There will be no Labor Day weekend camping in any of California's 18 national forests this year.
The U.S. Forest Service on Monday announced that it will close all of the national forests in California between Tuesday at 11:59 P.M. and Sept. 17 at the same time due to ongoing wildfires across the state.
Officials said the closure would decrease the potential for new fires starting and limit "exposure that occurs in public evacuation settings" as the COVID-19 delta variant spreads throughout the state. The federal agency added it hoped the closures would also prevent firefighting resources from being strained, especially as forecasts indicate the fall weather won’t provide much relief from the dry, hot and windy conditions much of the state currently is experiencing.
"We do not take this decision lightly but this is the best choice for public safety," Regional Forester Jennifer Eberlien said in a statement. "It is especially hard with the approaching Labor Day weekend, when so many people enjoy our national forests."
California wildfires this year had burned nearly 1.8 million acres as of Monday, an increase of over 60,000 acres from this time last year. In all, 4.2 million acres burned in 2020, showing the state’s 2021 wildfire season is far from over.
The Caldor Fire (177, 260 acres, 14% containment) and the Dixie Fire (771,183 acres, 48% containment) are already among the 20 largest in state history. CAL FIRE Director Thom Porter said the fires became the first two ever to cross the Sierra Nevada this month.
Those two fires are the state's most critical, Porter said, with more than half of the over 15,000 firefighters deployed in California battling those blazes alone. Forest Service Deputy Regional Forester Tony Scardina said there are about 27,000 wildland firefighters deployed nationally, and the majority of them are currently in California.
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