The York Fire that started in Mojave National Preserve covers more than 80,000 acres/Inciweb
Arrival of monsoonal weather brought some help to firefighters battling the York Fire in Mojave National Preserve, as the higher humidity helped slow the fire's progress as containment lines were scratched around nearly a quarter of the blaze.
"Fairly deep monsoonal moisture has worked into the area and brought higher relative humidity which has slowed fire progression and fire behavior. Portions of the area received light precipitation. This moisture is expected to continue through Tuesday, before warming and drying by Thursday into the weekend," read the fire report from Monday night.
Mapping of the fire put its size at 80,437 acres, with containment lines around 23 percent of the fire. While the cause of the fire remains to be determined, officials say it started on a private inholding in the national preserve.
Nearly 400 firefighters were tackling the fire, with overhead support from air tankers dropping retardent.
Hart Mine Road from Walking Box Ranch to Ivanpah, Nevada, remained closed in the area due to continued fire activity.
Officials said a "combination of a wet winters combined with increasing levels of invasive grasses and mustards expanding across the Mojave and Colorado deserts" were responsible for Mojave National Preserve seeing an increase in fire frequency over the past decade. "This is a departure from historic norms, as Joshua Trees and other desert adapted plants have limited natural defenses or propagation techniques when fires occur around them," they added.
An example of the destructiveness of these fires was the 2020 Dome Fire that burned through the heart of the preserve's the Joshua tree forest.
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