The Empire Fire was a wildfire that burned in

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The fire was reported on August 1, 2017 and was caused by lightning. It burned , before it was fully contained on November 27. The fire affected recreational activities in the national park.

Progression

The Empire Fire was reported on August 1, 2017 at 8:45 AM. It is located east of Badger Pass Ski Area and next to Bridalveil Creek Campground in

. The fire was naturally caused, possibly by

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an avera ...

. It was fueled by

red fir ''Abies magnifica'', the red fir or silvertip fir, is a western North American fir, native to the mountains of southwest Oregon and California in the United States. It is a high-elevation tree, typically occurring at elevation, though only rare ...

timber, dormant brush, green leaf

manzanita Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus ''Arctostaphylos''. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from Southern British Columbia and Washington to Or ...

, chinquapan brush, and dead and down material. On November 27, the fire was reported to be 100% contained.

References

2017 California wildfires History of Mariposa County, California Wildfires in Mariposa County, California Yosemite National Park {{wildfire-stub

Progression

See also

References