A wildfire burning in the Sierra National Forest in California led Friday to closure of facilities and campgrounds in the Grant Grove area of Kings Canyon National Park.
Park Service officials said in a release that the closure of the John Muir Lodge, Grant Grove Cabins, and all campgrounds in that part of the park would be closed indefinitely due to the "Rough Fire," a blaze that has covered more than 32,000 acres in the national forest just west of the national park. They did not specify why the facilities were being closed, whether due to smoky conditions or firefighting efforts, and were not immediately available Friday morning.
The Grant Grove area of Kings Canyon National Park is still open. The public may still access other facilities, including the General Grant Tree, restaurant, market, and gift shop. However, moderate to heavy smoky conditions were at times impacting vistas, the release said.
Comments
From this morning's Morning Report:
National Fire Activity
NIFC is at PL 5. There are 66 uncontained large fires burning nationwide, down 27 from yesterday. Current resource commitments appear below, with changes from yesterday's numbers in parentheses:
48 incident management teams, including two area command teams (no change)
692 crews (up 99)
32,292 firefighters and overhead (up 2,786)
1,965 engines (up 113)
202 helicopters (up 15)
On August 19th, three firefighters from the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest were fatally injured while engaged in initial attack operations on the Twisp River Fire near Twisp, Washington.
Fire Weather Forecast
A cold front will move through north-central Idaho into the northern and central Rockies today with strong and gusty winds. Showers and thunderstorms are possible over the region as well as further south ahead of the front in the southern Rockies and Four Corners, but widespread wetting rain is not anticipated. Behind this front it will remain relatively dry and breezy over much of the Intermountain West, with locally windy conditions in eastern Washington. East of the Rockies, showers and thunderstorms are expected over the southern and central Plains, as well as the Gulf Coastal region.
I didn't know there were that many firefighters in the whole world. Here is a link to the Interagency Fire Map:
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/lg_fire2.php
re: "I didn't know there were that many firefighters in the whole world." Indeed, Lee - the well is bound to be dry when it comes to trained resources, and risks increase as the same people work long, hard days on multiple fires over the summer and fall.
A "hidden" impact for parks is the ongoing need to pull employees with wildland fire training out of their normal jobs for details to other parts of the country for fire asssignments. That can leave staffing very thin in some parks during the height of the summer season.
I saw a news report yesterday about a call for volunteers to help protect a town from approaching fires, I believe somewhere in Washington state. Desperate measures in a very dangerous situation.