60 years before the River Fire, another major wildfire devastated the same foothill area
READ MORE
River Fire Updates
Read the latest stories on the River Fire, burning along the Mariposa and Madera county border in California.
Expand All
The River Fire, which grew to 4,000 acres within a matter of hours after it was discovered Sunday afternoon in the foothills of Mariposa and Madera counties, is reminding some longtime residents of another fire that ravaged the area 60 years ago – almost to the day.
“This fire is running in the footprint of the Harlow Fire,” Jaime Williams, a public information officer with Cal Fire, told The Bee. That fire started on July 10, 1961, and eventually burned more than 43,000 acres, destroyed more than 90 homes and killed two people, according to historical accounts.
The Fresno Bee reported at the time that the Harlow Fire was “one of the worst in foothill history” to date, while the Oakhurst-based Sierra Star recounted in 2008 that it was “the fastest-burning fire in California history,” burning at a pace up to 175 acres per minute at its peak.
Karl Kidder wrote in The Bee that the Harlow Fire began as “a wisp” in an area known as Usona, and burned more than 18,000 acres in a two-hour span on July 11, enveloping the towns of Nipinnawasee and Ahwahnee. “It sent flaming fingers dangerously close to the towns of Coarsegold and Oakhurst before it roared on northeast toward the Yosemite Forks on Highway 41.”
The Madera Tribune reported two weeks after the fire started that authorities arrested “a teenage Mariposa mountain boy” for starting the fire and planned to charge the 18-year-old with arson, as well as two counts of murder for the deaths of an Ahwahnee couple who died when their car stalled amid the flames on a back road.
The newspaper’s account indicates that after failing a polygraph test, the young man confessed to starting the fire on his 18th birthday at the Harlow Ranch with a packet of matches. His idea was to burn off underbrush to make it easier to round up wild horses on the ranch.
This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 2:22 PM.
CORRECTION: The original version of this story gave incorrect attribution for a 1961 story; Karl Kidder was the reporter for a July 1961 Fresno Bee story about the Harlow Fire near Coarsegold that summer.
