Home » Headlines » Fires » Update On The Empire Fire Burning In Yosemite
Empire Fire - photo Yosemite Fire and Aviation

Update On The Empire Fire Burning In Yosemite

YOSEMITE — The Empire Fire, burning in the wilderness area of Yosemite National Park, is now estimated at 850 acres.

There are currently 33 personnel assigned to the incident, who are continuing to improve hand lines where necessary and conduct firing operations as needed along existing lines.

The southwest side of the fire continues to work its way south along Alder Creek Drainage.

Trails are closed from Bridalveil Creek campground to the second junction with the Ostrander trail. Also the trail from Westfall Meadow to the Deer Camp junction along Alder Creek remains closed. Signs are placed at the affected trails.

There are no threats at this time to infrastructure at Bridalveil Campground and the remainder of hiking trails in the area remain open.

The fire is burning in red fir timber, dormant brush and hardwood slash, with pockets of green leaf manzanita and chinquapin brush as well as heavy dead and down material.

Yosemite National Park fire and aviation crews have responded to multiple lightning-caused wildfires located within the park boundary in recent weeks. Lightning-caused wildfires are a common occurrence, with a total of 10 since July 31.

Monitoring a wildfire is a fire management tactic used by fire managers when strategizing an incident response, and contributing factors that help steer this decision-making process are often incident-specific. Location, available resources, predicted weather, topography, air quality and predicted fire behavior are all factors that contribute to fire management decisions.

Fire Managers are working with the local Air Quality Districts and will continually be monitoring smoke impacts to the park and local communities. Community members who are sensitive to smoke may want to close their windows and doors and continually monitor the attached air quality links.

Empire Fire: N 37° 38.673′ x W 119° 37.096′ at approximately 7300 feet elevation

For additional Information:

Fire Information: Yose_Fire_Info@nps.gov

Yosemite National Park Fire Information website: http://www.nps.gov/yose/blogs/fireinfo.htm

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yosemite-Wildland-Fire/124632964255395

Twitter: https://twitter.com/YosemiteFire

Air Quality: https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/nature/aqmonitoring.htm

https://airnow.gov/index.cfm?

Leave a Reply

Sierra News Online

Sierra News Online