Views from the Needles trailhead. 
As of today, the Lion Fire is now 10,950 acres. The fire continues to actively back down towards the Little Kern, 32E02, and 33E14 trails in the Golden Trout Wilderness. Yesterday’s continued poor air quality conditions kept firefighters from initiating any aerial ignitions on the Lion fire. Crews continued to prep the southern control lines and will be starting on the summit trail tomorrow near Jacobson Meadow. Crews continue to maintain a presence in Lion Meadow private property providing structure protection due to lingering heat with the higher temperatures lately.The current suppression strategy will keep the fire in a planned area, using natural barriers and existing trails and by constructing minimal fireline. This strategy will allow for the mitigation of known and anticipated hazards to our firefighters while providing the highest probability of success.

As the fire gets closer to the containment lines on the south and east flanks of the Lion Fire crews will be monitoring for any potential threat and are prepared to take defensive action. Fire crews have implemented structure protection operations by constructing fireline as the wildfire burns around this property, as well as providing structure protection at Grey Meadow and Trout Meadow.

The fire continues to burn actively upslope, driven by wind, steep terrain, standing dead trees, and scattered debris. Forest managers have closed several trails to keep hikers from walking into the fire area. Information and a map of the closure area

Smoke Impacts:

West this morning along the ridge top near the Lion Fire, could bring smoke down into Eastern Sierra communities throughout the afternoon. Diurnal winds will continue to bring smoke into Kernville and the surrounding communities around Lake Isabella in the evening and mornings. East winds tomorrow should clear out smoke from eastern Kern County but may bring smoke into the San Joaquin Valley. Dispersion conditions will remain good through Monday. You can learn more about air quality, and daily smoke forecasts are available visiting either http://www.airnow.gov or http://www.valleyair.org. Lion Fire visit https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5626/
Basic Information

Current as of 10/8/2017, 8:17:00 AM

Incident Type Wildfire

Cause Lightning

Date of Origin Sunday September 24th, 2017 approx. 05:00 PM

Location Near Lion Meadow in the Golden Trout Wilderness, Sequoia National Forest

Incident Commander Jack Medina USFS, Joe Gonzales USFS

Current Situation

Total Personnel 221

Size 10,950 Acres

Estimated Containment Date Monday November 27th, 2017 approx. 12:00 AM

Fuels Involved 

Timber litter and understory, 2-ft tall brush, and 1-ft tall grass. Pine needles and timber litter

Outlook

Planned Actions 

Continue defensive firing in front of fire establishing a break in unfavorable areas to ensure firefighter safety.

Remarks 

Forest Closure Order

0513-17-40

, has closed trails in the Golden Trout Wilderness northeast of Grey Meadow, northwest of Trout Meadow, east of Nelson Cabin, and south of the Park boundary.

Current Weather

Weather Concerns 

A cooling trend will take place over the fire location in the next 24-48 hours, with little change in relative humidity values with generally light terrain driven winds. Breezy northeast winds will be present over the surrounding ridges Sunday night.

Sky/weather…Sunny

Max Temperature…53-59

Min Humidity…14-20%

Eye Level Winds…Downslope winds 3-6 mph, becoming upslope after 1100 PDT.

Surrounding Ridge… East 6-9 mph

Mixing height…Increasing to 4500 ft AGL in the afternoon.

Transport winds…East around 5 mph

View of smoke from Dome Rock