Wildfire — S Sierra Foothills, California

2018-07-13 to 2018-07-31 · S Sierra Foothills, California

Event narrative

The Ferguson fire began July 13, 2018 and continued burning into August. Tragically, 2 firefighters were killed. A CalFire bulldozer operator died on July 14 when his dozer rolled off a sharp ridge. A hotshot from Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park was killed when he was hit by a falling tree on July 29. One structure was destroyed and 57,041 acres had burned by July 31. The cost of containment was $64.3 Million as of July 31.

Wider weather episode

The Ferguson Fire started on July 13, 2018 at 2136 PDT in the South Fork Merced River drainage, 10 miles north of Mariposa, CA in Sierra National Forest. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The fire started in an area that has steep, rugged terrain with scarcely any road access and a heavy presence of beetle-killed trees. On the morning of July 14, a heavy equipment operator was killed in a bulldozer rollover accident. The fire grew rapidly under hot and dry weather conditions. Strong inversions each day resulted in smoke issues in the fire area that limited aircraft operations. Smoke impacts from the fire spread throughout Yosemite National Park, the Sierra Nevada and foothill and into the San Joaquin Valley. Highway 140 leading into Yosemite National Park was closed on July 14 and remained closed through the end of July and into August. Smoke impacts in Yosemite resulted in dangerous air quality causing Yosemite Valley and most of the eastern part of the park to be closed to visitors on July 25. This closure continued into early August. Highway 41 leading into Yosemite from the south was also closed. Several communities just outside of Yosemite, including El Portal, Foresta, and the park employee housing at Rancheria Flat were subject to evacuations. From July 24 to 31, additional evacuations and repopulations of other areas continued to occur. On July 29, another tragic accident occurred when a tree fell, hitting and killing a firefighter. This fire continued to burn actively into August. By July 31, it had burned 57,041 acres and cost $64.3 Million.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 768073. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.