Parks, Forest Service monitor Sheep, Marvin fires
Sequoia National Forest and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks staff are still keeping watch on two fires, the Sheep Fire and the Marvin Fire,which were started by lightning on or around July 16.
Infrared (IR) mapping on Sept. 4 shows the Sheep Fire has grown to 3,915 acres; 2,927 acres are in Kings Canyon National Park, 988 acres are in Sequoia National Forest.
The Sheep Fire is growing predominately to the west. It recently reached the valley floor west of Cedar Grove. Warmer temperatures and lower relative humidity percentages during the past week have increased fire activity creating longer burning periods. The fire is, however, still a lower intensity backing fire. There are currently still no threats to life or property.
The Marvin Fire on the Sequoia National Forest is 15 acres. This fire is burning at a high elevation in rocky terrain near Marvin Pass in the Jennie Lakes Wilderness. Fire behavior includes smoldering with low intensity flame moving in a southeast direction.
Unrelated to those two burns, the Swale Fire, located near Grant Grove, is a human-caused fire. It is one-quarter of an acre and has been suppressed by the Arrowhead Hotshots.
With all fires, managers will make a determination on how to handle each fire based on its location, elevation, and potential for spread, fuels and other variables. Lightning fires that can be safely managed help reduce forest fuels and return the natural cycle of fire to the forest and parks. Fires that threaten lives, homes, or infrastructure are suppressed.
Visitors to Cedar Grove, Hume Lake, and locations within the Kings Canyon in the park and the forest may experience smoke in the late evening and early morning hours. This is based upon inversion patterns that hold smoke in the valley. As the day warms and the inversion breaks, the smoke should lift. The Don Cecil Trail in Kings Canyon National Park (from the trail head at Cedar Grove to the park boundary) is closed for public safety until further notice.
The U.S. Forest Service has issued a temporary area closure for the Sheep Fire on the Hume Lake Ranger District between Horse Corral Meadow and the Kings River and from Horse Corral Meadow east to the boundary with Kings
Canyon National Park. This closure includes the Conoyer Trail. -USFS
