Angeles National Forest Remains Closed Through Wednesday

ARCADIA, CA —U.S. Forest Service announced Friday that current national forest closures and fire prohibitions in California have been extended through Wednesday.

The action, designed to ensure no additional fires would break out in the national park landscape, will be evaluated daily, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service says. They will take current fire and weather conditions into account daily.

As of Friday afternoon, the Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest has burned 113,986 acres. It is 55 percent contained. The San Bernardino Forest El Dorado Fire has burned 22,604 acres and is 81 percent contained. More fires have sparked across the Sierra Nevadas in the tinder box that is the California mountains.

The national park closures should help alleviate new fires from sparking, officials say.

Fire prohibitions include: building, maintaining, attending or using fire, campfire or stove fire at any camp site, said U.S. Forest Service Public Affairs Officer John M. Clearwater.

The order is effective from Friday through Wednesday, said Randy Moore, regional forester for the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region.

Currently, the following nine national forests remain closed:

• Angeles National Forest,
• Cleveland National Forest,
• Los Padres National Forest,
• Inyo National Forest,
• Klamath National Forest,
• San Bernardino County National Forest,
• Sequoia National Forest,
• Sierra National Forest
• Six Rivers National Forest

Nine other national forests may be open to varying degrees:

• the El Dorado National Forest,
• Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit,
• Lassen National Forest,
• Mendocino National Forest,
• Modoc National Forest,
• Plumas National Forest,
• Shasta-Trinity National Forest,
• Stanislaus National Forest
• Tahoe National Forest

"Continued closures are based on extreme fire conditions, critical limitations of firefighting resources, and to provide for firefighter and public safety," Moore said. "We understand how important access to the national forests is to our visitors. Our aim is to prevent any new fires on the landscape."

For more information, visit the US Forest Service online.