OAKHURST —  Firefighters continued to make good progress on the Railroad Fire overnight, and officials have released their plan for repopulating evacuated areas and reopening Highway 41. The fire is now estimated at 12,141 acres with 50 percent containment. Fire officials have announced this schedule for the lifting of evacuations: The Fish Camp area will be open to the public ...

OAKHURST — At a community meeting tonight in Oakhurst, residents, travelers on Highway 41 and those who are employed north of town heard very good news. Fire officials have announced the schedule for the lifting of evacuations on the Railroad Fire. The Fish Camp area will be open to the public tomorrow, though people will have to access from the north ...

OAKHURST — There was no infrared flight information for the Railroad Fire overnight, so it is still being reported at 11,603 acres with 43 percent containment. However, a look at the briefing map from this morning (at the bottom of the page) shows a lot more black (containment) line than on yesterday’s map, after 24 hours of good progress on ...

OAKHURST – Residents and firefighters got a bit of a break from the dense smoke today, and there were actually blue skies over the area this afternoon near the Railroad Fire. The fire grew by only 75 acres since this morning, and is now estimated at 11,603 acres with 43 percent containment. There are currently 962 personnel assigned to the ...

NORTH FORK — Cal Fire Incident Management Team 3, in conjunction with Cal Fire MMU, the Sierra National Forest, the Madera County Sheriff’s Office and cooperating agencies will be hosting a community meeting in North Fork tonight. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. at the North Fork Rancheria Tribal Community Center, 56900 Kunugib Way (see map below). Representatives from the ...

OAKHURST — While the big plume of smoke just outside the southwest perimeter of the Railroad Fire looks ominous, crews made some good progress on the fire today. It is now estimated at 10,745 acres with 30 percent containment. There are currently 872 personnel assigned to the incident including 89 engines, 14 hand crews and 14 dozers. Today saw a ...

OAKHURST — Once again the mountain area was greeted with a dense blanket of smoke as the sun rose over the Railroad Fire, burning north of Oakhurst. The fire is now estimated at 10,734 acres with 23 percent containment. There are currently 835 personnel assigned to the incident including 89 engines, 13 hand crews and 12 dozers. Air Operations reported ...

OAKHURST — After a very active 24 hours on the Railroad Fire on Sunday, things were quite a bit calmer today. With cooperation from the weather in the form of lower temperatures, higher humidities and calm winds, firefighters made some good progress. The fire is still being estimated at 9,790 acres with 23 percent containment. There has been an update ...

NORTH FORK — The Mission Fire, which prompted the evacuation of Cascadel Road and the entire community of Cascadel yesterday, is now estimated at 825 acres with 5 percent containment. The number of structures destroyed has risen to five. We know that three of those are homes, but have no additional information on the other two. Approximately 250 homes were ...

NORTH FORK — A fire camp sprang up overnight at the Old Mill site near Madera County Fire Station 11, a sight all too familiar to residents over the past five years. The Mission Fire is still estimated at 650 acres with 0 percent containment. It is burning in Cal Fire jurisdiction and on Sierra National Forest land. There are ...