Updates on the rim fire

Smoke has been reported in the Townsend areas of the Chisos. Those areas will be watched. Aerial reconnaissance observed that the fire has left a patchy mosaic of scorched, burned, slightly singed, and untouched areas across the South Rim to Emory Peak, and into the lower Boot Canyon drainage. Several fingers of active burning continue. The cause of the South Rim 4 Fire remains unknown.

The head of the fire has met the edge of the rim and slowed. Yesterday, Texas Forest Service air attack has dropped retardant to keep the fire spread down while a crew of firefighters the Diablos were headed to the scene, and monitoring the situation through the evening. Trails and campsites in the high Chisos are closed to entry. As of 4 p. High winds are expected to continue into the evening. Our firefighters are working hard to contain the fire to the East and south of the Colima trail and south of the Boot cabin.

Fire size is estimated at acres. Additional retardant drops will occur today. The firefighters are working hard in challenging conditions to keep the fire from spreading. A successful backburn in the Chisos was conducted for structure protection of Boot cabin. It is also slowly backing down Boot Canyon. Structural fire engines will be staged in the Basin area. Rivers containing rapids that are so difficult that safe passage is doubtful and chances of serious incident, injury and death are almost certain.

If attempted and successful, luck deserves the largest portion of credit. This post and the map have been updated to reflect this. The American River Canyons: Open Through October Both the South and Middle Forks of the American River , which remain unthreatened by either of these fires, will remain open through the end of their regularly scheduled seasons.

Our guides and reservation staff are still working and playing on the river until the end of the California rafting season, which continues on throughout the month of October. In fact, this week we launched a new Facebook Sweepstakes for a chance to win a whitewater rafting trip for two people on one of these rivers!

We will pick a new winner every week; all you have to do is enter once, and you are automatically registered for a chance to win every single week until the sweepstakes ends at the end of September. All you have to do is Like our Facebook page and submit your email address so we can notify you of the results. A small crew of firefighters remained on scene overnight to monitor the area. The current fire size estimate is acres.

Weather forecasts for today show much promise. Temperatures are slightly cooler, and wind speeds are expected to drop considerably. Incident Commander D.

Ivans is optimistic that cliffs and rocky terrain will help slow fire spread today and provide opportunities to begin containment. Crews were set to spend the night conducting burn operations from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite to areas deeper into the park in an effort to clear the rugged terrain of unburned trees and chaparral. The Rim Fire, which broke out on Aug. The blaze raging through dry scrub and timberlands ranked as the fifth-largest wildfire in California history, edging out the Witch Fire that ravaged parts of San Diego County in The fire was 32 percent contained.

Forest Service's Fleishman. The weather was expected to help boost firefighting efforts overnight, with cooler temperatures slowing the fire's progress overnight. But later on Friday, hot weather and low humidity was set to take hold, which could hamper firefighting efforts.