The evacuation area for the Garnet Fire, burning since Aug. 24, was expanded on Labor Day.
The wildfire, in the Sierra National Forest east of Fresno, had burned 26,982 acres (42 square miles) with 12% containment by the evening of the holiday, national forest fire managers said.
It is California’s third-largest fire of the year, having passed Palisades.
Before the holiday weekend, the forest’s managers closed public access to the popular recreation areas at Courtright and Wishon reservoirs. The Fresno County sheriff had already declared an evacuation order for that area on the day the fire started.
A statement from Sierra National Forest said the partial closure was set to expire Sept. 16. “Wherever practical, identifiable sections will be ‘carved out’ and taken off the order as soon as possible,” it said.
The evacuation order covers almost 370 square miles of the national forest in Fresno County, extending to the east shore of Pine Flat Lake. Monday’s expansion was east of Wishon Reservoir, into the John Muir Wilderness.
The map above shows Fresno County’s evacuation area in red and the approximate fire perimeter as a black line. Updates and details, including evacuation warning zones, can be found at the county’s emergency website.
Garnet was one of a spate of California wildfires thought to have been sparked by lightning Aug. 24-25.
The two larger fires this year in California are Gifford (131,614 acres in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties) and Madre (80,779 acres in San Luis Obispo County).
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