Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Ferguson Fire 80% Contained. Crews Protect Yosemite Valley.
GV-Wire-1
By gvwire
Published 6 years ago on
August 10, 2018

Share

Having contained 80% of the Ferguson Fire, the team battling the biggest blaze in Sierra National Forest history is focused on keeping theĀ flames out of iconic Yosemite Valley, officials said Friday morning.
“The final piece that must be secured remains between El Portal Road and Wawona Road,” states the Ferguson Fire website. “To secure this line, firefighters are implementing tactical burning operations along Wawona road north towards Turtle Dome. This operation is expected to take two or three days to complete. Night and day resources are focused on this operation.”
In addition, crews are patrolling the contained fire line. Suppression repair resources are working to remove signs of suppression activity and prevent erosion, officials said.
Much of Yosemite National Park remains open. Tioga Road from Tioga Pass to White Wolf is open, as are the Tuolumne Meadows Campground and the Tuolumne Meadows Store.
Information:Ā nps.gov/yose,Ā 209-372-0200.

Mendocino Complex Fire Won’t Be Squelched Until September

Fire crews have made progress against the biggest blaze in California history but officials say the fire won’t be fully contained until September.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Friday the blaze in Northern California is 60 percent contained.
The Mendocino Complex Fire of twin fires burning side by side has been raging through tinder-dry vegetation for two weeks.
It has destroyed 119 homes and charred an area the size of Los Angeles.
Officials say a much more destructive blaze burning farther north near the city of Redding is now 51 percent contained.
That blaze destroyed more than 1,000 homes and displaced 38,000 people.

Holy Fire Threatens Neighborhoods

Firefighters battled through the night to keep a raging forest fire from reaching foothill neighborhoods in Southern California.
The arson blaze in the Cleveland National Forest gained renewed strength Thursday, racing along ridges and coming within yards of homes.

Photo of firefighter at the Holy Fire
A firefighter keeps watch as the Holy Fire burns in the Cleveland National Forest along a hillside at Temescal Valley in Corona, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018. Firefighters fought a desperate battle to stop the Holy Fire from reaching homes as the blaze surged through the Cleveland National Forest above the city of Lake Elsinore and its surrounding communities. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
Crews on Friday are allowing some hillsides to burn, to reduce fuel and make it harder for flames to jump roadways later in the day when the winds pick up.
Hundreds more firefighters have joined the battle, bringing the total to 1,200. The fire has blackened 16 square miles of timber and brush and is only 5 percent contained. More than 20,000 residents are evacuated.
California Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for Orange and Riverside counties.
A man charged with intentionally setting the fire is scheduled for arraignment Friday.

Inmates, Soldiers, Foreign Firefighters Enlisted for Blazes

California prisoners are fighting fires. Cal Fire trains minimum-security inmates and pays them $1 an hour in the field and $2 a day when theyā€™re not on duty. Inmate firefighters also typically have their sentences reduced for every day spent fighting fires.
They do similar work to any firefighter, working long hours and sleeping in camps with other inmates. Most are on the front lines, using chain saws and hand tools to reduce tinder-dry brush and trees to stop the flames.

53 From Down Under

Firefighters from Australia and New Zealand are helping California, arriving this week at the Mendocino Complex Fire after an 8,600-mile flight and two-hour bus trip.
Craig Cottrill, chief of the Wellington Fire Department in New Zealand, said his country doesnā€™t see fires nearly as big as Californiaā€™s.
Rob Gore, a firefighter from the Australian capital of Canberra, said it makes for good relationships that Australians often fight fires in North America and that Canadians and Americans regularly fight fires in his country.
ā€œWhen those big events happen across the continents, we all pitch in,ā€ he said.
The New Zealanders have been assigned as safety officers, line supervisors and heavy equipment ā€œbossesā€ who direct bulldozer operators.

200 Soldiers

They are undergoing four days of training to fight wildfires and are expected to be deployed to California next week, U.S. Army Col. Rob Manning said in a statement. Authorities havenā€™t decided where to send the soldiers from the Tacoma, Washington-based 14th Brigade Engineer Battalion.
They will be outfitted with wildland protective gear, organized into 10 teams and led by experienced civilian firefighters. Personnel from the same base helped fight California wildfires last year.

DON'T MISS

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

DON'T MISS

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

DON'T MISS

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

DON'T MISS

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

DON'T MISS

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

DON'T MISS

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

DON'T MISS

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

DON'T MISS

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

DON'T MISS

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

DON'T MISS

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

UP NEXT

What Will Happen to CNBC and MSNBC When They No Longer Have a Corporate Connection to NBC News?

UP NEXT

Major Storm Drops Record Rain, Downs Trees in Northern California After Devastation Further North

UP NEXT

Newsom Heads to Fresno, a County That Voted for Trump

UP NEXT

Conservative Professors and Students Are Beating CA Community Colleges in Court

UP NEXT

Thousands of University of California Workers Go on 2-Day Strike Over Wages, Staff Shortages

UP NEXT

Gavin Newsom Pledged to Release His Tax Returns Every Year. The Last One Was for 2020.

UP NEXT

California Governor Will Not Make Clemency Decision for Menendez Brothers Until New DA Reviews Case

UP NEXT

Fewer Kids Are Going to California Public Schools. Is There a Right Way to Close Campuses?

UP NEXT

California Voters Reject Measure That Would Have Raised Minimum Wage to Nation-High $18 Per Hour

UP NEXT

With Democracy Supposedly at Stake, California Voters Stayed Away in Droves

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

1 hour ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

2 hours ago

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

2 hours ago

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

2 hours ago

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

3 hours ago

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

3 hours ago

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

3 hours ago

Death Toll in Gaza From Israel-Hamas War Passes 44,000, Palestinian Officials Say

3 hours ago

Jussie Smollett’s Conviction in 2019 Attack on Himself Is Overturned

4 hours ago

Fresno Council Lowers Speed Limits on Friant and Audubon

4 hours ago

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

SEOUL, South Korea ā€” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his past negotiations with the United States only confirmed Washington’s ...

11 minutes ago

11 minutes ago

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

16 minutes ago

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

56 minutes ago

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

President Joe Biden with Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, at the Detroit Auto Show, Sept. 14, 2022. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to erase the Biden administrationā€™s tailpipe rules designed to get carmakers to produce electric vehicles, but most U.S. automakers want to keep them. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
1 hour ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

2 hours ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

2 hours ago

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at First Horizon Coliseum, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Greensboro, NC. (AP/Alex Brandon)
2 hours ago

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

3 hours ago

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend