Rim Fire
The Rim Fire was a massive wildfire that started in a remote canyon in the Stanislaus National Forest in California's Tuolumne County. The fire ignited on August 17, 2013, amid the 2013 California wildfire season, and burned in largely remote areas of the Sierra Nevada, including a large portion of Yosemite National Park. The Rim Fire was fully contained on Thursday, October 24, 2013, after a nine-week suppression effort by firefighters. Due to a lack of winter rains, some logs smoldered in the interior portion of the fire footprint throughout the winter, and more than a year passed before the fire was declared extinguished in November 2014.
The fire was caused by a hunter's illegal fire that got out of control, and it was named for its proximity to the Rim of the World vista point, a scenic overlook on Highway 120 leading up to Yosemite. A total of 112 structures—largely outbuildings—were destroyed in the fire. During suppression efforts, which cost more than $127 million, a total of ten injuries from the wildfire were reported, but there were no fatalities. The Rim Fire grew to be the third-largest wildfire in California's recorded history and the largest recorded in the Sierra Nevada., the Rim Fire was California's 11th-largest recorded wildfire.
Background
Land management
Parts of what became the footprint of the Rim Fire had accumulated large amounts of combustible vegetation and other fuels following decades of wildfire suppression and logging of larger, older, and more fire-resistant trees. Following a series of large wildfires in 1987, thousands of acres in the Stanislaus National Forest had been replanted with pine tree plantations, which—un-thinned and uniform in size—became fuel for the Rim Fire.Climate and weather
The fire's rapid spread was linked to the extreme drought and unstable weather conditions. In the winter and spring of 2012–2013, California received below-normal amounts of precipitation: less than half of the average for the eight months directly prior to the fire. As a result, drought conditions prevailed over the region, bringing vegetation moisture to very low levels.Progression
August 17
The weather on the day of the Rim Fire's ignition, August 17, 2013, was "hot, dry and windy". A nearby weather station reported at 3:00 p.m. that the temperature was, the relative humidity was 17 percent, and winds were reaching out of the west.The Rim Fire was first spotted by a passing aircraft at 3:25 p.m. PDT, becoming the third fire in the Stanislaus National Forest of the day. It had ignited at the bottom of a canyon, near the confluence of the Tuolumne River and the Clavey River, below the Rim of the World vista lookout off Highway 120—from which the fire received its name. Firefighters quickly assessed the Rim Fire as having burned while still growing at a "dangerous rate of spread". An air tanker reached the fire scene by 3:47 p.m. and began dropping fire retardant. By 4:00 p.m., thirty-five minutes after the Rim Fire's discovery, it had burned and was starting spot fires ahead of the main flame front. The incident command determined that it was too dangerous to have personnel fight the fire directly in the steep Clavey River canyon, opting instead to fight the fire indirectly. Air tankers dropped more than 32,000 gallons of fire retardant in their first four and a half hours of operation on the Rim Fire.
August 18–September 6
The fire grew to 10,000 acres within 36 hours and 100,000 acres after just four days. During a two-day period in mid-August, the fire burned nearly 90,000 acres. It burned into backcountry areas of Yosemite National Park. The park remained open, and though Yosemite Valley was never in danger, the fire burned 78,895 acres inside the park's boundaries.On August 28, after emergency approvals, an MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle flew over the area, providing infrared video of lurking fires.
The blaze was difficult to fight because of inaccessible terrain and erratic winds, forcing firefighters to be reactive instead of proactive. More than 5,000 firefighters–including more than 650 inmates who volunteered as part of California's "Conservation Camp initiative"–worked to contain the fire. At one point, state officials asked residents to avoid social media, to stop exaggerated claims and rumors from spreading, and debunked a number of circulating stories.
On September 6, 2013, the Rim Fire was contained. The fire's final burned acreage reached. Hotspots within the fire's perimeter continued to burn for almost another year before the Rim Fire was finally declared extinguished on November 4, 2014. The fire suppression effort cost more than $127 million, and at its peak involved more than 5,100 personnel.
