Crews stopped the spread of a 45-acre wildfire burning south of Lake Berryessa Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 9, as Napa County lifted an evacuation order it had put into place earlier in the day.
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Cal Fire responded about 10 a.m. to a report of a fire spreading slowly through grassy oak woodland in the 9400 block of Steele Canyon Road.
By 11 a.m., the Steele Fire had grown to 10 acres and was burning through grass. Additional units were called to respond to the blaze, said Cal Fire spokesperson Tyree Zander.
One structure was threatened by the fire, Zander said, though he described the area as sparse, with large distances between structures.
The large plume of smoke billowing from the burn was likely visible from several nearby counties, including Solano, Sacramento, Napa, Lake and Yolo counties, Zander said. Smoke may also have been visible across the Bay Area.
The Boggs Mountain Helitack crew finishes up at the Steele Fire, Wednesday,, September 9, 2026, near Lake Berryessa. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
Cal Fire’s Boggs Mountain Helitack lands in the middle of Highway 128 to pick up their hand crew after helping to contain the Steele Fire, Wednesday, September 9, 2026, near Lake Berryessa. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
A Cal Fire dozer cuts across the Steele Fire, to cut more line at the heel of the fire, Wednesday, September 9, 2026, near Lake Berryessa, (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
Cal Fire’s Boggs Mountain Helitack makes a drop on the Steele Fire, Wednesday, September 9, 2026, near Lake Berryessa. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
About 11:15 a.m., crews were making good progress on the blaze, which was reported to have grown to about 70 acres, Zander said.
At 11:43 a.m., PG&E crews shut off power in the area surrounding Lake Berryessa at the request of emergency personnel, company spokesperson Megan McFarland said. The outage affected 152 customers in the area, according to the PG&E outage map, before power was restored midday.
The county issued an evacuation warning at 11:51 a.m. for BER-E008, the area east of Steele Canyon Road, west of Wragg Canyon Road and north of Highway 128.
This fire was charging through the burn scar of the Hennessey Fire, one of the massive burns associated with the 2020 lightning complex that devastated the area, before firefighters stopped its spread shortly after 1 p.m., around the same time the evacuation warning was lifted.
According to Zander, more accurate mapping showed the fire was about 45 acres about 1 p.m.
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