CZU Lightning Complex fires
The CZU Lightning Complex fires were wildfires that burned in Northern California starting in August 2020. The fire complex consisted of fires in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, including fires that had previously been separately tracked as the Warnella and Waddell fires. The firefighting effort was primarily administered by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection  (Cal Fire). 

The fires started at 6:41 AM on August 16, 2020, the result of a thunderstorm that produced close to 11,000 bolts of lightning and started hundreds of fires throughout California. These lightning strikes initially started fires separately known as the Warnella Fire, near Davenport and the Waddell Fire, near Waddell Creek, as well as three fires on what would become the northern edge of the CZU Complex fire. Two days after the fires began, a change in wind conditions caused these three northern fires to rapidly expand and merge, growing quickly to over 40,000 acres.

The fires destroyed 7,567 buildings, including those in the communities of Boulder Creek, Bonny Doon, Swanton, and along Empire Grade Road. Fires burned in both Butano and Big Basin Redwoods state parks, where a number of historic buildings were destroyed, including the visitor's center at Big Basin.

On September 22, Cal Fire reported that the complex, which had covered , had been fully contained On December 23 Cal Fire announced that the fire was controlled, stating that the fire was fully extinguished and has no risk of reignition. 

The abbreviation "CZU" refers to the Cal Fire designation for its San Mateo–Santa Cruz Unit, the administrative division for San Mateo, Santa Cruz and San Francisco counties.

One person died in the fires, and one other was injured.
Q169950
wildfire
Concept
Q1066807
Northern California
LOC
Q108101
San Mateo
LOC
Q108122
Santa Cruz
LOC
None
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection 
UNK
Q3476179
Davenport
LOC
Q7958967
Waddell Creek
LOC
Q2195131
Boulder Creek
LOC
Q3476197
Bonny Doon
LOC
Q7653760
Swanton
LOC
Q5002355
Butano
LOC
Q3364021
Big Basin Redwoods
LOC
Q62
San Francisco
LOC
Q99214066
CZU Lightning Complex fires
LOC
2020-08-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
August 2020
DATE
2020-08-16T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
August 16, 2020
DATE
+6^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
6
NUMBER
+41^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
41
NUMBER
+22^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
22
NUMBER
+23^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
23
NUMBER
instance of
located in the administrative territorial entity
located in the administrative territorial entity
start time