Conditions described here were accurate only as of the date shown and may have changed. This is not a substitute for current official information from the agency with jurisdiction. See the full notice. Full notice.
Dome Fire Closure Now Reaches Mono Meadow and Buena Vista Trails
Wind and low humidity Thursday pushed a spot fire out ahead near Bridalveil Creek. A new team took command this morning.
The Dome Fire closure now also takes in the Mono Meadow and Buena Vista trails, the incident's InciWeb page says. That is on top of the closures already in place: Glacier Point Road, the Chilnualna Falls trail and the trails beyond it toward Buena Vista and Crescent Lakes, and the Ostrander Trail and everything south of it, east of the Wawona Road to Chinquapin. The park's closure order and map have the exact lines.
The reason is Thursday's weather. With wind gusts to 20 mph and low humidity, fire activity picked up in the northeast near Bridalveil Creek, and the fire spotted out ahead of itself. Today crews are sizing up that spot fire and attacking it directly where they safely can, building direct line on the east side with aircraft available, and continuing contingency line along Glacier Point Road. On the south end the lines are being reinforced, and on the west side the fire is slowly backing down toward control lines.
The latest federal incident report, filed Thursday evening, puts the fire at 5,855 acres and 40 percent contained with 798 personnel, and its estimated cost so far at $29 million. That is about 80 acres more than the park's Thursday morning figure. A perimeter posted to the interagency data Thursday evening measures larger, about 6,160 acres. The park had not published a Friday morning acreage when this was written; this paper uses the incident report.
A new incident management team took command at 7 a.m. today, California Team 4, in the routine rotation the park announced Thursday.
For the weekend: high clouds today and temperatures a degree or two lower, then sunny on Saturday with well above normal temperatures, light winds and low humidity. Glacier Point Road is still closed; the Four Mile and Panorama trails to Glacier Point remain open to hikers. Anyone planning a loop that uses the Mono Meadow or Buena Vista trails should rework it.
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