An abandoned campfire caused the Dome Fire that is still burning in California’s Yosemite National Park, according to the Dome Fire’s Incident Report. The fire started on September 15, and it has burned 5,585 acres so far. Fire crews have contained 39% of the wildfire as of Wednesday afternoon.
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Officials say the fire started near Chilnualna Falls, and they’re reportedly asking anyone who was on the Chilnualna Falls Trail between September 9 and September 15 and witnessed a campfire to contact the National Park Service Tip Line at 888-653-0009.
Two pilots recently died while fighting the Dome Fire. Greg King and Ryan Cutter crashed while working with a wildland firefighting crew to drop water on the blaze.
Keep tabs on the Dome Fire here.
Header stock image by Raymond Gehman/Getty Images
Blaming a single abandoned campfire is a convenient distraction from systemic institutional failure. An unattended fire might provide a spark, but it takes tens of thousands of acres of unmanaged, overgrown fuel beds to create a catastrophic wildfire. Yosemite officials focus on finding a scapegoat because admitting the truth would expose their operational gridlock: environmental bureaucrats and park staff actively stall, postpone, and sabotage the very contractors hired to create defensible space. By constantly inventing excuses and prioritizing non-endangered plant life over human safety and active fuel reduction, park management creates an absolute powder keg—and then blames the spark instead of their own refusal to manage the land. I don’t live in the Valley, but I’ve worked in it many times over the last 15 years and seen firsthand how park bureaucrats stall and prevent much-needed fuel reduction. It’s certainly convenient for NPS to blame one lone camper, Cal Fire would have an easier job—and put far fewer firefighter lives on the line—if the Park Service actually took preventative maintenance and land management seriously. And I’m curious what kind of evidence could possibly be left behind by a campfire after 6,000 acres have burned.