News: Wildland Fires Continue To Expand In Yosemite National Park

Thursday, November 15, 2007

News: Wildland Fires Continue To Expand In Yosemite National Park

Jack Fire - Yosemite National Park
Vista Grande Hot Shots - San Bernardino NF
Photo Credit: NPS

BJ Hansen - News Reporter

Source: MML

Yosemite, Ca -- Two wildland fires continue to burn in Yosemite National Park that were started during a lightning storm late last month, and park officials will continue to allow the fires to burn out naturally.

The Jack Fire, located two miles north of Wawona, is currently 300 acres in size. While the Devil Fire, located north of Yosemite Valley, is 180 acres.

According to Yosemite officials, when the fires started on October 29th, fire managers considered many factors before deciding to place the fires under a wildland fire use management strategy. Some of these considerations were location of the fires, time of season, available resources, potential smoke impacts, and projected fire behavior and growth.

Decades of fire suppression, long term drought, and other factors have created heavy fuel loads in some park areas, including the area north of Wawona where the Jack Fire is located. Using fire as an ecological restoration tool, as well as to create defensible space around fire prone communities, can reduce the chance of future catastrophic fires like those seen in many parts of California this year.

Air quality is being monitored by Yosemite officials, and they say that there is no reason for tourists to stay away from the park

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

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Thursday, November 15, 2007