Qualla: McKinney Fire https://qualla.com/mckinney-fire en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:03 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/t/mckinney-fire-wp/mckinney-pyrocumulonimbus-7-31.jpg Qualla: McKinney Fire https://qualla.com/mckinney-fire McKinney Fire: Introduction https://qualla.com/mckinney-fire/ Photo credit Penitentes, Public domain. The fire created its own weather. On the night of July 29, 2022, as flames raced through the bone-dry forests of the Klamath National Forest, an enormous pyrocumulonimbus cloud punched 50,000 feet into the atmosphere, piercing from the troposphere into the stratosphere. The column generated its own lightning, feeding energy back into the inferno below. Firefighters who had been attempting perimeter control abandoned their positions, shifting to evacuation and structure defense. In less than 36 hours, the McKinney Fire would consume more than 50,000 acres, destroy 185 structures, and claim four lives.

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Image: Penitentes | Public domain

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/t/mckinney-fire-wp/9r2t-mckinney-fire-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full McKinney Fire: Perfect Conditions for Disaster https://qualla.com/mckinney-fire/ Photo credit AAAAAboi, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Klamath National Forest had been primed for catastrophe. Yreka, the nearby county seat, had received only half its normal precipitation for the year. A heat dome had trapped the Pacific Northwest in relentless triple-digit temperatures for weeks. In Montague, just east of Yre...

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Image: AAAAAboi | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/t/mckinney-fire-wp/9r2t-mckinney-fire-perfect-conditions-for-disaster.mp3 0:06 2 full McKinney Fire: Explosive Growth https://qualla.com/mckinney-fire/ Photo credit AAAAAboi, CC BY-SA 4.0. Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Siskiyou County on July 30 as the fire continued its rampage. Nearby thunderstorms contributed gusty outflow winds without delivering rain, pushing the fire in unpredictable directions. By July 31, the blaze had reached 51,4...

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Image: AAAAAboi | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/t/mckinney-fire-wp/9r2t-mckinney-fire-explosive-growth.mp3 0:06 3 full McKinney Fire: The Human Cost https://qualla.com/mckinney-fire/ Photo credit AAAAAboi, CC BY-SA 4.0. Four civilians died in the McKinney Fire, all found near Highway 96. Two victims were discovered in their vehicle in their own driveway, trapped as flames overran the area. Two others perished in separate residences along the same highway. At least 12 firefighters sustained injur...

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Image: AAAAAboi | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/t/mckinney-fire-wp/9r2t-mckinney-fire-the-human-cost.mp3 0:06 4 full McKinney Fire: Water and Death https://qualla.com/mckinney-fire/ Photo credit AAAAAboi, CC BY-SA 4.0. The fire's destruction extended beyond what the flames touched directly. On August 2, up to three inches of rain fell on the eastern burn scar, a seemingly positive development that instead triggered catastrophe. Massive debris flows roared down tributaries of the Klamath River, ...

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Image: AAAAAboi | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/t/mckinney-fire-wp/9r2t-mckinney-fire-water-and-death.mp3 0:06 5 full McKinney Fire: Aftermath and Memory https://qualla.com/mckinney-fire/ Photo credit AAAAAboi, CC BY-SA 4.0. The McKinney Fire burned through areas that had seen fire before, overlapping with the footprints of the 1955 Haystack Fire and the 2014 Beaver Fire. For a landscape accustomed to periodic burning, this fire was something different: hotter, faster, more destructive. In March 2023...

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Image: AAAAAboi | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/t/mckinney-fire-wp/9r2t-mckinney-fire-aftermath-and-memory.mp3 0:06 6 full