Fire near Yosemite

If you're planning on coming to Yosemite in the next few days, I'd avoid Hwy 140. There is a large fire in progress, a thousand acres as of 9:30pm.

For fire info go here; http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current

CalTrans shows Hwy 140 as open, but locals say it's closed at the 140/Triangle Road junction. The local paper said there was a closure at Triangle and Hwy 49 South.

The Carstens Fire near State Route 140, which started yesterday about 10 miles west of Yosemite in the Midpines area, is at around 1000 acres. Evacuations called for Hites Cove, Jerseydale and Scott Rd. Jerseydale is under evacuation orders while the other areas are have pre-evacuation information. Red Cross station is being set up at Mariposa Elementary School, 5044 Jones St. Threat to the community of Midpines, NPS employees affected have been given administrative leave to be on call for evacuations. http://calfire.blogspot.com/2013/06/ca-mmuynp-carstens-10-12-acres.html

Last night, this fire lofted heavy smoke high in the air to our west, and webcams this morning show that smoke is now over the park and the Yosemite Valley, though monitors at the surface have yet to show its influence. Expect some of this smoke to "mix down" to the surface today, with potential health impacts to air quality. More incident-related information on the Carstens Fire can be found at: http://www.fire.ca.gov/

Carstens Fire Incident Information:
Last Updated: June 17, 2013 7:45 pm
Date/Time Started: June 16, 2013 2:12 pm
Administrative Unit: CAL FIRE Madera-Mariposa-Merced Unit / Sierra National Forest
County: Mariposa County
Location: off Carstens Road, east of 140 in the Midpines area.
Acres Burned - Containment: 1600 acres
Estimated Containment 1600 acres - 15% contained
Structures Threatened: Approx. 150 Residence
Evacuations: Evacuations for Hites Cove, Jerseydale, Clarks Valley, Triangle Rd. and Scott Rd. As of 6:17 PM, additional evacuations for Lush Meadows, east of West Fall Rd, Triangle Rd to Triangle Park Dr, Darrah Rd to North Valley View
Road Closures : Road Closures: Triangle Road closed at Rt 140, Carlton at Triangle Road , Silva at Triangle Road and Darrah at Triangle Road.
Cause: Under Investigation
Cooperating Agencies: CALFIRE, US Forest Service, Mariposa County
Total Fire Personnel: 700+
Total Fire Engines: 143
Total Fire crews: 11
Total Helicopters: 2
Total Dozers: 21
Total Water Tenders: 4

Source.

Around 6pm today the sheriff ordered a mandatory evacuation of Lush Meadows. That's a sizable subdivision.

I noticed today, a lot smoke in the sky from that fire, enough to make the sun red.

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Here's a photo I took Monday afternoon, showing smoke from two fires.

The small amount of white smoke is from the small Forbidden Fire near Eagle Peak. But the huge amount of reddish smoke above the white smoke is from the Carstens Fire near Mariposa.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2013 09:20AM by plawrence.

so many fires lately, I live about 3 miles for the evacuated areas it is so smokey out here
here is a live scanned feed that does not require registration

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Mountain Community Fire Information

Here is a link to another picture.

The fire is now at 1600 acres and still only 15% contained.

yea its kind of scary i have some stuff packed incase i have to evacuate.

It's going to be a long, dry, summer. I'm 8 miles away from the fire and I had a fine coating of ash over everything outside Monday morning. The wind must have shifted because I don't see the smoke directly overhead.

Last Updated: June 18, 2013 7:15 am
Date/Time Started: June 16, 2013 2:12 pm
Administrative Unit: CAL FIRE Madera-Mariposa-Merced Unit / Sierra National Forest
County: Mariposa County
Location: off Carstens Road, east of 140 in the Midpines area.
Acres Burned - Containment: 1600 acres
Estimated Containment 1600 acres - 15% contained
Structures Threatened: Approx. 800 residences
Evacuations: Evacuations for Hites Cove, Jerseydale, Clarks Valley, Triangle Rd. and Scott Rd. As of 6:17 PM, additional evacuations for Lush Meadows, East West Fall Road at Triangle Rd to Triangle Park Dr, Darrah Rd to North Valley View
Road Closures : Road Closures: Triangle Road closed at Rt 140, Carlton at Triangle Road , Silva at Triangle Road and Darrah at Triangle Road.

Cause: Human / Unattended campfire

Cooperating Agencies: CALFIRE, US Forest Service, Mariposa County
Total Fire Personnel: 2,237
Total Fire Engines: 143
Total Fire crews: 69
Total Dozers: 21
Total Water Tenders: 4
Conditions: Evacuation centers have been established for displaced residents and livestock and pets. Residential evacuation center is the Mariposa Elementary School, and animal evacuation center is at the Mariposa Fairground.


No air tankers? No helicopters? Are they busy elsewhere?

Yea wind did shift torwards middpines.
I can see Helicopters and air tankers from my home.

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Mountain Community Fire Information

We could smell the smoke yesterday afternoon in Yosemite West before we left. Good luck to everyone and I hope that no one loses their homes or get hurt.

And after that, looking at the listed Cause from Dave's post ( "Human / Unattended campfire" ), I hope they catch the person who caused it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2013 06:42PM by ttilley.