How The Forsyth Fire Started And Its Impact On Local Areas

As of this morning, the Forsyth Fire has grown to 8,899 acres and remains officially listed at 0% containment. But officials stress that number can be misleading.

Nearly 700 fire personnel have been working around the clock in 14-hour shifts, building fire breaks between the blaze and nearby communities to protect homes and infrastructure.

Despite the lack of a formal containment number, progress is happening. Officials are continuously reevaluating the situation, and hope to update that figure soon.

Firefighters have been seen coming off the line dirty, exhausted, and covered in soot — and community members are thanking them for their monumental effort.

Officials are begging the public to stay away from the fire – it's actually against the law to interfere with the firefighting effort – no matter how bad you want to “see” it.

Lightning Strike

Officials confirmed this week that the fire was, in fact, caused by a lightning strike.

The confirmation came in the form of this statement from the U.S. Forest Service:

"The cause of the Forsyth Fire was officially determined to be lightning. During Initial Attack (IA) on June 19, 2025, the IA Incident Commander discovered a tree strike near the point of origin in the Pine Valley Wilderness Area. During the investigation, data showed a thunderstorm had moved through the area 10 days prior, with a visible lightning strike near the origin on a steep, rocky slope of the wilderness area.. Evaluation of the tree showed the strike hit the base, igniting a fire within the trunk. With these types of strikes, the immense heat vaporizes the sap and moisture inside the tree. This intense heat ignites the wood from within, creating a slow, flameless form of combustion known as smoldering. This can continue within the tree for an extended period, even days or weeks, without an obvious flame. Encompassed within the tree, the fire remained undetected until winds picked up during the red flag warning on Thursday. These high winds increased the fire activity, and caused the smoke to finally be visible."

The U.S. Forest Service also supplied the accompanying photos to corroborate their investigation (Photos by Chad Walker).

The forest service also announced that the base camp for the firefighting crews has been moved from the now-evacuated Grass Valley to two separate bases near Enterprise.

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