NOTICE: Due to a lapse in annual appropriations, most of this website is not being updated. Learn more.

Form submissions will still be accepted but will not receive responses at this time. Sections of this site for programs using non-appropriated funds (such as NVLAP) or those that are excepted from the shutdown (such as CHIPS and NVD) will continue to be updated.

U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

PUBLICATIONS

Camp Fire Preliminary Reconnaissance

Published

Author(s)

Alexander Maranghides, William Mell, Steven Hawks, Eric D. Link, Christopher U. Brown, Cartier P. Murrill, Erin Ashley

Abstract

The Camp Fire started in the early morning of November 8, 2018 in vegetative fuels to the northeast of Concow, California. Concow is an unincorporated community and census-designated place of primarily residential with a population of 762 in the Sierra Nevada foothills in eastern Butte County. Strong winds pushed the fire to Concow then to Paradise, California. Paradise is a town in Butte County, California, in the Sierra Nevada foothills above the northeastern Sacramento Valley. As of the July 1, 2018 census, the town population was 26,682. The Camp Fire destroyed and damaged over 19000 structures and resulted in 86 civilian fatalities and three fire fighter injuries. NIST deployed a team to conduct an initial reconnaissance of the Camp Fire. The primary objective of the reconnaissance was to determine if the Camp Fire offered potentially unique data that, if collected and analyzed, could provide new technical insight into the US WUI fire problem.
Citation
Technical Note (NIST TN) - 2105
Report Number
2105
NIST Pub Series
Technical Note (NIST TN)
Pub Type
NIST Pubs

Download Paper

DOI Link

Keywords

Camp Fire , WUI fires, WUI, NCST, Reconnaissance
Wildland urban interface fire

Citation

Maranghides, A. , Mell, W. , Hawks, S. , Link, E. , Brown, C. , Murrill, C. and Ashley, E. (2020), Camp Fire Preliminary Reconnaissance, Technical Note (NIST TN), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2105 (Accessed October 9, 2025)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact [email protected].

Created August 26, 2020, Updated August 27, 2020
Was this page helpful?