The Meadow Fire was a wildfire which burned areas near

Half Dome Half Dome is a granite dome at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California. It is a well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape. One side is a sheer face while the other three sides are smoo ...

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 ...

. Park officials believe it was started near Starr King Lake, during a

lightning storm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...

, on July 19, 2014. On Sunday, September 7, 2014 the fire forced authorities to order the evacuation by helicopter of dozens of hikers and tourists. On September 16, 2014 the fire burned and was 80% contained. On September 18, the containment of the Meadow Fire increased to 85%, without having expanded further. During the next 4 days, firefighters were able to make significant progress on extinguishing the fire, especially with the 0.25 inches of rainfall during the weekend, and by September 22, the containment of the Meadow Fire had increased to 98%. From September 25 to 26, the containment of the wildfire still remained at 98%, despite some snow and rain falling in the region. On September 27, an additional inch of precipitation helped quench the wildfire, and on September 29, the Meadow Fire was 100% contained. No injuries or fatalities were reported. The damage caused by the Meadow Fire was severe. The high-intensity

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

burned very hot and, in some areas, the large fir and lodgepole pines were reduced to charcoal stalagmites. The forest floor was slow to recover because of the lack of moisture during the

California drought The historical and ongoing droughts in California result from various complex meteorological phenomena, some of which are not fully understood by scientists. Drought is generally defined as “a deficiency of precipitation over an extended peri ...

. During the summer of 2015, greenery was scarce and the forest floor was still covered in a thick layer of ash. However, scientists predict that the coniferous forest will regenerate after a few years despite the drought. The

Little Yosemite Valley Little Yosemite Valley is a smaller glacial valley upstream in the Merced River drainage from the Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park. The Merced River meanders through the long flat valley, draining out over Nevada Fall and Vernal Fall ...

backpacker's campsite is not within the Meadow Fire's burn scar.

References

{{2014 California wildfires Yosemite National Park 2014 California wildfires Wildfires in Mariposa County, California