The Loyalton Fire was a wildfire burning in Lassen, Plumas and Sierra County, California, and Washoe County, Nevada. The fire burned about in the Tahoe National Forest and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest before being fully contained on September 14, 2020. Events The fire was started by lightning strikes northeast of Loyalton along the eastern edge of the Sierra Valley, near Mount Ina Coolbrith on the Tahoe National Forest. Smoke was first reported from the Smith Peak lookout in Plumas National Forest at 4:30 pm on Friday, August 14. The fire was burning in a mix of timber, sagebrush and tall grass. By the morning of August 15, it had grown to and was spreading extremely quickly with no containment. Around 2:35 PM PDT, high winds and thunderstorm activity spawned a two "fire tornadoes", one of which was rated EF1. The National Weather Service issued its first-ever fire tornado warning, for southeastern Lassen County, in response to the incident. An EF1 fire tornado had also been spawned by the fire the previous day. By the morning of August 16, the fire had expanded to . Evacuation orders were issued for areas in Lassen County south of SR 70 and west of US 395. SR 70 was closed between SR 49 and US 395 as fire crews worked to prevent the fire from spreading north of Beckwourth Pass. The fire briefly jumped north of SR 70 and east of US 395 but was quickly stopped in those directions. By the evening of August 16, helped by strong winds, the fire had burned . Evacuation orders were expanded to Balls Canyon Road, Long Valley Road, Bordertown, Copperfield, and Cold Springs as the fire spread east into Nevada and the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. About 580 firefighters, 42 engines and 6 aircraft were on the scene. Crews had made progress on the southeast flank of the fire on August 17, mandatory evacuations were lifted for Cold Springs, and SR 70 was reopened. The Dog Valley and Long Valley areas of the Carson Ranger District on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest were closed to recreational access. By evening, advisory evacuation orders were in place for Loyalton, Chilcoot, Vinton, and Sierra Brooks. Lightning strikes started several new fires to the south around 7:30 pm, but rain after midnight helped slow fire activity. As of August 17, five homes and six other structures had been destroyed. On August 18, the