acres

Visitors on the Skywalk with the Grand Canyon below at the opening of the Grand Canyon Skywalk at Grand Canyon West, Arizona, in 2007. Wildfires have scorched at least 45,000 near the Canyon, prompting hundreds of evacuations near the North Rim Sunday. File photo UPI Photo/Art Foxall | License Photo

July 13 (UPI) — Two wildfires burning near the Grand Canyon have scorched more than 45,000 acres of tinder dry brush and vegetation and prompted evacuation orders for the Kaibab National Forest and north to the Utah border.

The Bureau of Land Management is coordinating with Coconino County fire officials on the evacuations of hundreds of people. Both fires continue to burn out of control and are 0% contained, officials said. Nearly 600 crews have been assigned to battle the fires.

At least 500 visitors were also evacuated from public park areas in the North Rim where the fires are burning.

The White Sage Fire has burned more than 40,000 acres near the canyon’s North Rim while the Dragon Bravo Fire has burned more than 5,000 acres, state and federal fire officials reported Sunday.

Lighting from rogue thunderstorms sparked the White Sage Fire, which spread quickly among pinyon pine and juniper trees, fanned by gusty winds and low humidity.

“On the ground resources are now focusing on a full suppression strategy to protect structures in the North Rim developed area,” Grand Canyon Park officials said on InciWeb.

Steep and rugged terrain creates a challenge for firefighters trying to reach the blazes and dry weather continues to pose challenges and a threat for the fires to spread further.

Park officials have said the closures are expected to last until Aug. 9 or until the fires are contained.

The Madre Fire in San Luis Obispo County, which started Wednesday, has grown to more than 80,000 acres as of Sunday night. Photo courtesy of U.S. Forest Service — Los Padres national Forest/Facebook

July 7 (UPI) — A central California wildfire has exploded to more than more than 80,000 acres, prompting a slew of evacuation notices.

The Madre Fire in San Luis Obispo County started at about 1 p.m. Wednesday near Highway 166 in New Cuyama, and has since grown to 80,480 acres as of Sunday night, according to an update from Cal Fire.

At least one building has been destroyed and 50 are under threat by the blaze. A firefighter has been injured battling the fire, though the extent of the injury was unknown.

The U.S. Forest Service — Lost Padres national Forest said 1,472 personnel have been deployed to fight the fire.

It said the blaze is being fed with dry fuels, such as short and tall grass on steep, nearly inaccessible terrain, and is being sustained by winds and high temperatures. However, firefighters have “made good progress around the outer perimeter,” creating what it called direct and indirect lines that have increased containment, which is at 30%, it said.

Evacuation orders and warnings have been issued throughout San Luis Obispo, Kern and Santa Barbara counties.

“If you feel threatened at any time, leave immediately. Do not wait for an alert to evacuate,” Santa Barbara County’s Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery unit said in a statement.

Along with the nearly 1,500 firefighters, 75 engines, 28 water tenders, 23 dozers and 16 helicopters have been deployed to fight the fire, according to Cal Fire.

Firefighters on Sunday were gaining control over the massive Madre fire in San Luis Obispo County, which at more than 80,000 acres remains the largest in California so far this year.

Containment on the fire had reached 30% — up from 10% Saturday — buoyed by favorable weather and a flood of personnel, said Los Padres National Forest spokesperson Andrew Madsen. The fire grew slightly on Sunday to just over 80,000 acres in the rural area.

“We’ve got the resources we need,” Madsen said, “and the firefighters on the ground are making some good progress.”

The fire started around 1 p.m. Wednesday east of Santa Maria near the town of New Cayuma. More than 200 people were subject to mandatory evacuation orders, and roughly 50 structures were under threat as of Sunday afternoon. One building has burned. The cause of the fire, which has been fueled by heat and wind, is under investigation. Nearly 1,400 firefighting personnel were on scene.

The bulk of the fire is threatening the Carrizo Plain National Monument, which is home to several endangered and threatened wildlife and plant species. Los Padres National Forest, Cal Fire San Luis Obispo and the Bureau of Land Management share jurisdiction over the fire.

All BLM lands in the national monument are closed to public access until further notice for safety reasons.

Weather conditions were expected to hold steady through Monday before a midweek heat wave across Southern California could make the situation more challenging. Madsen said firefighters were hoping for continued progress over the next couple days.

Times staff writers Colleen Shalby and Caroline Petrow-Cohen contributed to this report.

