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.
The Closure Has Grown to Ostrander Lake and Everything South of It
3,420 acres on the latest federal mapping, 15 percent contained, 784 personnel. The fire is now burning into a nine-year-old burn scar.
The Park Service expanded the closure on Monday. The Ostrander Lake Trail and all areas and trails south of it are now shut, on top of the Chilnualna Falls trail and the routes from the top of the falls toward Buena Vista and Crescent lakes. The closed area still extends east of the Wawona Road between Wawona and Chinquapin. Both lakes remain reachable from the east.
The latest federal perimeter puts the fire at 3,420 acres with 15 percent containment and 784 personnel assigned. The park's own Monday morning figure was 3,222 acres, 15 percent and 581 personnel; the difference is when each was last measured rather than a disagreement.
The fire has moved north into the footprint of the 2017 Empire Fire, and that is the detail the incident team keeps returning to. Heavy dead and down fuel inside an old burn scar is receptive to spotting, which is why embers landing ahead of the front have been the main problem rather than the front itself. Crews have been flying hotshot crews into the Empire footprint and working direct hand line in the Bridalveil and Alder Creek drainages where natural barriers help.
There is an upside to the same fact. A large recent burn scar now sits between the fire and Wawona, and as long as the fire stays above the canyon rim, the incident team does not anticipate a threat to the community. There have been no evacuation orders or warnings at any point.
Air quality is the part that reaches everyone else. Wawona has been running unhealthy for sensitive groups with periods of unhealthy outright; Yosemite Valley has been unhealthy for sensitive groups; Hodgdon Meadow and Tuolumne Meadows moderate. Every road into and through the park remains open.
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