I dropped my sister off at the airport yesterday morning for a Hawaiian Air flight to Oakland, the first leg on her mainland trip. Next stop is supposed to be her home up in Groveland, located in the mountains above the north entrance to Yosemite.

But fire has intervened. What’s now being called the Rim Fire is burning mostly out of control within a few miles of her house. When she got to the airport in Honolulu, she didn’t know whether she would be able to get to her house at all until the fire is controlled.

As of this morning, her house, located along Ferretti Road just a little south and west of the Pine Mountain Lake airport, is still there. That’s the good news.

I marked the approximate location of her house with a red “X”, center/left on the map. And you can click on the map for a larger version.

According to this morning’s “incident overview” on the official InciWeb online information system:

The fire continues to spread northwest burning past Butcher Knife Ridge and moving into Grapevine Creek; northeast up the Tuolumne River Drainage from the Gravel Range past Jones Point Lookout; and continue to spread southeast edge along Hwy 120 to the east.

Firing operations have begun on Ferretti Rd. as the fire progress west towards the community of Pine Mountain Lake. Direct suppression methods have been successful.

Pine Mountain Lake is a little community, really part of Groveland, I think. It started as a planned vacation community, but now lots of people live there year round.

I think “firing operations” refer to fire crews creating back fires to clear areas in front of the spreading fire. And the comment about success in “direct suppression” seems hopeful, although I wonder if “direct suppression” mean crews with fire hoses holding back the flames?

The whole area is now within the evacuation advisory zone, with an evacuation center open in nearby in Sonora, but the evacuation was not yet mandatory as of my last check.

The InciWeb site warns:

Due to high demand, this Web site may become unresponsive. We are working to address these issues. Thank you for your patience.

At times like this, people also turn to a local community news site, My Mother Lode, “Your gateway to California’s gold country.”

Meanwhile, the governor has been asked to declare a state of emergency.

And I haven’t been able to get in touch with Bonnie yet this morning, and she hasn’t yet updated her Facebook page.

So like a lot of people watching from a distance, I just keep checking as fire information is updated. And hope for the best.