SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST – Central California residents woke once again to heavy smoke from the Rough Fire, which is now estimated at 128,796 acres with 29 percent containment. There are currently 2,570 personnel assigned to the incident, including 60 crews, 164 engines, 14 helicopters and 23 dozers. With the fire now into its seventh week, management teams continue to time ...

SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST – Mountain area residents continue to experience smoke from the Rough Fire, burning southeast of Madera County about 50 miles, near Hume Lake off Highway 180. The Rough Fire grew 4,048 acres on Sunday, and is now estimated at nearly 21,000 acres with 0 percent containment. The fire was lightning-caused. It was reported on July 31, and ...

CLOVIS – In the process of achieving what he once called a dream, Fresno State graduate Antonio Cabrera was recently selected as the new Forest Engineer for the Sierra National Forest. Antonio is a civil engineer who has been with the Sierra National Forest since 2009. Originally from Mexico, Antonio worked as a farm laborer in Reedley from 1990 to ...

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 ...

NORTH FORK – It takes a village to support hundreds of firefighters battling thousands of acres of scorching flames, and that’s what has sprung up, literally overnight, at the Old Mill Site in North Fork. Nearly 1,700 firefighters, support staff, overhead and contractors are staged on the 135-acre compound managed by the North Fork Community Development Council, effectively doubling the ...

HUNTINGTON LAKE – Why didn’t they put this thing out right away? Why was it so many days with 0% containment? Are they really trying to get this fire handled, or just letting it burn on purpose? Those are some of the questions people have been bandying about, and when I visited the Aspen Fire Camp last Friday, I was ...