July 4 (UPI) — The Madre Fire in central California expanded to 70,800 in two days, making it the largest wildfire this year in California.

In terms of size, the Madre Fire, at 110 square miles, is the largest wildfire in California this year, surpassing January’s Palisades and Eaton fires of 51,490 acres in densely populated Los Angeles County, Cal Fire said.

“As we approach the holiday weekend, the Madre Fire, the largest of 2025, is a stark reminder of potential dangers,” the U.S. Forest Service posted on Facebook on Thursday night.

Cal Fire is working with Bureau of Land Management and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office to fight the fire.’

No injuries are building damage was reported.

The wildfire was reported Wednesday afternoon in San Luis Obispo County and has grown substanially and was 10% contained as of Friday afternoon. On Wednesday, it was 200 acres but by early Thursday, it had grown to 35,530 acres and 5% contained and hit 54,000 Thursday night.

The New Cuyama area is about 60 miles west of Bakersfield and 50 miles east of Santa Maria. Despite being 125 miles northwest of Los Angeles, smoke was extending into Southern California. The South Coast Air Quality Management District on Thursday afternoon issued a smoke advisory for the Los Angeles area, including Santa Clarita, the San Gabriel Valley and the San Bernardino Mountains.

“With the current weather, terrain, and fuel conditions this fire has seen exponential growth in less than 24 hours in multiple counties surrounding the San Luis Obispo County area,” the U.S. Forest Service – Los Padres National Forest posted on Facebook on Thursday afternoon. “Smoke impacts will be far-reaching.”

The cause remains under investigation.

Residents in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties received evacuation orders and warnings, and Kern was added Friday. An evacuation center was set up at the California Valley Community Services District.

All Bureau of Land Management lands in Carrizo Plain National Monument are closed for public access.

Fifty structures have been threatened, according to Cal Fire.

Video from the University of California UC San Diego’s ALERTCalifornia camera network shows the fire spreading rapidly across the Carrizo Plain.

“The winds are pretty light during the day, but they do pick up pretty substantially in the afternoon and evening hours,” Ryan Kittell, with the National Weather Service, told KTLA-TV.

The 608 firefighters are contending with high winds.

Friday’s forecast in the area is a high of 75 degrees with humidity of 81% and calm winds, the National Weather Service said.

Bakersfield is forecast for a high in the lower 90s after a 102-degree high on Thursday.

Resources include 46 fire engines, 14 hand crews, five water tenders, four helicopters and seven bulldozers.

BILLINGS, Mont. — More than 2 million acres of federal lands would be sold or transferred to states or other entities under a budget proposal from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, reviving a longtime ambition of Western conservatives to cede lands to local control after a similar proposal failed in the House.

Lee, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, included a mandate for the sales in a draft provision of the GOP’s sweeping tax cut package released Wednesday.

Sharp disagreement over such sales has laid bare a split among Republicans who support wholesale transfers of federal property to spur development and generate revenue, and other lawmakers who are staunchly opposed.

A spokesperson for Montana Sen. Steve Daines said Thursday that he opposes public land sales and was reviewing the proposal.

Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, who served as interior secretary in President Trump’s first term and led the effort to strip land sales out of the House version, said he remained a “hard no” on any legislation that includes large-scale sales.

Most public lands are in Western states. In some such as Utah and Nevada, the government controls the vast majority of lands, protecting them from potential exploitation but hindering growth.

Lee’s proposal does not specify what properties would be sold. It directs the secretaries of interior and agriculture to sell or transfer at least 0.5% and up to 0.75% of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management holdings. That equals at least 2.2 million acres and up to 3.3 million acres.

The Republican said in a video released by his office that the sales would not include national parks, national monuments or wilderness. They would instead target “isolated parcels” that could be used for housing or infrastructure, he said.

“Washington has proven time and again it can’t manage this land. This bill puts it in better hands,” Lee said.

Conservation groups reacted with outrage, saying it would set a precedent to fast-track the handover of cherished lands to developers.

“Shoving the sale of public lands back into the budget reconciliation bill, all to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, is a betrayal of future generations and folks on both sides of the aisle,” said Michael Carroll with The Wilderness Society.

Housing advocates have cautioned that federal land is not universally suitable for affordable housing. Some of the parcels up for sale in Utah and Nevada under the House proposal were far from developed areas.

Republican officials in Utah last year filed a lawsuit seeking to take over huge swaths of federal land in the state, but they were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. Twelve other states backed Utah’s bid.

Brown writes for the Associated Press.