Special SlideShow - August 2011 Motor Fire in Mariposa County by Linda Gast

Special SlideShow - August 2011 Motor Fire in Mariposa County by Linda Gast

On August 25, 2011 at about 12:30 P.M. a 1995 Holiday motor home that was owned by Jay Powers of Carlsbad, California overheated and caught fire in the Merced River Canyon near Highway 140 in Mariposa County. The fire spread to both sides of the Merced River, on the Sierra National Forest to the south and the Stanislaus National Forest to the north. The fire burned in very steep canyon slopes, and had burned to the top of the ridges above the Merced River on both sides of the Merced River Canyon before nightfall. With a historic lookout on Trumbull Peak many water drops were performed to keep this structure from burning.

Initially after the fire began Yosemite National Park was without power and switched over to generator power until sometime early Friday morning when power was restored. Two schools in the area also were closed on Friday.

As the fire continued to burn on Friday and Saturday mandatory evacuations were called for including Rancheria Flats, the Cedar Lodge Motel, Incline, The El Portal Trailer Village and local Merced River Canyon Campgrounds. Mandatory road closures consisted of Highway 140 East from near the Bug Hostel, the Incline Road, and Forest Road1S12. Old El Portal was also advised to prepare for evacuations. Yosemite West and Jerseydale were also notified of the pre-evacuation though the Code Red system.

On Saturday afternoon a DC-10 aircraft was ordered in to protect the natural resources and structures in the Rancheria and Old El Portal communities. The DC-10 made multiple retardant drops on the Eastern edge of the fire. The use of this aircraft was very effective in reducing the intensity of the fire. Fire crews on the ground continued to build line throughout the night to take advantage of the retardant and higher humidity's.

(The Modified DC-10 airtanker is able drop as much as 12,000 gallons of retardant in as little as eight seconds. The aircraft uses a computerized gravity-feed water dump system that is essentially a modified and scaled-up version of the system used by Erickson Air-Crane on its S64 helicopter. The drop rate, controlled from the cockpit, is governed by the opening of the tank doors.)

All evacuations were lifted at 9:00 P.M. on Monday, August 29, 2011. These evacuations included Rancheria Flat, Cedar Lodge, Incline, and the El Portal Trailer Village. Highway 140 opened at 6:00 A.M. Tuesday, August 30, 2011 for traffic traveling east-bound toward El Portal. West bound traffic opened at 6:45 A.M. Firefighters and equipment will remain along Highway 140 and in the communities as they continue to perform mop-up operations.

As of Wednesday Evening, August 31, 2011 the fire had consumed 5,231 acres and was 85% contained. No structures were destroyed and over 1,230 personnel were involved with the fire.

Sources included InciWeb and the daily incident report.