From June 15 through June 19 California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing, Nevada National Guard’s 152nd Airlift Wing, the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and CAL FIRE will be putting on quite an airshow for visitors to the Tahoe and Shasta/Trinity National Forests as these and other firefighting agencies train for aerial wildland firefighting.
Tag Archives: Wildfire
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.
The El Portal fire started on the afternoon of Saturday, July 26th in the Old El Portal area of Yosemite National Park. As of 6:00am on Sunday, July 27th, the fire has grown to an estimated 2,100 acres with 5% containment.
Multiple structures are threatened, one structure is reported as lost.
The Old El Portal and Foresta communities, along with the Crane Flat campground, have been evacuated.
Highway 120 (Big Oak Flat Road) is currently closed from the Highway 140 (El Portal Road) junction to Tioga Road at Crane Flat (Tioga Road is open only from Highway 120 in Groveland and Lee Vining.
Press release from the U.S.D.A.:
The Stanislaus National Forest will be hosting two open houses on Friday, December 13 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday, December 14, 9 a.m. to noon at the Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor’s Office (19777 Greenley Road, Sonora, CA 95370).
“We invite the public and stakeholders to the open houses to provide an opportunity to visit with staff regarding the Rim Fire proposed Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) project details, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. It offers those with questions on how to comment prior to the end of the public comment period that begins on December 6, 2013, and ends on January 6, 2014,” Maria Benech, Rim Fire Recovery ID Team Leader said.