When it occurred, the Rim Fire was the third-largest wildfire ever recorded in California, and the largest ever in the Sierra Nevada., the Rim Fire persisted as one of California's largest recorded wildfires but had slipped from third to twelfth place. It remains the largest wildfire in the history of Yosemite National Park.
Legal proceedings
The camper who allegedly started the campfire that became the Rim Fire was not identified publicly until a year after the fire, when two felony and two misdemeanor charges were filed against Keith Matthew Emerald of Columbia, California. The charges against Emerald were dropped in 2015 when two key witnesses died.Effects
The Rim Fire destroyed 112 structures, including eleven residences, three commercial structures, and 98 outbuildings.California governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for the city of San Francisco on August 23, after the fire caused damage to the power infrastructure serving the Bay Area, causing two out of the existing three hydroelectric power plants to shut down. The fire also threatened the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, the main source of water for San Francisco, providing up to 85% of the city's supply to 2.6 million customers. On August 26, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission moved water away from Hetch Hetchy into downstream reservoirs located in San Mateo and Alameda Counties as a precautionary measure but did not expect the fire to cause any disruption to the city's water supply. The fire advanced to within a mile of Hetch Hetchy by Monday, August 26, which was a concern to O'Shaughnessy Dam officials due to ash falling in the water.
The cost of fighting the fire was estimated at $127.35 million as of October 24, 2014. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that it would reimburse the state up to 75% of the eligible costs of fighting the fire through a grant for "managing, mitigating, and controlling the fire".
Closures and evacuations
During the Rim Fire, forest closures were put into effect and evacuation orders were issued by the Tuolumne and Mariposa County Sheriff's Offices. Several thousand people left their homes temporarily as a result of the evacuations. The Tioga Pass Road was closed for a time. Highways 140 from Merced and 41 from Fresno remained open throughout the fire, providing access to the national park. Law Enforcement Command Posts were set up in the communities of Groveland and Tuolumne City, with hundreds of local and mutual aid Law Enforcement Officers from dozens of agencies responding to assist in evacuations, patrols, and road closures in the affected areas. The event is credited for being the single largest Law Enforcement mutual aid event in the history of the California Law Enforcement Mutual Aid System. At the height of the danger, an estimated 15,000 residents were under evacuation order or advisory, with plans drafted by a Search & Rescue Incident Management Team to evacuate the communities of Groveland, Pine Mountain Lake, Big Oak Flat, Tuolumne City, Tuolumne Rancheria, Ponderosa Hills, Sherwood Forest, Sugar Pine, and Miwuk Village. Several commendations and citations were issued by the county and state for these efforts to the Tuolumne County Sheriff's SAR Team, SAR Field Training Officer Jonathan Rodriguez, and Volunteer Tornado Paul Carlson.On April 17, 2014, Stanislaus National Forest issued an order closing the majority of the burn area to the public through November 18, 2014, citing safety issues from potential falls of heavily burned trees, rockfalls, and uneven ground. The decision was met with disappointment by morel mushroom hunters who had looked forward to extensive post-fire fruiting of this highly sought-after mushroom. The safety rationale was questioned, as Yosemite National Park, which largely prohibits mushroom collecting, had opened up the burn areas within its boundaries to the public earlier in the month. Some mushroom hunters stated that they would be willing to sign liability waivers in order to enter the area, but the Forest Service rejected this idea, stating they were ultimately responsible for the safety of those entering the area. Extensive harvesting of morels in the Rim Fire area nevertheless took place in May 2014, in a few cases legally by special permit, but in most cases through illegal harvesting. The closure of the burn area was also criticized by the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors for, among other reasons, causing the cancellation of grazing allotments by local ranchers.
Affected areas of Yosemite National Park reopened on April 2, 2014.