A wildfire began amid hot and dry weather in Napa County Wednesday morning, dubbed the Steele Fire, that quickly grew to 45 acres on the south end of Lake Berryessa.
The Steele Fire was first reported around 10:50 am Wednesday as having burned about 10 acres of vegetation, beginning near the 9400 block of Steele Canyon Road, by Lake Berryessa.
As of 11:42 am, Cal Fire reported that the fire had grown to 70 acres and was burning in steep terrain, as seen in the photo below. Later aerial imaging down-sized the fire to 45 acres.
"Good progress is being made on both flanks," Cal Fire said in an update, regarding the containment effort.
One structure is reportedly threatened by the fire. While an evacuation order was given earlier on, as of 1:10 pm Cal Fire said the evacuation order had been lifted, and forward progress on the fire had been stopped.
This is the first wildfire in Napa County since the Hardin Fire near Pope Valley in July, and the Head Fire, which burned 98 acres north of Lake Berryessa in late June.
The areas around Lake Berryessa have burned multiple times in recent years, including the Wragg Fire in 2015, the LNU Lightning Complex fire in 2020, the Berry Fire in 2025, the Putah Fire in June, and both the Smittle Fire the Hardin Fire in July.
This story has been updated throughout.
Join the conversation
Comments
Comments load automatically as this section approaches.