KNP Complex Fire

KNP Complex Fire
Firefighters monitor a low-intensity burnout operation in a giant sequoia grove
Date(s)	September 9, 2021 (2021-09-09) – December 16, 2021 (2021-12-16) (99 days)
Location	Sequoia National Park, Tulare County, California, United States
Coordinates	36°34′01″N 118°48′40″W / 36.567°N 118.811°W / 36.567; -118.811[1]
Statistics
Burned area	88,307 acres (35,737 ha; 138 sq mi; 357 km2)
Impacts
Non-fatal injuries	≥5
Evacuated	≥659
Structures destroyed	4
Damage	$170 million (cost of suppression)
Ignition
Cause	Lightning
Map
The majority of the KNP Complex Fire lay within the footprint of Sequoia National Park
The fire burned in Tulare County, on the Sierra Nevada's western slope

The 2021 KNP Complex Fire was a large wildfire in Sequoia National Park and the Sequoia National Forest in Central California's Tulare County. After lightning ignited the Paradise and Colony fires in the southern Sierra Nevada on September 9, the twin blazes combined into the Complex and burned a total of 88,307 acres (35,737 hectares). The fire was not declared contained until mid-December, after several atmospheric rivers delivered rain and snow to the mountains. The number of firefighting personnel reached more than 2,000 and firefighting costs surpassed $170 million.

The KNP Complex forced the communities of Three Rivers, Wilsonia, and Cedar Grove to evacuate, and caused the temporary closure of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks while damaging roads, trails, and cabins within. The fire also heavily impacted the endangered giant sequoia, which grows in less than a hundred natural groves in the western Sierra Nevada. National Park Service scientists calculated that the KNP Complex Fire killed roughly 1,300–2,400 large giant sequoias (hundreds more died in the Windy Fire in the Sequoia National Forest, which burned contemporaneously). The fires are estimated to have killed three to five percent of the total population of large giant sequoias.