Talk:List of California wildfires

Suggest listing by Square Miles and Km, not acres

Few people can visualize how big 100,000 acres or 1 million acres are. On the other hand it is easy to visualize 40 or 200 square miles--it is a rectangle 10x4 miles, or 20x10 miles respectively. Square miles are more frequently used to measure large areas--for example I remember that Michigan, where I grew up, is about 50,000 sq mi, and the city of Los Angeles, where I live, is about 400 sq mi. People know the size of small numbers of acres, from real estate and farming: in the single digits to hundreds. Not 100,000's. Ttulinsky (talk) 00:24, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

I agree that they are not super relatable, but acres are the primary unit of measurement for wildfires in the United States, fairly universally used by local/state/federal agencies. I suggest we compromise by implementing {{convert}} whenever acreage is mentioned, as is the case for most U.S. wildfire articles? Penitentes (talk) 01:08, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

Changing name and modification

I think this page is better to be called "California Wildfires" as it not only enumerate them but talk about causes and effects. This even made the lead section too long. The issue deserve its own page with explanation, not only a list. Alexander Sauda/אלכסנדר סעודה (talk) 11:27, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

I agree about the name, though it would lose consistency with the other 'list' articles about wildfires in other states. But I think "California Wildfires" better encapsulates what the page is and the scope of the topic justifies a broader article. Rostipe (talk) 12:48, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

I added paragraphs about causes and effects. The lead section is now only a sort summary. I think now it is closer to the Wiki style.

--Alexander Sauda/אלכסנדר סעודה (talk) 11:39, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

My experience is that most list articles have some narrative text, images, and graphics; they're not purely "lists". I think this article can continue to be called a "List..." since that is its main thrust. If the narrative text ends up growing substantially, then a second, separate article can be created. —RCraig09 (talk) 19:38, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

Adding Palisades / Eaton to the Lists

So far, both fires have surpassed the destruction and death tolls of some of these fires, with the Eaton Fire having claimed over 7k structures impacted (per CalFire Incident page and this map: https://recovery.lacounty.gov/eaton-fire/ as of 1/13 1030PST). It's my understanding from reading throughout the list that "Most Destructive Fires" are in fact, by structures damaged, meaning Eaton Fire is already at Number 2.

No information hasn't been released for the Palisades fire yet so far other than the 5k structures deemed impacted, but that was from a report submitted sometimes last week -- it isn't accurate as of this date. I'm expecting more structures to be impacted, and the death tolls for both of these fires are still rising.

Does/should Wikipedia disregard preliminary information when it comes to these lists and wait to update these lists when the official documentation is completed?

I also am not smart enough to mess around with the internal works of Wikipedia. I thought I'd bring it up here for someone smart to pass it along. 97.93.70.146 (talk) 18:36, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

These two fires definitely are on the most destructive and deadly lists, but I feel like we should wait until the surveys of the damage and fatalities are complete so it doesn't need to be moved up the list over and over. What I'm wondering is that the source for all 3 lists is the CalFire Top 20 fire lists, which aren't being updated anymore as far as I'm aware of. Should new sources be added for any new fire that makes this list in the future? MallardQuack (talk) 21:38, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

MallardQuack, the lists are still being updated, linked from ^~Hydronium^~Hydroxide^~(Talk)~ 05:43, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Oh, thanks! I should've looked deeper on CalFire's site. Anyways, it might be best to add the fires once the damage surveys are completed. MallardQuack (talk) 05:58, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Most destructive wildfires

Time to add some of the 2025 California wildfires Marksaeed2024 (talk) 22:22, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Mismatch between the official lists (PDFs) and the article tables

Hi, as noted in my edit comments, there are mismatches between the refs and the article tables. Given that these tables purport to be what CAL FIRE gives as its top 20 lists, I propose that the fires, figures, ordering and numbering given officially in their PDFs be used. If there happens to be more up-to-date figures for current fires on live CAL FIRE pages then that can be given and cited in the Notes until the top 20 PDFs are updated. ^~Hydronium^~Hydroxide^~(Talk)~ 05:43, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

"2026 California wildfires" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect 2026 California wildfires has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2025 October 19 § 2026 wildfire redirects until a consensus is reached. Left guide (talk) 22:10, 19 October 2025 (UTC)