendocino Complex Fire surpassed the total acreage of the Rush Fire in both California and Nevada.[6]

The fire destroyed important habitat for the greater sage-grouse, as well as a single barn.[7] On August 30, 2012, the Rush Fire was 100% contained.[2]

  1. ^ a b c "Rush Fire". Inciweb. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-09-01.
  2. ^ a b "Rush Fire". CAL FIRE. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  3. ^ "Large Fires 2012" (PDF). CAL FIRE. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  4. ^ "Thomas Fire: InciWeb Incident Information Systems". InciWeb. December 19, 2017. Archived from the original on June 1, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
  5. ^ Hailey Branson-Potts; Nicole Santa Cruz (December 20, 2017). "The Thomas fire is now the second largest in modern California history". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 20, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  6. ^ Chris Wilson; David Johnson; Jennifer Calfas (16 August 2018). "California's Massive Wildfires Are Nearly 10 Times the Size of San Francisco". Time. Archived from the original on August 17, 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  7. ^ "Rush fire consumes 205,000 acres, one barn". Lassen County Times. 2012-08-17.