Thick Haze Engulfs Mammoth Lakes, CA, and Drops Visibility to Less than 1 Mile as Garnet Fire Spreads

Through a smothering shroud of smoke, you can just barely make out the long lift line of Chair 23 from the usually clean and clear-aired town of Mammoth Lakes, which is now engulfed in a haze that gives the entire area an-all-t0o eerie feel, like something out of a post-apocalyptic film. Thick smoke from the Garnet Fire in Sierra National Forest has pushed air quality into hazardous levels across the Eastern Sierra, prompting a dense smoke advisory and reducing visibility to less than a mile in some communities. By Monday morning, the fire had scorched nearly 50,000 acres after advancing 13,000 acres in a single day, the U.S. Forest Service said. More than 2,200 firefighters and contractors are battling the blaze, which was sparked by lightning on August 24 in eastern Fresno County.

Air quality reached the very unhealthy category in Yosemite Valley and the hazardous category in Tuolumne Meadows, Mammoth Lakes, Bishop and Lee Vining, according to the Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program. Haze temporarily settled over Lake Tahoe before conditions there improved. Poor air quality is forecast to persist through at least Tuesday in Yosemite National Park and Mammoth Lakes.

The National Weather Service issued a dense smoke advisory until at least 11 a.m. Tuesday for parts of the Eastern Sierra. The government agency shared that visibility could drop as low as a quarter mile, creating dangerous driving conditions and respiratory risks. The haze grows as does the unsettled feeling nn the residents Mammoth Lakes and surrounding communities. 

No structures had been reported lost as of Monday morning, but the fire is threatening McKinley Grove, home to hundreds of giant sequoia trees, some thousands of years old. Dead and beetle-killed trees are fueling the fire, which California fire officials say could burn until the first significant snow.

“The Rough Fire in similar country in 2015 burned 150,000-plus acres, and of course the Creek Fire in 2020 was much larger,” Forest Service fire meteorologist Jonathan O’Brien said in an email to The San Francisco Chronicle. “Would like to hope this one doesn’t get as big as either of those, but unless the weather turns more favorable, it very well might.”

Winds gusting up to 25 miles per hour along ridges and temperatures ranging from the 80s in lower elevations to the mid-50s in higher terrain are expected to challenge fire crews again Monday. For now, the area’s residents can only standby and watch as the haze congeals and tightens its grasp on the region. 

*As of Tuesday, September 9, 10:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, the Garnet Fire has burned 54,925 acres and is 14% contained.