MARIPOSA – The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) will be conducting a live fire training exercise at Eastman Lake on Monday, May 22, and Wednesday, May 24. The training will be in cooperation with Madera County Fire and the Army Corp of Engineers. If conditions are conducive, approximately 170 acres of grass and oak understory will ...

MADERA COUNTY — Firefighters are on scene of a vegetation fire burning on the east side of Highway 41 between Children’s Blvd. and Avenue 12. The fire was reported at 4:37 p.m. Though the roadway is still open, smoke is affecting visibility and people are stopping to look. As of 5:57 p.m., forward progress of the fire had been stopped. ...

MADERA COUNTY — The Madera County Board of Supervisors learned first-hand the capabilities of the new T-Rex, the articulating platform ladder fire truck, soon to be put into service at Station 8 in Coarsegold. During today’s regular Board meeting, MMU Cal Fire Division Chief Dave Allen gave the supervisors a close-up look at the new truck, which was acquired to ...

COARSEGOLD — A fire burning at the edge of Yosemite Lakes Park near the dam at Black Hawk Lake has been contained. Just before 4 p.m., as mop-up was being completed at the Garnet Fire on Road 400, firefighters were dispatched to the end of Patrick Avenue for another vegetation fire. A resident who was out for a run along ...

COARSEGOLD — “Just because it’s a burn day doesn’t mean it’s safe to burn.” It’s a warning given often by fire officials, but not necessarily heeded by residents. Firefighters responded today to yet another escaped burn pile, this one just outside Yosemite Lakes Park on Road 400 near Garnet Creek Lane. At about 2:20 p.m., crews were dispatched to the ...

O’NEALS — Firefighters responded shortly after noon today to a vehicle fire on Highway 41, a quarter-mile north of Road 200. At 12:44 p.m. reports came in of a vehicle on fire, parked on the shoulder of the northbound lane. Cal Fire Engine 4295 and Madera County Fire Engine 8 responded and reported the vehicle fully engulfed when they arrived at ...

BASS LAKE — Another escaped burn pile had firefighters responding just after noon today, this time in the Bass Lake area. Cal Fire Engine 4254 was at the scene within minutes of dispatch, at a home near Teaford Meadow, and found residents working on five burn piles. One of those piles had crept into a nearby woodpile. “These folks were ...

COARSEGOLD — A burn pile that escaped the control of a homeowner today in Yosemite Lakes Park, sparked a vegetation fire in a neighborhood on Glacier Court. At 12:10 p.m. firefighters were called out to reports of a grass fire threatening several homes in an area just off Yosemite Springs Parkway. Cal Fire Engines 4255, 4294 and 4295 responded, along with ...

CENTRAL SIERRA – In light of the disastrous tree mortality and the profusion of vegetation (fuel!) after the winter rains, it is imperative for all people who live or work in Madera County – especially those in the foothills – to register or update their information for emergency contact. Madera County’s Emergency Alert System, also known as MCAlert, allows residents ...

NORTH FORK — A family is homeless this morning after a fire swept through their rented house at the end of Church Street in North Fork. Just before midnight, firefighters were called out to a structure fire reported in the neighborhood across from the North Fork Market. A sheriff’s deputy was first on scene and ran to the mobile home ...