Yosemite National Park, CA — The Foresta Big Meadow Prescribed Burn is now officially out of control.
What was to have been a one day, 91 acre burn has developed into a 300 plus acre fire according to Fire Information Officer Gary Wuchner.
Wuchner commented, "Holding problems developed when they ignited the test fire against the hose lines that had been built. Squirrelly winds picked up the fire. It’s moved away from the houses. It’s in an area between the meadow and Hwy 120. The fire has now jumped Hwy 120. It’s inside the 1990 A-Rock Fire scar. There’s a lot of standing dead trees and ground fuels and a lot of brush."
Resources include 65 firefighters, the Yosemite helicopter, two Type One Sky Crane Erickson style helicopters (3,000 gallon capacity each), two helicopters with water buckets and four CAL Fire S2 aircraft out of the Columbia Air Base.
Big Oak Flat Rd. from Crane Flat into the Valley has been closed. The Foresta Access Rd. is also closed.
To date no injuries have been reported and no structures have been threatened or damaged.
Written by bill.johnson@mlode.com
This post was last modified on 08/26/2009 6:20 pm