Nuns Fire

Wildfire in Sonoma and Napa counties, October 2017

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Printed October 28, 2026 from www.firezones.info/fire/7755/nuns-fire-2017

Key facts

Started October 8, 2017
Contained October 31, 2017, after 23 days
Burned 55,798 acres
6th largest fire of 2017
Cause Not recorded
Buildings 1,324 destroyed, 153 damaged
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Where it burned

Counties

  1. Sonoma County 35,818 acres
  2. Napa County 19,981 acres

Communities

  1. Kenwood 1,278 acres
  2. Glen Ellen 332 acres
  3. Santa Rosa 265 acres
  4. Napa 9 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 1,324
  2. Major damage 25 to 50% damaged 14
  3. Minor damage 10 to 25% damaged 27
  4. Affected Up to 10% damaged 112

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. 1945 Unnamed fire 888 acres in total 397 acres shared
  2. 1945 Unnamed fire 500 acres in total 117 acres shared
  3. 1946 Unnamed fire 782 acres in total 746 acres shared
  4. 1954 W. Grothe Fire 344 acres in total 107 acres shared
  5. 1964 Nuns Canyon Fire 9,808 acres in total 7,852 acres shared
  6. 1965 Unnamed fire 8,446 acres in total 3,267 acres shared
  7. 1966 Unnamed fire 499 acres in total 415 acres shared
  8. 1972 Arrowhead Fire 485 acres in total 476 acres shared
  9. 1980 Gehricke Fire 540 acres in total 482 acres shared
  10. 1996 Pg&E #8 Fire 2,107 acres shared

Burned again

  1. 2020 Arrow Fire Cause: Equipment use 7 acres shared
  2. 2020 Glass Fire 67,484 acres in total 6,011 acres shared

Acres are the land each fire shares with the Nuns 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