Rough fire grows slightly, some park closures to end

The Rough fire, which has burned more than 141,000 acres over the last six weeks, was still 67 percent contained on Thursday morning.

The blaze grew about 400 acres overnight. Firefighters are working to maintain fire lines around the wildfire, which destroyed Kings Canyon Lodge and prompted evacuations throughout the area during its rampage.

The number of firefighters working to control the blaze decreased overnight from more than 3,700 to 2,267. Two other fires in Northern California, the Valley and Butte fires, have grown to more than 70,000 acres each and pose a significant threat to structures.

Most evacuation orders for the area have been lifted. Kings Canyon National Park remains closed to road visitors, and Hume Lake Ranger District in Sequoia National Forest also is closed.

The National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service released a joint statement on Thursday saying parts of the Rough fire area would reopen this weekend.

The closure at Highway 180 and Highway 245 will be moved to the junction of Highway 180 and the Generals Highway at 8 a.m. Friday. Part of the Hume Lake Ranger District south of Highway 180 and west of Generals Highway will also reopen for recreation and travel. National forest areas east of Grant Grove, including Hume Lake, will remain closed.

Residents of Grant Grove and Wilsonia in Kings Canyon National Park will be allowed to return home at 10 a.m. Saturday. They must show proper identification in order to get past the roadblock. Grant Grove will remain closed to the public until Monday.

Stony Creek Resort will reopen for day use only on Sunday.

The Rough fire is the fifth-largest wildfire burning in the U.S. It is the largest fire ever to scorch Fresno County and the 15th-largest blaze in California history.

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Rough fire grows slightly, some park closures to end."