The U.S. Forest Service has announced that they’re going to postpone all new prescribed burns until further notice due to the Coronavirus. The canceled fire ignitions in California include burns in Six Rivers and Mendocino National Forests.
The U.S. Forest Service works in coordination with local and state health organizations when planning and managing prescribed burns and wildfires, and potential smoke impacts on the public are first and foremost in the planning process.
A fire now named the Summit Fire is burning in the San Bernardino National Forest near Forest Service Road 2N08 (to the south of the city of Big Bear Lake and west of the Snow Summit ski resort).
The fire appears to have started near Pine Knot Avenue and Knickerbocker Road around 12:30 p.m. Within an hour, the fire had grown to more than 10 acres, according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department. At last report, it had grown again to between 20 and 25 acres. It has a moderate rate of spread, and is being fueled by moderate to heavy forest growth.
There are mandatory evacuations for the area from Knickerbocker Road east to Georgia Road and south of Pennsylvania Road to the forest boundary.
08/24/15 Update (from InciWeb):
From the National Park Service:
Yosemite National Park is experiencing very high fire danger along with continued hot and dry weather patterns. Due to current and predicted fire conditions and possible active fire behavior, the park implemented Stage 1 Fire Restrictions until further notice.
By order of the Superintendent Yosemite National Park and under authority of Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, and Section 2.13(c):
A hat-tip to Bill Gabbert over at wildfirtoday.com who penned a post about a new video titled “the Rim Fire” that appears on YouTube today. The video was posted by yosemitenationalpark, who put up the following description:
“The 2013 Rim Fire was the largest forest fire in California history, and the largest fire in Yosemite history. Burning 400 square miles, the speed and size of the fire was unprecedented. As these unnaturally large fires become more commonplace due to previous fire suppression and climate change, Yosemite National Park is seeing the benefits of carefully allowing smaller, controlled fires on the landscape.”
Both sides are girding their loins over the Rim Fire case.
Keith Matthew Emerald, a 32 year old man and resident of Columbia, a town in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California, is accused in a four-count indictment or starting the Rim Fire when he lost control of an illegal campfire on August 17,2013. In August of this year he pled not guilty to the charges.
The Rim Fire burned 400 square miles of land in California, including parts of Sequoia National Forest and Yosemite National Park over the course of two months. The fire destroyed 11 homes and cost $125 million to fight.
In August a grand jury returned the four-count indictment against Emerald, alleging that he started an illegal campfire on August 17, 2013 in an area where such fires were prohibited and that the fire spread beyond his control.
