Yosemite Valley to close Wednesday through weekend due to Ferguson Fire
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Tue, 07/24/2018 - 2:10pm
Yosemite Valley will close Wednesday as firefighters battle the Ferguson Fire with hopes of keeping it from moving into the national park, officials announced Tuesday.
A noon closure was put in place on a portion of Highway 41 from Wawona to the tunnel entry into Yosemite Valley, according to Micheal Reynolds from the National Park Service.
Yosemite Valley, Wawona, and Mariposa Grove are closed at least through at least Sunday, July 29 due to fire operations.
South Entrance will be also closed. Tioga Road and Tuolumne Meadows, including Big Oak Flat and Tioga Pass entrances, and Hetch Hetchy remain open.
Air quality in much of Yosemite has been poor the last several days and is expected to remain so for the next several days due to the fire, which has burned more than 36,587 acres since starting July 13 on the Sierra National Forest and is 25 percent contained as of Tuesday.
“Get yourself out of here if you can,” Reynolds told a group of evacuees, tourists and park employees inside the Yosemite Valley Auditorium Tuesday morning.
Here is a news release issued Tuesday afternoon from Caltrans:
Yosemite National Park will close Yosemite Valley and Wawona at 12 pm (noon) on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, to all visitors due to the ongoing impact of the Ferguson Fire.
Closures include all hotels, campgrounds, and visitor services in Yosemite Valley and Wawona. Visitors in campgrounds and lodging facilities are asked to be out of these areas by noon.
With the closure of State Route 140 (SR-140), visitors can exit the park via SR-41 and SR-120. The closure of Yosemite Valley and Wawona is expected to last until Sunday, July 29, 2018. The Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias is also closed.
Since the fire began July 13, several other park facilities and roads have been closed, including Glacier Point Road, Bridalveil Creek Campground, the Wawona Campground, the Merced Grove of Giant Sequoias and others.
The park will assess conditions day by day.
For updated 24-hour road and weather conditions for Yosemite National Park, please call 209-372-0200, press 1 and press 1 again. Updated information is also available on the park’s website at www.nps.gov/yose.
