MOUNTAIN COMMUNITIES — After a temporary halt prompted by COVID-19, the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region is “moving forward with prescribed fire operations as conditions and resources permit,” according to a press release issued Friday by the agency.Previously, the region had postponed prescribed fires to reduce potential smoke impacts to communities while public health officials considered the interactions of smoke ...

MADERA — At their regular meeting today (March 10), the Madera County Board of Supervisors postponed a discussion about a potential ballot measure to hike the County’s Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) rate. Supervisors have been considering asking voters to approve the TOT hike as a means to fund stepped up wildfire prevention efforts within eastern Madera County. But at Tuesday’s ...

MOUNTAIN AREA — The Bass Lake Ranger District announced Wednesday (Feb. 26) that fire officials plan to resume burning today in the Miami Creek-Lone Sequoia prescribed treatment unit. The area is located between Oakhurst and Wawona off Highway 41. “With weather and air quality conditions permitting, fire crews will start ignition on Wednesday,” said a press release from the district. ...

MARIPOSA — Do you have dead, dying or excess vegetation on your property? Would you like to protect your property from catastrophic wildfire? UCCE Mariposa is hosting a ‘Prescribed Fire on Private Lands’ workshop on March 19 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The workshop will be held at McCay Hall in Catheys Valley. Utilized properly, prescribed fire can be ...

NORTH FORK — Near-hurricane force winds blew through North Fork and surrounding areas Sunday morning. The fierce wind gusts, estimated to be as strong as 70 to 75 miles per hour, downed power lines, uprooted trees and caused “all kinds of chaos,” according to one first responder. Fallen tree limbs — and in some cases entire trees — blocked a ...

By Leonard Andrenacci OAKHURST — On Friday afternoon (Feb. 7) at workshop in Oakhurst, a progress report was issued on an ambitious project called “Fire Resilient Madera.” The statewide, $67-million “Fire Resilient” project covers 13 counties — from San Diego to Siskiyou — and involves multiple area agencies joining forces to combat future Wildland fires through a host of preventive ...

OAKHURST — Two fire calls within a matter of minutes Friday afternoon taxed CAL FIRE resources as firefighters in multiple engines responded to a large blaze off Highway 49 and a smaller fire along Road 423. The larger fire call came in just after 1:30 p.m. That fire, at a residence off Highway 49 and Covey Court near Sierra Pines ...

NORTH FORK — After more than three years, work is wrapping up on a project to reforest thousands of acres scorched by 2014’s French Fire. “The French Fire reforestation project ends but the work continues,” according to officials at the Yosemite Sequoia Resource Conservation and Development Council, which has guided the reforestation effort. The nonprofit organization, which serves Fresno, Madera, ...

NORTH FORK — An engine fire torched a 22-year-old North Fork man’s 1987 Jeep Cherokee Sunday morning. The incident occurred about 9:15 a.m. in the parking lot of La Cabana restaurant, which was closed at the time. Local firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze but the vehicle was a total loss. The driver told first responders that he was going north ...

NORTH FORK — The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians is applying for a $1.2 million federal grant to construct a 4,050-square-foot emergency services building adjacent to North Fork Fire Station #11. The new facility, which could be operational by 2022, would provide living barracks for the fire station — and dedicated space for personnel from the Madera County Sheriff’s ...