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Big Meadow Fire At Yosemite National Park Up to 4,382 Acres, Restricted Access Monday Along Tioga Road

Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on August 30, 2009 - 6:44pm

Views in the Yosemite Valley on Sunday were clearer than the day before, although the size of the Big Meadow Fire had jumped to nearly 4,400 acres. Photo via Yosemite Association webcam.

The Big Meadow Fire in Yosemite National Park has grown to nearly 4,400 acres, and fire bosses plan to institute restricted access along the Tioga Road between Crane Flat and White Wolf beginning Monday and continuing indefinitely.

The fire, which started August 26 when a controlled burn quickly got out of control, is 50 percent contained. The blaze has forced the evacuations of Foresta and Old El Portal, and the Crane Flat and Tamarack campgrounds both have been closed, as has the Yosemite View Lodge.

Beginning Monday, flaggers will be controlling access along the Tioga Road between White Wolf and Crane Flat. This stretch of the road will have controlled access with a pilot car during daylight hours, and be closed completely each night. Motorists should expect delays, which could begin as early as Monday morning. The Big Meadow Fire continues to spread northeast and use of the Tioga Road for fire operations is necessary, according to reports from the park. Fire bosses say that "fire activity is dynamic and conditions may dictate a complete closure of Tioga Road at any time."

Visitors can call 209-372-0669 or 209-372-0327 for updated fire information during business hours.

Comments

Submitted by tomp on August 31, 2009 - 10:58am.

The best map I've seen is at:
https://165.221.39.44/ftp/InciWeb/CAYNP/2009-08-28-19:25-big-meadow-wildfire/picts/pict-20090830-150443-0.jpeg

I _think_ that's a publicly available site (the certificate error is ok: they put their map on a different server). If not, somebody let me know in the comments and I'll mirror it elsewhere.

From the map, the burn was northwest of Foresta (but uphill) , and grew both south and northwest. If the topo basemap is correct, Big Meadow is adjacent to Foresta so the fire burned uphill and away from the structures. Foresta looks pretty safe, but you can see that the fire has burned to or across all 3 roads in and out. The active burn appears to be to the WNW and contained along the road to Tioga Pass, although at least one patch jumped to the north half a mile.

Submitted by tomp on August 31, 2009 - 2:45pm.

InciWeb has today's map up at:
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/maps/large/1869/1/

No active burn around Foresta. New front on the east, and gradual north & NW extension.