Ignited by a lightning strike in the southern Sierra Nevada on September 9, the fire burned 97,528 acres (39,468 ha) over the course of a month, threatening communities like Ponderosa and Johnsondale.

Multiple atmospheric rivers in October and November eventually subdued the fire, which was declared fully contained in mid-November.

Though it destroyed 128 structures, the Windy Fire was also notable for its major impacts on the endangered giant sequoia population, which grows in less than a hundred natural groves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada.

The National Park Service estimated that the Windy Fire killed 900–1,300 large giant sequoias, part of a significant toll that high-severity wildfires have taken on the species in the 21st century.

[8] The prolonged hot and dry conditions, courtesy of a high-pressure system that loitered over the state, contributed to a rash of significant wildfires.

[8][9] The Washington Post listed the Windy Fire as an example of a wildfire that experienced "significant overnight growth", representative of the climate change-driven increase of the vapor pressure deficit at night in the western United States since 1980.

[10][11][12] The vapor pressure deficit, a key meteorological variable that drives fire-conducive weather,[13] reached record high levels in California during the Windy Fire.

[18][16] California Incident Management Team 11 entered into unified command over the firefighting response with the Forest Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

[29] The Windy Fire's incident commander, Mark Morales, described conditions as "more like what you would observe in August: very dry with high temperatures and low humidity.

The remaining eight percent of uncontained perimeter, north of Cold Springs Creek and south of the Tule River Indian Reservation, lay in an area too difficult for ground personnel to access.

[39] At least four personnel sustained injuries in the course of fighting the Windy Fire; all were minor but one: a firefighter was taken to a Fresno hospital with second-degree burns on September 30.

[29] Destroyed Forest Service structures included a boardwalk at the Trail of 100 Giants, the Frog Meadow Guard Station, the Powder Horn and Speas Dirty Camp historic cabins, the Mule Peak Lookout and its radio repeater, and other outbuildings, storage sheds, and wooden bridges.

[46] In total, the National Park Service report estimated that the Windy Fire killed between 931 and 1,257 large sequoias, defined as those over four feet (1.2 metres) in diameter.

[48] Land managers attributed the excessive toll to fuel loads and fire behavior too severe for the trees to tolerate, driven by climate change, drought, and the zealous suppression of wildfire in those areas for a hundred years or more.

Thick smoke in San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, and Kern counties caused local high schools to cancel football games, and those with respiratory ailments were advised to remain indoors.

[61] In August 2023, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed that the Windy Fire burn area had become home to a pack of at least five gray wolves, marking the species' first presence in the Sequoia National Forest since they were extirpated approximately 150 years prior.

Acreage reflects, where possible, the figure reported in the daily morning update following overnight aerial infrared mapping of the fire.