| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Wildfire burns near Sequoia National Park
Wednesday August 13, 2003SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. (AP) Fire officials said Wednesday they are letting a blaze that has consumed about 550 acres near Sequoia National Park burn small trees and brush because it might help contain a future wildfire.
The Cooney Wildland Fire was sparked by lightning around Aug. 1.
Fire officials from Sequoia National Forest and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are monitoring the blaze, but said they won't intervene unless it gets out of hand.
``It's just being allowed to burn as Mother Nature intended it to do,'' said fire district spokeswoman Denise Alonzo. ``If the weather changes and if things were to become unfavorable, we would go into a suppression action.''
She said the fire would be allowed to continue burning into the park if conditions don't change perhaps until the autumn rains.
Although trails remain open, officials are discouraging travel to the area where the Little Kern River meets Tamarack Creek.
(