Going to Yosemite National Park? What you need to know about Oak, Washburn fire impacts

Yosemite National Park officials on Monday said the park is not being impacted by the Oak Fire, and it remains open to visitors.

Parts of Yosemite are reopening after having to shut down due to the Washburn Fire.

“Yosemite National Park remains open,” Scott Gediman, a spokesman for the park, said on Monday. “All of the park entrances are open.”

As of Monday morning, the Oak Fire had burned through 16,791 acres, with 10% containment, according to Cal Fire. The blaze that started Friday west of Yosemite is already the largest in the state this year.

The fire has prompted thousands of evacuations and Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday evening declared a state of emergency for Mariposa County due to the fire.

Hector Vasquez, a spokesman with Cal Fire, on Sunday told The Bee there was “zero impact” from the Oak Fire on Yosemite National Park. But he said it was difficult to say if that could change.

Smoke over Yosemite

Bill South, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford, told The Bee on Sunday that there would be thick smoke over Yosemite on Sunday and Monday afternoon.

He said the transport winds — the winds in the layer of the atmosphere — would be taking the Oak Fire smoke from the southwest to the northeast.

“The best type of precaution would be to wear some type of mask to keep the particulates out of your lungs ... as the smoke should be relatively thick,” he said on Sunday.

Although, he said, the best advice he would provide would be for people not to be outdoors, but he recognizes that it could be difficult since “there’s people traveling from all over the world to go to the park.”

“So I would say a strong mask and that’s really about all you can do, and if you feel like it’s affecting your breathing, then go inside or leave the park,” he said on Sunday.

Generally, he said, if there’s no storm system, the winds will transition to a down-slope direction at night, and that down-slope wind will push the smoke into the Sierra Nevada foothills of Mariposa and Madera counties.

On Sunday, there was also ash impact on the ground in areas close to the Oak Fire.

Gediman said the impacts from the smoke on Yosemite vary throughout the day.

“It’s depending on fire activity and weather and wind,” he said. “You know, there are some times in the last few days where there’s blue skies — no impact — and sometimes there’s a little smoke impact, and sometimes there’s a lot. So it just depends on the day.”

But all entrances to Yosemite National Park are open. And although Highway 140 is closed between Mariposa and the park boundary, the entrance on the west, Arch Rock, remains open, Gediman said, but the road on that side of the park is closed due to the Oak Fire.

Areas in Yosemite reopen after Washburn Fire

The Community of Wawona, the Wawona Hotel, and vacation rentals are scheduled to reopen at noon on Thursday, Gediman said. That area had been closed because of the Washburn Fire, he said.

The Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias and the Wawona campground will remain closed for several days, Gediman said.

“We don’t have any estimated time of when they’ll reopen,” he said.

Those areas are and continue to be closed because of the Washburn Fire, as well.

As of Monday morning, the Washburn Fire was at 4,866 acres burned and 87% contained. The cause has been declared to be human but remains under investigation.