Fire Update #1 – July 22, 2010

Two lightning caused fires were discovered July 19, 2010, on the north rim of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River. Smoke was reported visible from the east, near the Waterwheel Fall area. Yosemite received lightning late last week and into the past weekend along the Sierra crest. It is not unusual to find these fires a few days after thunderstorms.

These remote fires are approximately at the 8000’ elevation and within two miles of each other. They are in designated wilderness, and located in Tuolumne County. Firefighters were flown into the fire area and spike camped out in the fire area to monitor the fires. They will gather data to assess the fire spread potential and observe fire behavior. Additionally, they will collect adjacent fuels and other vegetation information, determine fuel moistures, locate natural fire barriers, and place trail warning signs as needed. The two lightning caused fires are being managed for multiple objectives.

Tuolumne: 37 57.024 x 119 32.582. It mapped on the ground to .4 of an acre. It is west of the Wildcat 2 fire and Rodgers Creek. It has a slight potential to spread. It is burning in short needle conifer vegetation and brush, on a south aspect. No fire activity was observed today.

Wildcat 2: 37 56.865 x 119 30.447 – It grew to 2.9 acres. It has moderate potential to spread. Light smoke is visible. It is on the south side of Register Creek and north of last summer’s Wildcat fire. It continues to creep through brush. Winds were from the west to northwest.

There are three historical fires in this area: 1948, 1985 and last year’s 2009, Wildcat fire.

Suppression Fire:

Footbridge: 37 46.319x119 32.275 – This .10 acre fire was discovered July 20, 2010, and is in Mariposa County. This fire was suppressed utilizing Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics (MIST), utilizing the least impacting tools on the land. The helitack crew assigned to the fire hiked out of the fire area 7/21. It is in patrol status. This fire was burning in heavy fuels, many of which are snags, (standing dead trees.) Light smoke was visible from Glacier point, and was dispersing to the northwest. The fire was near the Snow Creek footbridge and n/w of Basket Dome.


The National Weather Service continues to predict a chance of thunderstorms later this week and into the weekend.

Another update will be out in the next few days as new data is collected, including photos. Additional maps and photographs are available to view on the Yosemite Webpage: http://www.nps.gov/yose/fire.