Kaweah Fire 1926

The Kaweah Fire was ignited (believed to be via arson) on August 6, 1926, near Auckland, California. By Aug. 15, it had burned 30,000 acres of private land and threatened Sequoia National Forest land. The night of August 16, it burned into General Grant National Park (which would become Kings Canyon National Park in 1940). The fire burned a total of 60-80,000 acres.

In a September 10, 2026, letter to the Director of National Park Service, General Grant National Park Superintendent John R. White wrote:

". . .  In general the fire did some good in that it has reduced the fire hazard on the west park boundary for a number of years, particularly in the great accumulation of brush and debris on the steep slopes approaching the Muir Grove. It was inevitable that this area should burn at some time, and the longer the fire was deferred the more serious the eventual conflagration . . ."

". . . This fire also confirms my conviction that the more roads we have through the heavily forested belt of the park between the 4000 and 7500 feet the better for fire control as well as to make that portion of the park, little used by pack parties, accessible to the motoring public . . ."

Large Fire