The Railroad Fire was a wildfire that burned in between the communities of Sugar Pine and

Fish Camp Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in the

Sierra National Forest Sierra National Forest is a U.S. national forest located on the western slope of central Sierra Nevada in Central California and bounded on the northwest by Yosemite National Park and the south by Kings Canyon National Park. The forest is kno ...

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 ...

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 29, 2017 and burned before it was fully contained on October 24. It occurred during the historic 2011–2017 California drought. The cause of the fire remains unknown. The fire threatened communities in the area, historic buildings in the

Nelder Grove Nelder Grove, formerly known as Fresno Grove when it was within a much larger 19th-century Fresno County, is a Giant sequoia grove located in the western Sierra Nevada within the Sierra National Forest, in Madera County, California. The grove is ...

Historic Area, Tenaya Lodge, and

Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad The Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad (YMSPRR) is a historic narrow gauge railroad with two operating steam train locomotives located near Fish Camp, California, in the Sierra National Forest near the southern entrance to Yosemite National ...

, which the fire was named after. It also impacted tourism and

air quality Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...

in the forest and

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 ...

. It killed 39 out of the remaining 104 giant sequoias in Nelder Grove.

Timeline

The Railroad Fire was reported on August 29, 2017 in the area between the communities of Sugar Pine and

the

. The cause is unknown. On September 3, mandatory evacuations were ordered for the Sky Ranch Road area, due to the fire spreading towards residential areas after a storm, including the Cedar Valley Subdivision. On Labor Day crews wrapped historic structures in the Nelder Grove Historic Area, including cabins dating back to the late 1800s, in protective, heat-shielding material. As of September 7,

Pacific Gas & Electric The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 milli ...

began working to re-establish electricity in the fire area and increased humidity overnight helped slow the fire. By September 10, the fire had burned and was 70% contained, with 1,035 personnel fighting the fire. Crews were pulled from the fire lines on the evening of September 11 due to thunderstorms that brought a quarter inch of rain into the area. On October 24, the wildfire was fully contained.

Damage to Nelder Grove

The fire burned through much of Nelder Grove killing 38 of the grove's 92 monarch trees and forcing the permanent closure of The Shadow of the Giants trail. 2017 09 10-17.28.15.034-CDT.jpg, Fire burning in Nelder Grove on September 10, 2017. 2017 09 07-09.59.28.283-CDT.jpg, Firefighters pose atop a giant sequoia stump. Nelder Grove after the Railroad Fire - May 2019.jpg, Portions of Nelder Grove became a snag forest after exposure to 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 ...

Air quality

The air quality in the area has declined rapidly due to the fire, which is burning along with two others in the region. Yosemite National Park reported that air quality was "unhealthy" in the park as of September 6. Additionally, the US Forest Service reported that air quality was "hazardous" in Wawona. That same day, Yosemite High School released students early from school due to poor air quality.

Photo Gallery

2017 09 03-13.52.37.180-CDT.jpg, The first day of the fire as seen from nearby Oakhurst. 2017 09 07-10.10.48.497-CDT.jpg, Defensive burning above Cedar Valley. 2017 09 05-22.22.48.843-CDT.jpg, A DC-10 VLAT fights the fire from above. 2017 09 03-14.15.20.234-CDT.jpg, Historic structures are wrapped in

. 2017 08 29-19.47.11.690-CDT.jpg, Firefighters walk along Highway 41.

References

External links