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New Evacuations As Rough Fire Grows Over 100,000 Acres

Update: Thursday September 10th 4:00 PM
The Rough Fire continues to grow today as new mandatory evacuation orders are in place for Grant Grove and the community of Wilsonia in Kings Canyon National Park. The fire has now consumed over 110,000 acres and is just 29 percent contained. The Red Cross has opened an evacuation shelter in Sanger for residents displaced by the blaze. 

Original post: Wednesday September 9th

Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park and several communities near Highway 180 are under an evacuation warning today as the Rough Fire continues to grow. The new evacuation warnings for Dunlap, Miramonte, Pinehurst, Sequoia Lake and the Armenian Church Camp are in addition to mandatory evacuations ordered Monday for the Sampson Flat area north of Dunlap. 

Fueled by hot and dry conditions, the fire has now grown to over 103,000 acres and is 31 percent contained. 

According to the National Park Service, there is no immediate threat to Grant Grove at this time. However as the fire’s behavior has grown more extreme in recent days, park officials say they are concerned the blaze “could make significant movement in that direction in the near future.” 

Earlier this week the fire jumped a fire line on Hoist Ridge near the Kings River, causing fire crews to pull back over concerns for safety. Crews are now working to scout new locations for fireline north of Sequoia Lake and to improve the contingency line along McKenzie Ridge north to the Kings River. At Hume Lake and Cedar Grove, firefighters continue to monitor the area working to protect structures from the blaze. 

Smoke from the fire has also inundated many communities in the San Joaquin Valley causing air pollution levels to spike to potentially dangerous levels. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District has issued a health cautionary statement for the rest of the week for Fresno, Madera, Merced, Kings, Tulare, Stanislaus, San Joaquin and the valley portion of Kern counties. Officials urge schools to keep students inside and have extended the advisory until the fire is extinguished. 

Joe Moore is the President and General Manager of KVPR / Valley Public Radio. He has led the station through major programming changes, the launch of KVPR Classical and the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership the station was named California Non-Profit of the Year by Senator Melissa Hurtado (2019), and won a National Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting (2022).
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