Re: Washburn Fire Update

At 2:04 pm on July 7th, the Yosemite Emergency Communications Center received multiple 911 telephone calls reporting smoke visible from the lower Mariposa Grove area, near the Washburn trail. A full initial attack response was dispatched including Yosemite Fire resources and cooperators. The Mariposa Grove was evacuated and is temporarily closed. Multiple resources have been ordered including engines, crews, and aircraft, as well as a Type 2 Incident Management Team. The fire was mapped last night at 46 acres and remained active overnight with an estimated acreage of 250 acres. Ground and air resources will continue suppression efforts today. The fire cause is under investigation.

All areas in Wawona should to prepare for potential evacuation as this incident may require evacuation in the future. Residents and visitors are encouraged to make appropriate preparations. Additional information can be found online at: https://www.readyforwildfire.org/prepare-for-wildfire/ready-set-go/

Additional Washburn information: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8209/

This is quite a distressing one for me (we have friends in Wawona and we stayed at the Wawona Hotel on our very first visit many years ago so I've always had a sentimental attachment to the area) and I really hope they are able to contain this soon.

Oddly, that inciweb link keeps giving me an error of "The site can't be reached. The connection was reset." Not sure what that's about since I've been on the site several times in the past.

In the meantime, I was able to find some more up-to-date information here, however: https://wildfiretoday.com/2022/07/10/washburn-fire-grows-in-yosemite-national-park/.

The inciweb site is working again.

The Washburn fire is mentioned in an article in The Atlantic:

Those Sequoias Didn’t Just Get Lucky
This is what preparing for wildfires looks like.
By Caroline Mimbs Nyce
JULY 14, 2022

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/07/yosemites-washburn-fire-sequoias/670520/