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 ...

MADERA COUNTY – On Thursday morning, Apr. 9, Madera County Sheriff’s detectives served a search warrant at a residence on Brookhill Road in southeastern Madera County. Detectives were following up on a report of a stolen boat motor and received information that the motor could be at the residence on Brookhill.

FISH CAMP – The Mariposa County Fire Safe Council is ready to help you become fire safe by providing free chipping of tree limbs, manzanita, deer brush and other large hazardous debris on Thursday, Oct. 30. If you pile your large hazardous debris along a route of ingress/ingress as described below, the Fire Safe Council will chip your piled hazardous ...

SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST – When the Junction Fire broke out in the heart of the Oakhurst community, concerns over what was happening on the French Fire near North Fork fell by the wayside as everyone focused on this new and immediate threat. Now with the danger passed in Oakhurst and the approach of the fall hunting and camping season on ...

SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST – We are getting our first look at the aftermath of the French Fire, thanks to Dirk Charley, Forest Public Affairs Officer on the Bass Lake Ranger District. Dirk took a drive up the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway, and brought back these photos of Rock Creek and Fish Creek Campgrounds and Mile High Vista. Those who love ...

SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST – Just before 6 a.m. on Monday, July 28, the lookout on Shuteye Peak spotted a column of smoke rising from the area of Rock Creek Campground. Sierra Dispatch was notified and a call placed to Mark Smith, the day’s Duty Officer on the Bass Lake Ranger District. Smith made the trip from his home to the ...

SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST – The French Fire continues to ravage the forest on the Bass Lake Ranger District, growing overnight to 5,600 acres with 0% containment. There are currently 536 personnel assigned to the incident, staging at the Old Mill Site in North Fork where a heliport has been set up with six helicopters and three additional on order.

SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST – The French Fire, burning on the Bass Lake Ranger District along Forest Road 81, has now reached 3,637 acres with no containment noted. Fire crews continued to build new containment lines on Tuesday, and reopen established control lines which were used during the Aspen Fire last year.

YOSEMITE – The El Portal fire has now scorched 3,060 acres in Yosemite National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest, and is 19 percent contained. Officials report that it is now posing a threat to the Merced Grove of Giant Sequoias. Old El Portal residents were allowed to return home as of 9 a.m. this morning.

SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST – More than 2,000 acres along the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway have now been charred as the French Fire continues its march through the Bass Lake Ranger District. It is currently at zero percent containment. The fire, which was reported just before 6 a.m. on Monday, July 28, moved a bit to the south overnight, prompting a ...