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Lassen Volcanic National Park Closes As Park Fire Grows

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Published Date

July 27, 2024

Lassen Volcanic National Park closed on Saturday as the Park Fire moved in its direction/CalFire

Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California closed on Saturday as the Park Fire, a 350,000-acre behemoth exhibiting "extreme fire behavior," moved closer to the park's western boundary.

Visitors from the park's campgrounds were moved out of the park and reservations were cancelled, a park release said. All park employees also were moved out of park housing as well as from homes.

Just three years ago the Dixie Fire marched through Lassen Volcanic, burning more than 73,000 acres and closing the park.

"I'd like to commend my staff for their resiliency," said park Superintendent Rose Worley, who was appointed superintendent just three months ago. "Many of them went through the Dixie Fire, and I have been amazed at their professionalism and strength. We're also gravely concerned for our concessions and park partners who have also been impacted by this wildfire.

The Park Fire was burning to the southwest of Lassen Volcanic National Park on Saturday afternoon/CalFire

National Park Service staff said the fire was less than 7 miles from Mineral, where the park headquarters is located, and about 10.5 miles from the main area of the park and that fire officials "speculate that the fire has potential to reach both Manzanita Lake and Mineral headquarters. These are areas that were not hit during the Dixie Fire."

Among the buildings in the historic district at park headquarters were some built by the California Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Staff were working to recover historic artifacts held in the 1927 Loomis Museum.

The Loomis Museum/Kurt Repanshek

Evacuation warnings and orders are in place in four counties: Butte, Tehama, Shasta, and Plumas.

Highway 89 through the park is currently open only to through traffic for the purposes of evacuation. Recreational travel is prohibited to keep the road clear for evacuating residents of the park and the local communities.

Responding to help the Lassen Volcanic staff were crews from the U.S. Forest Serice, Bureau of Land Management, and other National Park Service units.

"There's such a love for Lassen, and if you read some social media posts everybody's just torn up," said Worley. "It's a special park with unique features found nowhere else in the world, and for so many people, this is their favorite national park. We'll work to reopen as soon as possible and rebuild as needed."

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