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Fire
Closes Rock Creek!
Canyon reopened
today!
July 3, 2002
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For the first time in recent memory, Rock Creek Canyon was completely evacuated Monday and Tuesday as the result of a wildfire. At 8:00 last night, all employees and cabin customers were allowed back into the area, and the road was completely reopened this morning at 10:00. All campgrounds and local businesses are open and everything's back to normal. The fire is 100% contained! |
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The fire, dubbed the "Birch Fire," began Monday morning around 8:30 on the slopes above Swall Meadows in Lower Rock Creek near Sand Canyon, where Birch Creek crosses the jeep road. The fire quickly grew, threatening the town of Swall Meadows which was evacuated Monday night, and burned into the lower portions of Rock Creek Canyon. Monday afternoon, fire crews set a back burn near Holiday Campground which burned up the ridge and met the main fire, at which point huge walls of flame were visible from 395 and Tom's Place. For a period of time, highway 395 was closed. The fire did minimal damage in upper Rock Creek Canyon. Most acreage that burned was between Swall Meadows and Lower Rock Creek Road. A small portion of Holiday Campground received some burn damage. Other than that, Upper Rock Creek was completely spared. Above the water tank below the narrows, no sign of fire exists.
| According to local news reports, the fire had burned 2,500 acres as of Tuesday morning. After threatening Tom's Place and forcing an evacuation at that location as well, last night's winds switched direction, pushing the fire back toward the town of Swall Meadows and forced a mandatory evacuation there for a time. Luckily no structures were destroyed in this fire. At the height of the fire, 8 tankers, 6 helicopters, 2 air attack planes, 21 engines, 5 dozers, 6 water tenders, and 583 firefighters attacked the fire from land and air. |  |
Sites With Information about the Birch Fire
Birch Fire Update - Fire Contained, Work Far from Over (Mammoth Times)
Birch Fire Contained (Reno Gazette Journal)
