Yosemite Photos, Video and News

Community Update Monday August 29, 2011 1750 hours

This will be the final update related to the Motor Fire.

Current Fire Conditions:

Fire crews made excellent progress on the Motor Fire yesterday and today.

Although the fire is still active, the crews with air support were able to

significantly reduce the intensity and risk to communities.

If you get a chance, thank a firefighter or an officer – these individuals

have been working in intense heat, unforgiving terrain, and dangerous

conditions for several days to ensure that our communities and

parks/forests were protected from what could have become a catastrophic

event.

Community Updates

  At 9:00 p.m. on Monday, August 29, all evacuation and pre-evacuation

  orders for residents will be lifted. Evacuated residents may return to

  their homes. Please be aware that there will still be fire crews and

Motor Fire, Erickson Air-Crane battling the fire coming over ridge into Moss Creek 8/27/11

Motor Fire Map 8am 8/28/11 actually a really good map showing where the fire is
 

Amazing pieces of machinery and pilots.

This is where the Motor Fire appeared to be when viewed from Hwy 41 on 8/26/11
View Motor Fire in a larger map

Motor Fire from Hwy 41 8/26/11 6:33pm

Community Update Friday August 26, 2011 1400 hours
This will be updated each afternoon as conditions change – revised postings
will be placed in Yosemite Valley at the Valley Visitor Center, in El
Portal at the post office, market, and El Portal School.

Overview
At approximately noon on August 25, a motor home caught fire in the Merced
River Canyon along Hwy 140 near Cedar Lodge. Fire spread to both sides of
the Merced River, the Sierra National Forest to the south and the
Stanislaus National Forest to the north.

Current Conditions:
• The fire is still active and has grown to approximately 3,000 acres.
• The most active portion of the fire is the NE corner, the Trumball
Peak area.
• Highway 140 is closed from the Octagon to Foresta Road.
• Highways 120 (east and west) and 41 are all open.
• Cedar Lodge, some campgrounds, and some private residences have been
evacuated. There is a possibility of Rancheria evacuation to allow for
burnout operations. If this decision is made it will be
coordinated through the Sheriff's office and communicated to residents. Old
El Portal and Yosemite West have also been given pre-evacuation notice and

This is taken from Turtle Back WEeb Cam and is looking west towards El Portal and Mariposa down the Merced River Canyon. One can see the smoke off in the distance and the farthest ridge not in the smoke on the right is just above El Portal.

http://yubanet.com/CAFires/Motor.php

Motor, Sierra NF. IMT 2 (Cooper). Thirteen miles northeast of Mariposa, CA. Chaparral. Active fire behavior.

August 26, 2011 at 8:19 AM

Local Law enforcement recommend precautionary measures. Stay away from Hwy 140 heading to Yosemite National Park. Residences south of the Yosemite maintenance station are being evacuated.

Evacuations and Road Closures: Cedar Lodge, Incline and local Merced River Canyon Campgrounds were voluntarily evacuated. Rancheria, Old El Portal, and Yosemite West have been advised to prepare for evacuations. Highway 140, from the Foresta Bridge west is closed. There is no estimation as to when Hwy. 140 will re-open.

Air tankers, Helicopter types 1&2,Dozers, Hotshot Crews, Type 1,3&6 engines. The Central Sierra Type two Incident Management Team will be on scene Aug. 26 to take command of the fire response efforts. Additional fire resources have been ordered.

August 26, 2011 at 6:41 AM

Structures Threatened: 70 Primary , 3 Commercial , 35 Outbuildings

Observed Fire Behavior: Rapid rates of spread on both north and south facing slopes.

August 25, 2011 at 6:49 PM

R5: There are no homes imminently at risk but more engines being brought in for structure protection.

Trumbull Peak fire lookout (historical building) is threatened. Air tankers are dropping retardant on the structure to save it.

August 25, 2011 at 6:40 PM

Per R5: Firefighters rolling in from several National Forests, from central CA & Sierra communities. Thx NPS & Cal Fire FFs

August 25, 2011 at 6:16 PM

The fire is spotting towards the Stanislaus at Grizzly Flat.

August 25, 2011 at 5:50 PM

Heavy air support for the incident. U.S. Forest Service & Cal Fire airtankers utilizing Fresno Air Attack Base.

August 25, 2011 at 5:42 PM

Moderate rate of spread in very steep terrain.

August 25, 2011 at 5:35 PM

Hwy 140 closed west of El Portal due to the Motor fire outside Yosemite. Hwys 120 and 41 open to Yosemite Valley.

August 25, 2011 at 5:03 PM

South Central Sierra Type II IMT (IC-Cooper) is being activated for this fire.

Local strike teams are providing structure protection.

Numerous resources on order, CHP is directing traffic on 140, expect delays.

SouthOps sending additional crews to the incident. Powerlines down on the south side of Hwy 140.

Yosemite National Park's El Portal Maintenance and Administrative Complex threatened. Helicopters are working structure protection.

The fire has reached Trumbull Peak.

At approximately 1300 hrs today a fire broke on the Bass Lake Ranger District in the Merced River Canyon. Initial reports indicate the fire is approximately 600 acres.

Residents south of the Yosemite maintenance station to the clearing house are being evacuated.

Hwy 140 is closed 4 miles north of Midpines up to the park, and being rerouted to Coulterville.

The Motor Fire was started by a motor home that burned up. As fire and rescue responded from Mariposa that came across a car off the road at Briceberg and had to work on that.

The fire does not look bad at all from El Portal this morning. All one can see is settled smoke as the fire laid down last night and we had down canyon winds which blew all the smoke west towards Mariposa.
Yesterday was a totally different story with a huge A-Bomb cloud just west of El Portal. The air tankers and helicopters hit it very hard and looks like they did a great job of driving the fire north up the canyon into the Trumbull Peak area. It is also burning hard on the south side of the canyon in the South Fork area towards Jersydale.
Some reports say one house was lost down Incline road, the last house, but it is not confirmed. The local post master was at his house on Incline road and reports say the fire was right up to his house but it was saved from lots of air tankers and helicopters.
There is a huge fleet of air tankers and helicopters working the fire and one can follow them on a scanner. Rancheria and El Portal are still on alert for evacuation. The fire at the moment is far away from Foresta and it sounds like they are sending bulldozers out to South Landing on Hwy 120 to start lines way out in that area.

Motor Fire Update 7:00 am August 26 Some essential information: Fire began yesterday at approximately 12:30 PM with a motor home fire on Hwy 140. About 11pm last night fire activity was backing along the slopes. Fire remains on both sides of the river East of Cedar Lodge and in Dry Gulch. Fire was fairly active. HWY 140 has a hard closure with active fire along the road and debris on the roadway. HWY 140 closure is likely for all of today. The fire is estimated at 1000 acres. Power was returned to Yosemite Valley and other areas sometime between midnight and 4am. Power may be intermittant. Heavy use of aircraft and dozers today. 500+ fire fighters are on site today. El Portal nonessential employees are granted administrative leave. Check the hotline (209-379-1186) for more information. If an essential employee, check with your supervisor regarding your status. Possibility of Rancharia evacuation due to fire threatening the area and need for burnout operations. Decision will be made by IC. We will coordinate with the Sheriff and National Park Service. A joint information center should be established to coordinate between the park, county fire, and fire ICS.