Vacation ruined

Although I haven’t had many close encounters with wildfires they have certainly ruined a vacation for me.  It was September 1^st 2013 and I was driving across the country from Norfolk, VA back home to Eugene, OR and was visiting sites along the way.  A big stop for me was going to be Yosemite national park in California, as I have never had the opportunity to visit.  I really wanted to hike some of the area and see half dome or el-capitan.  Unfortunately the rim fire had engulfed part of the western boundary of the park and many of the roads were closed off due to smoke and for firefighting efforts.  Not surprisingly though was it occurred in august, which is a very hot and dry time for the area creating a lot of fuel loading in forests by drying out downed woody debris and grasses.  With the already high temperature and low humidity the only thing needed was a small ignition to create a fire that would consume approximately 254,000 acres and cost 100 million dollars to suppress.  This would make it the third largest fire in California’s history and without any reported lightning in the area the fire was clearly man made by a hunter who allowed an illegal campfire to get out of hand. The fire came very close to the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, which provides drinking water for millions in the bay area and still may be affected due to the disturbed area.

http://wildfiretoday.com/2013/08/21/california-rim-fire-west-of-yosemite-np/