As the climate warms, drought, intense storms, and wildfires are expected to increase in frequency, severity, and duration or extent. In coastal southern California, streams are experiencing pressures from wildfires, prolonged drought, and intense floods. Although wildfire impacts on stream abiotic conditions, algal abundance, leaf litter inputs, and macroinvertebrate communities depend on the extent of severe fire and whether riparian vegetation remains intact, the compound impacts of fire and drought or floods remain understudied. Since 2008, we have evaluated the effects of 7 fires on 23 stream reaches. In that time, two of the fires were followed by 5 years of drought and two were followed by intense rains and debris flows. We quantified the extent and severity of burns, and vegetation impacts and recovery, using remote sensing. We then compared stream community responses to several key factors: burn severity and extent (e.g., riparian zone intact or not), time since fire, hydrological conditions, and trout presence. Whether the riparian zone burned and a debris flow occurred were the most important factors affecting stream communities. Debris flows and riparian burning greatly reduced riparian vegetation, increasing light levels and, hence, algal abundance and reducing leaf litter inputs. Stream reaches disturbed by riparian burning or debris flows were dominated by algivores (baetid mayflies and hylid tadpoles), whereas streams in burned basins with intact riparian vegetation recovered quickly to an undisturbed configuration dominated by detritivores (e.g., cased caddis larvae) and, where trout were absent, various invertebrate predators. Stream drying or intense floods after wildfire extirpated local trout populations, resulting in increases in invertebrate predator abundance. Rainfall and stream flow patterns influenced stream responses to wildfire, both by affecting the rapidity of vegetation recovery after fire and by directly disturbing streams through debris flows, floods, and drying.