California Army and Air National Guard helicopter pilots from the 1st and 3rd Battalion of the 140th Aviation Battalion (Air Assault), based out of Los Alamitos, Stockton and Mather, and the 129th Rescue Wing, out of Mountain View, fly their UH-60 Black Hawks and HH-60 Pave Hawks, Aug. 29, 2013, to the dip site at the Cherry Lake dam just west of Yosemite National Park to various bucket drop sites nearby. The aircraft rotated from dropping to dunking, sometimes with other civilian choppers and could drop as many as 20 buckets before having to refuel. The pilots move in, directed by Cal Fire managers, who spot U.S. Forest Service fire fighters on the ground or follow other guidance on where best to lay the line of water. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Paul Wade/Released)
Photo: InciWeb | Cover: California National Guard

Smoke is filling Yosemite National Park as the Ferguson Fire nears the park’s border. The blaze is currently threatening residences, wildlife and thousands more acres of wilderness as hotshots and fire crews work to contain oncoming flames.

Mandatory evacuations remain in effect and the fire was 13% contained as of this morning’s report. The fire itself is located some 3 miles from the border of Yosemite National Park and has already caused closures from Glacier Point to El Portal Road for fire operations.

Find road closures here: Current Conditions [Yosemite National Park]

The fire has already claimed one firefighter, Braden Varney. Varney died when the bulldozer he was operating to create a fire break rolled over. Over 3,000 personnel are currently involved in the firefighting efforts.

[protected-iframe id=”f1c90cbf32068615c625ca2018e9554f-65244901-84409940″ info=”https://abc30.com/video/embed/?pid=3802962″ width=”476″ height=”267″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]

“The Ferguson Fire now in its 11th day, started July 13 on the Sierra National Forest and is managed under unified command between the United States Forest Service, California Interagency Incident Management Team 4, CALFIRE and the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office. Much of the fire is burning in steep, rugged terrain with little to no access roads. Mandatory and advisory evacuations are in place in several areas but no homes have been damaged or destroyed. ” – InciWeb

[protected-iframe id=”ecd4ff23311f407db57078269d9b3b88-65244901-84409940″ info=”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FSierraNF%2Fvideos%2F2218125691791365%2F&show_text=0&width=560″ width=”560″ height=”315″ frameborder=”0″ style=”border:none;overflow:hidden” scrolling=”no”]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BljrLk-H0hT/?tagged=fergusonfire

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlPdglpH_kz/?tagged=fergusonfire

*Our thoughts and prayers are with all the personnel fighting this wildfire.

Find out more here: Ferguson Fire [InciWeb]

Unofficial Networks Newsletter

Get the latest snow and mountain lifestyle news and entertainment delivered to your inbox.

Hidden
Newsletters
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.