Yosemite National Park officials wasted little time responding to the first reports of a fire burning in the Mariposa Grove on the afternoon of July 7. The Washburn Fire started that afternoon along the Washburn Trail within the grove of iconic giant sequoia trees. By 2:45 p.m., the park’s Helicopter 551 was dropping water on the fire and ground crews had been dispatched to the area. But two other aircraft assigned to another fire flew toward Yosemite in those early hours to offer an air drop of fire-retardant chemicals on the Washburn Fire. That drop, however, was declined by the park’s incident commanders.
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