Yosemite National Park’s escaped prescribed fire, the Big Meadow fire,
…got out of control when one cedar tree took off and cast embers into a lot of dry fuel,” spokesman Gary Wuchner said. “Then the winds changed direction, to the west, and the fire crossed Big Oak Flat and Foresta roads.”
The Big Meadow fire as seen from the Wawona road tunnel, Thursday afternoon. Photo: Maggie Beck
The park says the fire has now burned 2,244 acres, up from the 2,200 reported yesterday.
From the Union Democrat:
On Thursday, turnouts along Wawona Road were jammed with tourists observing the fire’s rapid spread across the stumpy forest and the vibrant cloud of smoke hovering over it.
“It’s exciting but sad,” said Laurie Larson, of San Pedro. “You don’t want to see a controlled burn get out of control.”
Sharon Griffiths, visiting from Reading, Pa., was atop Half Dome watching the prescribed burn begin to get out of control on Wednesday.
“You could see the smoke beginning to really come off the fire,” she said.
Resources from across the state have shifted to the blaze as quickly as it has grown. As of Thursday, 500 firefighters, three helicopters, four air tankers and 24 fire engines were fighting the flames.
Included in the personnel is an interagency team headed by Stanislaus National Forest Division Chief Alan Johnson. Forest Service Hotshot crews from all over the state are fighting the blaze.
On Thursday, air tankers were disappearing into the cloud of smoke to make fire-retardant drops on the fire. Simultaneously, helicopters, sucking water from the Merced River near El Portal, made water drops on the perimeter of the fire. Dozers cut fire lines along the fire’s southern edge.
The smoke seemed to be blowing away from Yosemite Valley, which was relatively clear considering the growing blaze bordering it. Late in the day, along El Portal Road just outside of the valley, the landscape had a golden hue from the blanketing smoke.
Wuchner said, unfortunately, hindsight is not a tool the fire crews can use to douse the flames.
“We are trying to take advantage of not having very many fires in the state,” he said of the large force congregating to extinguish the fire.
Mymotherload.com put together some time-lapse images of the fire:
The park spokes person put in a good politicaly correct statement of why the fire got away. I wonder if he was there to see it? It’s nice to know that somone took the trouble to id the gulity tree as a cedar . Where were the holding crews? if someone saw the tree put embers over the line they should have been requesting a crew to get in there right away. My experience with some NPS spokes persons is they will never directly lie, but will put a real twist on the truth.I”m sure the person supervising that segement of the fire has a much more realistic and less politicaly correct statement about the escape. Prescribed fires do get away, been there -done that. Not much fun. Lets see what the investigation says.
I am very grateful that a prescribed burn near Ukiah was postponed due to lack of fire personnel. They are fighting other fires in the area. Yosemite gives one pause … and we get afternoon winds from the ocean right toward Coyote Dam where the burn is planned for the Army Corps of Engineers to check for seismic damage … plus dryer than dry brush. It can wait. Thanks for all the effort you put into this site!
I just arrived back in after camping in Curry Village for 4 days. We cancelled trip yesterday to glacier point because of the smoke. Today at Tunnel View we could not see any of the rock faces. The smoke completely obscured the valley at 1:00 pm. I think the NPS lost ton of money because of this fire. Really there were not many people in Yosemite Valley today. I pointed my telescope on a couple of climbers at El Capitan at noon today. After awhile they were lost in the smoke. I understand the risk of not burning can lead to a build up of fuel for a catastrophic event, but containment of planned risk is a very serious issue also. I’m sure it is a difficult time for the firefighters because they have other unplanned fires to fight currently.
I too have "been there and done that," as a forest firefighter for a very many years. I’ve seen very competent crews get the worst of it when Mother Nature throws in unexpected variables. Winds are always a risk and unexpected variable winds all the more so. The intentions were good for this exercise and the crew was experienced and competent. Sometimes things just don’t work out as they’re planned but it’s not for lack of earnest effort. That’s the short of it. I imagine the eventual debriefing will tighten the procedures. In the meantime I believe those fighting this fire deserve some moral support and gratitude. Government isn’t always your enemy, dude.
In response to B.Morgan’s comments on the Big Meadow fire; I have a coworker who was on the line when the fire got into a cedar snag and spotted across the line. He informed me that there were several spots in light fuels and they were unable to catch them all. So Yosemite’s PIO probably wasn’t sugar coating the truth in this case. B.Morgan is in no position to be saying what people on the line should have done. He wasn’t there. It’s funny that the armchair ICs never talk about the hundreds of prescribed burns that happen without incident, but when one happens to get away all of the “experts” have to chime in.
I was in Yosemite yesterday (8/28). I had never seen a true forest fire that close before (I’m originally an easterner, now living in Nevada), so for me it was fascinating. I also had the luck of driving right by the helicopter as it was filling up in the Merced River. I was at Glacier Point in the morning (10AM-11AM) and it was still clear then, but by the time I drove down to the Wawona Tunnel overlook (around noon), smoke was moving into the valley fairly quickly. The smoke continued to move further into the valley after that, so I left around 1PM. Unfortunately, I had planned to head over Tioga Pass (heading back to Nevada), and the fire caused an extra two hour drive through the foothills because the connection between Yosemite Valley and CA 120 was closed by the fire.
My question to the YNP fire staff is why was a RXB even ignited during peak wildfire season in the Central California midelevation Sierra mountains? We are in the fourth year of a severe drought here. Live fuel moistures in brush fuel models are hovering around 78% in nearby Sonora, CA. 1000 hour dead fuel moistures at a 9%. Average daily high temps for the period are in the mid 90s. The nearby east/west running Merced River drainage has a major influence on fire behavior. One only has to look at the fire history in the area for this time of yearto agressively suppress wildfire and avoid fire use and planned RxBs (2008 Telegraph wildfire and 1996 A-Rock Fire). If RxBs are going to pass the test of media, public and political scrutiny, serious thought needs to be given before one strikes the match during late August California fire season.
My daughter and her crew of the Hot Shots from Grants, Mexico are battling this fire for all of the residents of Yosemite and others. You have to know that they are doing everything thing in their power to put this fire out. They are the best of the best.