Approaching Ferguson Fire sparks worries at Wawona meeting. Evacuations? Air quality?
As the Ferguson Fire raged for a seventh straight day Friday and creeped closer to Yosemite National Park, people in the region continued to express concerns about the possibility of evacuations and the poor air quality.
Those two topics dominated a meeting of about 40 people who packed the Wawona Community Center on Friday afternoon. A similar informational meeting was planned Friday evening in Mariposa.
Worries became reality Friday for some when the fire jumped the Merced River near El Portal, forcing incident commanders to announce mandatory evacuations for Old El Portal, Rancheria Flat government housing, Foresta and Yosemite View Lodge.
Highway 140 is closed from 1.9 miles east of Midpines to the Cedar Lodge area and motorists are advised to use an alternate route. Highways 41 and 120 remain open for travel to Yosemite National Park.
A new evacuation center was established at Yosemite Valley Elementary School, 9009 Los Arrow Road in the park. A Red Cross shelter is at New Life Christian Fellowship at 5089 Cole Road in Mariposa.
New figures announced Friday evening put the fire’s size at 24,450 acres and still just 7 percent contained.
The crowd in Wawona appeared to be split between locals and park visitors. Wawona is on Highway 41 near the southern entrance to Yosemite and southeast of the Ferguson Fire.
The park remains open, but the air in Yosemite Valley is expected to be unhealthy again Saturday, as it has been for much of this week.
“We’re just telling people to continue to check the air quality updates and decide for themselves whether or not the circumstances are fit for them to go outside,” Yosemite National Park spokeswoman Shanelle Saunders said.
Saunders said the inversion layer lifted Friday, which allowed the fire to make a push southeast toward the Chowchilla Mountains, roughly due west of Wawona.
Besides the new mandatory evacuations posted Friday, mandatory evacuations are in effect for the El Portal Trailer Court, Jerseydale, Mariposa Pines, Cedar Lodge/Indian Flat Campground, Savage’s Trading Post, Sweetwater Ridge and Incline Road from Clearing House to the Foresta Bridge.
Saunders said the focus continues to be to protect structures, specifically those in Mariposa Pines and those surrounding the Cedar Lodge in El Portal near where the fire started the night of July 13. The fire is threatening more than 200 structures but no structures have been damaged.
A CalFire spokesman noted that the fire is raging in an area where the largest recorded fire in the Sierra National Forest took place in 1926.
Nearly 3,000 firefighters are battling the fire in rough terrain and dangerously hot weather for crews. Heavy smoke continues to hamper the use of fixed-wing aircraft to contain the spread of the blaze.
Difficult conditions could worsen for firefighters because of the chance of thunderstorms at the crest of the Sierra that produce winds that fan flames.
The cause remains under investigation.
Other road closures include Incline Road, River Road from Briceburg to the gate at Railroad Flat and all campgrounds in the area and Hites Cove-Jerseydale Road.
Authorities also issued an evacuation advisory for:
▪ Yosemite West
▪ Lushmeadows Community
▪ Ponderosa Basin Community
▪ Triangle Road from Jerseydale to Highway 49 South (including all side roads)
▪ Darrah Road from Triangle to Sherrod Road
▪ East side of Highway 49 from Darrah Road to Harris Road, including Boyer Road, Woodland Area, Wass Road and Tip Top Road
▪ National Park Service El Portal Complex
This story was originally published July 20, 2018 at 7:44 AM.