Hwy 120 to Yosemite Closed Today

New road closure in Yosemite. Tomorrow the road between Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows will close for fire suppression. That leaves only 140 & 41 as access routes. Those camping in the meadows will have to exit via Lee Vining.

It's moved in to the top 10 fires in recorded California history as far as the size. Luckily, for such a large fire, it has only destroyed a handful of structures. The small percentage of containment they are claiming is where it burned right up to the edge of the Pine Mountain Lake Community and were able to stop it. They also stopped it at Hardin Flat which is where Yosemite Lakes RV park is. The fire is well into Yosemite but it's burning some pretty remote areas there. However, it is almost at Hetch Hetchy reservoir. But once it gets there, there is a lot of granite.

105,000 acres this am.

We are getting smoke and ash way over here in Fallon Nv. Not pleasant being outdoors.

You're right. At present they are claiming 2% containment, but the fireline is growing so rapidly, I don't see how they can claim even that. Most of the area the fire is burning into is not really wilderness. There are roads and ranches throughout the area to the north. Most of the area has been logged and or burned a time or two.

They just don't have the manpower and equipment on scene yet to do much more than save the areas with structures. They are now warning the ranchers around the area to remove their cattle. I don't see how that's going to be possible. The terrain forces the ranchers to do it on horseback as the country is too rugged for ATVs. It typically takes about 3 days to round them up and get them loaded on trucks. They just don't have the time. Can you imagine going in to that area on horseback in front of a fire of this magnitude? I am afraid this will be one of those major catastrophic fires.

By the looks of this thing it's going to be a week or more before it's stopped, that is unless something like rain happens. Four days into it and all they've done is slow it down a little, but it's jumped most every line they have set. The fire fighters are doing one heck of a job of saving structures out there. I think for the most part they aren't doing much with the parts of the fire that are burning in wilderness and concentrating the efforts on homes.

Over 53,000 acres and growing rapidly.

Yup, I'm listening to the fire channels now. They are working hard to protect Hardin Flat (where Yosemite Lakes is). I think they are dropping retardant directly on top of buildings there.

Looking at the most current map it appears to be only 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the Yosemite Lakes RV Park and moving rapidly in that direction.

That puts it at about 4 miles from the Big Oak Flat entrance to Yosemite. As the crow flies.

It's also moving rapidly to the north. Looks like this is going to become big.

Unfortunately the Forest Service doesn't do many updates. There is a link to the satellite detection feed from the Forest Service website.

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/googleearth.php

Click on the AFM KML Bundle: Current
It will load the map in Google Earth (not sure about Google Maps).
Zoom in on the Rim Fire and it will show the detection points. Click on the spot in the center of each square and it will give the time of detection.