2015 Rough Fire: One Year Later

SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS, Calif. July 22, 2016 –As the one year anniversary of the Rough Fire approaches;the National Park Service has released an interactive map along with a series of videos to share the story of the Rough Fire. The eight videos will be released one a week for the next few months. Starting on July 31, 2015 from a lighting strike, the Rough Fire grew to be over 151,000 acres and the 2nd largest wildfire in modern Sierra Nevada history.

The interactive map is a way that the public can learn and share the story of the Rough Fire. As users click through the days, they can see pictures from the fire and see a map showing how the fire grew over the course of 99 days.

David Allen, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Fire Management Officer shared, "We want to use this opportunity to share the story of the Rough Fire while it is still fresh in people's minds. It's by capturing these events;we can continue to learn from past fires and for future ones."

Each video or vignette is between ninety seconds and two minutes long and tells a specific story related to the fire. These range from safety, air quality, and giant sequoias to destinations such as Grant Grove and Cedar Grove.


"One of the themes seen throughout these videos is how important having an active fire and fuels management program is to protecting the parks during a Rough Fire event. Previous prescribed burns played a key role in protecting hundreds of millions of dollars in assets located in Grant Grove and Cedar Grove," added Allen.

Visitors can explore the interactive maps on the parks' website at http://go.nps.gov/sekifire.