Highway 140 Reopened From Mariposa to Yosemite
Updated 7/29/22 at 11:04 am PST
The Oak Fire started Friday, July 27 on Carstens Road near Highway 140 in the town of Midpines. As of this morning, Oak Fire stands at 19,244 acres with 72% containment and Highway 140 has reopened.
Travel Information:
Highway 140 which takes travelers from the towns of Merced, Mariposa and Midpines to the western entrance of Yosemite and El Portal has reopened as of Tuesday, July 26. For people using that corridor, please drive carefully. There are still a number of emergency vehicles traveling through the area.
In Yosemite National Park, the town of Wawona, its lodging and services reopened as of July 28. Wawona has been closed to visitors since July 8 when the town was evacuated due to the Washburn Fire. The Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias and the Wawona Campground will remain closed until further notice. As of today, the Washburn Fire is 91% contained.
Air Quality Information:
Air quality in Yosemite National Park and the surrounding areas is being impacted. We recommend viewing the Yosemite webcams to see what the situation is like. Websites such as Purpleair.com also provide great real-time AQI information for the region.
Help Our Community Recover:
For those of you that have visited Mariposa County before, you’ve likely encountered our warm, inviting and caring locals that are always quick to greet you with a smile and offer tips to make the most out of your visit. Now, those same people need your help.
To date, 77 residences have been lost to the Oak Fire. Two more were lost during the recent Agua Fire, which is now fully contained. Those families need our help to rebuild. Here are two ways to support.
- Consider making a donation to the Mariposa Community Foundation, a local non-profit organization that is accepting donations to directly support those that have lost homes during this devastating event. You can do so by sending a check or making a donation via Pay Pal at the link here.
- When you feel safe to return, visit Yosemite and Mariposa County. 52% of this community is made up of people employed in tourism, tying Mariposa County for the highest percent of tourism-related employment in California. Tourism is by far our largest industry. When visitors stop coming it impacts everyone all the way down to housekeeping staff in hotels and servers in restaurants. CAL FIRE projects full containment on Oak Fire by August 6. We anticipate that air quality will improve around the same time or before then. Our community needs the support of visitors to fully recover from this event.
Links for more information:
- CAL FIRE incident page
- Mariposa County Public Information Map (for road closures and evacuations)
- Mt. Bullion Fire and Alert Camera
- CalTrans Road Information (Enter 41, 140, 120 and 49 into the search for local highway info)
- Yosemite Webcams
- Air Quality Information