“Ominous Morning” Wildfires are a commonplace in California during the summer months. It is unusual to not have at least one major fire burning in the State during the peak fire season from June through October, and often there are multiple major fires burning concurrently. On the afternoon of July 7th 2017, the Wall Fire* started in the dry chaparral Sierra Nevada foothills, ten miles east of Oroville, California. The fire burned several hundred acres during the first few hours. By morning, strong, dry northeast winds helped the fire grow to over 2000 acres. By the time it was fully contained it had burned over 6000 acres and had destroyed 41 homes along with 58 other structures. This image shows the fire just after 5AM the morning of July 8th. The town of Oroville is in the foreground. *Fires are named using street names or geographical locations at or near where they started. In this case, the Wall Fire was first reported from Chinese Wall Road.