Lassen Volcanic National Park Closes Due to Growing Parker Fire

Lassen Volcanic National Park closed Saturday as the Park Fire moved its way/CalFire

Northern California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park was closed Saturday as the Park Fire, a 350,000-acre (141,000-hectare) monster of a fire exhibiting “extreme fire behavior,” moved closer to the park’s western border.

Visitors to the park’s campgrounds were evicted and reservations were canceled, according to a press release from the park. All park employees were also evicted from park homes and their homes.

Just three years ago, the Dixie Fire ripped through Lassen Volcanic, burning over 180,000 acres and closing the park.

“I want to commend my staff for their resilience,” said park Superintendent Rose Worley, who was named superintendent just three months ago. “Many of them experienced the Dixie Fire and I am amazed at their professionalism and fortitude. We are also very grateful to our concessions and park partners who were also affected by this wildfire.”

National Park Service officials could not specify how close the Park Fire was, but said firefighters “speculate the fire could reach both Manzanita Lake and Mineral Headquarters, areas that were not impacted by the Dixie Fire.”

Among the buildings in the historic district near the park headquarters were several constructed in the 1930s by the California Conservation Corps. Workers were salvaging historic artifacts that were housed in the 1927 Loomis Museum.

Lassen Volcanic personnel were assisted by crews from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and other National Park Service units.

“There’s so much love for Lassen, and if you read some of the posts on social media, everyone is really upset,” Worley said. “It’s a special park with unique features that you won’t find anywhere else in the world, and for a lot of people, this is their favorite national park. We’re going to work to reopen it as quickly as possible and rebuild it if necessary.”