What's at stake:
The 10-day-old Garnet Fire has grown to 24,851 acres in the Sierra National Forest as of Tuesday morning, and a weather system off the coast of California is blowing wildfire smoke north into the foothills of Madera County.
The Garnet Fire in the Sierra National Forest grew to 24,851 acres as of Tuesday morning, making it the third largest California wildfire so far this year, according to CalFire.
The 10-day-old blaze is still at 12% containment, most of which is along the southern portion of the wildfire. One of the biggest priorities last week for California Incident Management Team 10 was to ensure that the blaze didn’t jump the Kings River and spread south.
“Starting along the Kings River, they’ve done excellent work in securing that, maintaining it within the lines — and understand that’s steep, rugged terrain,” said operations chief Tom Browning during a Tuesday morning briefing.
Browning said wildfire response teams are hoping to continue containment lines along the southwestern side of the fire to keep it from spreading west closer to Pine Flat Lake. Browning added there’s a possibility that weather conditions could make the fire grow even more.
“Big concern today is the thunder cells that have moved into the area, new lightning strikes,” Browning said. “Our weatherman said there’s going to be dry lightning — and with outflow of gusty winds, it’s always a concern for firefighters.”
So far, the Garnet Fire has not sent wildfire smoke into major population centers, however it’s polluted the air quality of Madera County’s foothill communities, including Oakhurst. Generally speaking, atmospheric winds above the Sierra National Forest blow from northwest to southeast, said Emily Wilson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
However, a low-pressure weather system near San Luis Obispo has made atmospheric winds go in the opposite direction — sending wildfire smoke into foothill communities of Madera County, including Oakhurst.
“These winds are coming up from the south and pushing everything north,” Wilson told Fresnoland.
August and September are usually when California’s annual wildfire season picks up. A combination of strong winds, dry heat and high temperatures are a recipe for wildfires, especially in areas dense with fuels — which includes most types of forest greenery like trees, grass and shrubs.
Last week, fire officials revealed that the Garnet Fire was caused by lightning, and that’s not unusual considering where the fire is located and when it began, Wilson said. She added that monsoonal moisture brought thunderstorms to the Sierra National Forest — but it didn’t provide much rain.
“With these thunderstorms, there wasn’t a whole lot of moisture that was able to reach the ground, so we just had essentially dry lightning strikes,” Wilson said. “Because it was so dry at the surface, the rain was basically evaporating before it got to hit the ground.”
On Friday, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors declared a state of emergency, and the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office has issued evacuation orders and warnings for areas surrounding the wildfire.
Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Tony Botti confirmed to Fresnoland that the biggest concern right now are campers, hikers and other people visiting the forest.
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