The Red Fire in Yosemite National Park in California has burned 416 acres since it started from a lightning strike on August 4, according to a mapping flight Monday morning. It is in a remote and rugged section of the park about 12 miles northeast of Wawona and the Washburn Fire which burned nearly 5,000 acres very close to the Mariposa grove of giant sequoias in July.
The national Situation Report Monday morning showed a small group of resources assigned — five people with one fire engine. They are being led by Jenn Anderson, a Type 4 Incident Commander.
The crew is assessing natural barriers, such as granite, to confine and contain the fire, rather than fully suppress the blaze. There are no trail closures or threats to infrastructure.
It is very close to the Mariposa/Madera County line and about five miles from the park boundary. So far the fire has been burning at about 8,300 feet above sea level, mostly in the footprint of the 2001 Hoover Fire. If it spreads further to the east it will leave that fire scar and move into an area with no fire history within the last 30 years, but there is a great deal of granite in that direction. (see the 3-D map at the top of the article) There are no giant sequoia groves within several miles of the fire, which was a major concern during last month’s Washburn Fire.
A satellite flyover at 1:38 p.m. PDT Monday detected only a few large heat sources, all on the east half of the fire. There are no doubt many smaller burning areas that could not be detected by the sensors orbiting hundreds of miles above the Earth.
All our public lands belong to all Americans. We can just say that Yosemite is in California. But I can also say that if you go up to Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, above San Jose, they have a photo taken by one of their telescopes that is a great shot of Yosemite Valley, all the way to Half Dome. I grew up in San Jose, in Northern California, one hour by car south of San Francisco, and two hours by car directly west of Yosemite. If you have never lived in California, you might not know that this North/South thing had always been a sore subject. (which has also always been silly) Just don’t call it Calli! GAD!
This fire is in Illilouette Basin, an area used by many fire scientist as a reference site for what a natural functioning fire regime might look like. Many papers have been published on fire and hydrology in this area, since fire is rarely suppressed here. The valley is surrounded by granite and is relative well protected from escape.
Is this burning in the previous fire scar?
Well, based on the map, the article, and the photograph, it appears to be creeping around in the 2001 Hoover Fire scar.
Thanks very much for this item, Bill – just perplexed by the “In Southern California” label. I live just beyond the SW boundary of the park, at the northern end of the recent Oak Fire (we’re in Jerseydale, within the Sierra National Forest) and nope – this new fire, and we as well, are nowhere near consideration as any part of Southern California! Central, perhaps – but at about the same longitude as the Bay area, that’s akin to referring to San Jose as “Southern California”!
Other than THAT, I got nuthin’! Keep up the terrific work – it’s very much appreciated.
On a hunch, that designation might have more to do with access to Inyo and Mono Counties during winter months when the 120 and 41 would be closed and the only reliable ground access you would be looking at is the 395 on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. In other words, at certain times, it would be nearly impossible to get to Mono Lake from Fresno without having to go south through San Bernadino County. Some operational maps might still have those assumptions built in, although those roads close far less often than they used to. Blame climate change and better road clearing equipment and techniques.
You’re right, Maestro, that is not usually considered to be Southern California. But the wildland fire agencies break the state into the Northern and Southern Geographic Areas, and Yosemite falls into the Southern California Geographic Coordination Center.
Wildland fire agencies can say what they want, but there is no way any part of Yosemite is in Southern California. I visited many, many times, lived at Ostrander Lake in the summer of 1973, camped and hiked all over the park. No offence to Southern California, but Yosemite is NOT yours.
It’s all about the dispatching system in California, it’s so big with so many resources that it must be broken up into two Operations areas, NORTHOPS and SOUTHOPS. And since Yosemite is a National Park, it belongs as much to southern CA (or Iowa for that matter) as anywhere.
Oooof! The comment section from mopshotwakeup has made its way to WFT
Bro, very informative and productive comment bro. Keep up the good work bro.
Looks like a possible candidate for a “let it burn” policy?
Bro’, it’s not 1988 anymore. Policy has evolved since then, have you?
No, it’s not 1998 anymore, it’s 2022. And the Forest Service might just be beginning to figure it out. They still hadn’t in 2021.
https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/07/17/tamarack-fire-spreads-five-miles-after-being-monitored-for-13-days/
Later, Bro’.
I’ve bushwhacked and fished some of that country; lots of fuel but gentle slopes for much of it. My Dad and I tried to see how many lakes we could visit without hiking any of the trails, just using quad maps. It was a great way to visit the area.