Valley Fire

Wildfire in Lake, Sonoma and Napa counties, September 2015

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Printed October 28, 2026 from www.firezones.info/fire/7480/valley-fire-2015

Key facts

Started September 12, 2015
Contained October 6, 2015, after 24 days
Burned 76,085 acres
2nd largest fire of 2015 and 80th largest in California's records
Cause Not recorded
Buildings 1,985 destroyed, 61 damaged
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Where it burned

Counties

  1. Lake County 71,080 acres
  2. Sonoma County 3,725 acres
  3. Napa County 1,277 acres

Communities

  1. Hidden Valley Lake 3,603 acres
  2. Cobb 2,306 acres
  3. Middletown 1,093 acres

Acres are the land the fire burned in each county and community, and places where it burned less than an acre are not listed. Communities are cities, towns and the unincorporated places the Census Bureau names, so land outside any of them is counted only in its county.

Buildings damaged

  1. Destroyed Over 50% damaged 1,985
  2. Major damage 25 to 50% damaged 13
  3. Minor damage 10 to 25% damaged 17
  4. Affected Up to 10% damaged 31

Buildings CAL FIRE inspected after the fire, by how badly each was damaged. Inspectors record homes, businesses and outbuildings within 100 meters of the fire, and cannot always reach every one, so the counts can differ slightly from other reports.

The same land, other fires

Burned before

  1. 1947 Unnamed fire 6,398 acres shared
  2. 1947 Unnamed fire 8,462 acres in total 5,786 acres shared
  3. 1950 Seigler Canyon Fire 7,243 acres in total 1,200 acres shared
  4. 1951 Whispering Pine Fire 1,612 acres shared
  5. 1951 Geo. Snyder Fire 629 acres shared
  6. 1951 Mary Bowcher Fire 3,447 acres in total 1,905 acres shared
  7. 1952 Mirabel Springs Fire 731 acres in total 418 acres shared
  8. 1952 Dx Hunting Club Fire 3,450 acres in total 112 acres shared
  9. 1955 Harbin Springs #2 Fire 408 acres shared
  10. 1962 Widow Creek Fire 10,327 acres in total 1,124 acres shared
  11. 1966 Howard Fire 755 acres shared
  12. 1976 Yankee Valley Fire 1,588 acres in total 285 acres shared
  13. 1979 Seigler Fire 1,225 acres in total 657 acres shared
  14. 1985 Hidden Valley Fire 1,032 acres in total 630 acres shared
  15. 1991 Geysers Fire 5,771 acres in total 1,583 acres shared
  16. 2000 Hidden Fire 3,960 acres in total · Cause: Equipment use 3,596 acres shared
  17. 2004 Geysers Fire 12,244 acres in total · Cause: Equipment use 664 acres shared
  18. 2012 Twenty_nine Fire 314 acres in total · Cause: Power lines 203 acres shared

Burned again

  1. 2019 Kincade Fire 77,762 acres in total · Cause: Power lines 850 acres shared
  2. 2020 Hennessey Fire 305,352 acres in total · Cause: Lightning 3,639 acres shared

And 8 more fires that burned less of the same land. Acres are the land each fire shares with the Valley Fire, and fires that shared less than an acre are not counted. Some older or smaller fires may be missing, and a fire perimeter can include unburned patches. How to read fire history

Sources

Fire history
CAL FIRE Fire and Resource Assessment Program
Published 28 July 2026
Building damage
CAL FIRE Damage Inspection
Updated 19 October 2026

This site is independent and not affiliated with CAL FIRE or the CPUC, so for an official determination, check with the agency or your city or county. How we read the data