NORTH FORK – Things are beginning to wind down on the Willow Fire, and crews and equipment are being released and made available for other fires across the region. The fire is now estimated at 5,702 acres, with 70 percent containment.  Over 1,700 personnel are currently assigned to the incident, but that number will drop dramatically over the next few ...

OAKHURST – UPDATE Monday, Aug. 3, 2015: After 63 days hand-cycling across the United States, former Marine and YHS grad Toran “Chance” Gaal has made it to Arlington. That was his goal. For a complete update on Toran’s journey, check out USA Today. And now, here’s the story we told a month ago: A Yosemite High School graduate and former ...

NORTH FORK – Back in the day, we called it Fire Camp. These days, it’s known as the Incident Command Post (ICP). Whatever you call it, it’s where everything happens that supports boots on the ground out on the firelines, and where all decisions are made in fighting the fire. If you’ve never visited an ICP, it’s quite an impressive ...

NORTH FORK – As the Willow Fire has played out over the past eight days, and residents have watched in alarm as huge plumes of smoke rise over Peckinpah Mountain, people may have wondered just who’s running this show. Well, that would be a group of calm, methodical, deliberate individuals who make up the South Central Sierra Interagency Incident Management ...

Where: Yosemite National Park Distance: About 15 miles Difficulty: Moderate Elevational Range: 7,868′ – 10,000′ Date: July 26, 2015 Highlights: Riding horses in Yosemite’s beautiful high country is always a special treat. Taking them up to the 10,000′ elevation where we had the towering, jagged high points of Vogelsang, Fletcher and Rafferty Peaks along our side as we mosied up the trail to Boothe Lake was extra ...

NORTH FORK –  At the morning briefing today crews were told that this would be a pivotal day on the Willow Fire. That certainly proved to be true. Huge columns of smoke rose from the foot of Peckinpah Mountain throughout the morning and much of the afternoon as firefighters burned out vegetation inside control lines. The show started long before ...

Click here for more Willow Fire photos from Saturday through Tuesday (Facebook)

NORTH FORK – Crews made good progress on the Willow Fire overnight, holding and strengthening existing lines and continuing burnout operations. The fire is now estimated at 5,116 acres and is 50 percent contained. Crews continued firing along the southeastern flank throughout the night, removing fuels that threaten the fireline protecting the Cascadel Woods area. While the winds were mostly ...

NORTH FORK – Firing operations along control lines continued throughout the day on the Willow Fire, as crews worked to burn out fuels inside the southeastern perimeter. At this writing, there has been no updated size since the last estimate of 4,394 acres, but the fire is now reported at 40 percent containment. Heavy smoke took a while to lift ...

NORTH FORK – Firefighters got a break over the last 24 hours with cloud cover, higher humidity recovery and even a very small amount of rain overnight. The Willow Fire is now estimated at 4,394 acres with 30 percent containment. Resources continue to roll in to the Incident Command Post, boosting the number of personnel assigned to the incident to ...