SAM Magazine—San Bernardino, Calif., Sept. 11, 2024—The Bridge Fire, burning in the Angeles National Forest, grew exponentially on Tuesday, surging into Mountain High resort and the communities of Wrightwood and Mt. Baldy, which are under mandatory evacuation orders. Credit to ALERTCalifornia

An update from the Wrightwood Fire Safe Council at 7:30 a.m. today stated that all structures at both Mountain High East and West remained intact. According to reports, both the LA County Fire Station 130 and the San Bernardino Fire Department were on the scene.

A statement from the resort, shared today on Instagram, said, “Fire raced through the area yesterday, but all the main lifts and buildings survived with little to no damage.”

Rumors had circulated on Tuesday that parts of the resort had been destroyed by fire; webcam images showed intense flames burning close to the lifts and lent credence to the claims.

"The good news for today is that the west side (and main entrance) of Mountain High, including the main lodge, appears to have had a far better outcome than we all thought looking at the webcam footage and fire maps last night,” said Michael Reitzell, president of Ski California (the California Ski Industry Association). "With that said, until they can get surveyors in to assess whether there is any damage to the chairlifts, trees, and other infrastructure, it's too soon to know the full extent of the situation.” 

Video from Mt. Baldy Resort GM Robby Ellingson, posted to the resort’s Instagram, showed dense smoke and flames near the Mt. Baldy ski area, which is southeast of Mountain High. While it does not appear that the fire has breached Mt. Baldy’s boundary, the most recent CalFire map suggests the resort is threatened from both southwest and northeast. 

Earlier this summer, the much smaller Vista Fire reached the ridge of Mt. Baldy. Firefighters were staged on site to push back the fire, and the resort repositioned its snow guns to protect infrastructure.  

The latest incident report for the Bridge Fire noted that the north and east sides of the fire are the top priorities for suppression efforts “to protect communities and critical communication and power infrastructure.”

Credit to ALERTCalifornia

The fire was estimated at 4,000 acres yesterday morning and had grown to nearly 48,000 acres as of this morning. It is zero percent contained and 471 personnel are engaged in efforts to fight the blaze.

Other wildfires threaten more resorts in California and across the West. 

Snow Valley and Big Bear, both part of Big Bear Mountain Resort, are closed due to the Line Fire—a more than 34,000-acre fire in the San Bernardino National Forest—with Snow Valley under mandatory evacuation orders as the fire burns towards it.

The 5,600-acre (adjusted estimate) Davis Fire, burning near Mt. Rose – Ski Tahoe and Sky Tavern, just outside of Reno, Nev., remains zero percent contained. The fire was within a mile of Mt. Rose – Ski Tahoe, marketing director Mike Pierce told SAM in a statement yesterday. 

Mt. Bachelor, Ore., is under a mandatory evacuation order due to the Backside Fire burning on the ski area’s West Slope. The Backside Fire is an 80-acre fire forming part of the Bachelor Complex. It sparked on the mountain Sept. 7. According to an update on the resort’s website, Mt. Bachelor expects to reopen Sept. 12 if conditions allow.

Tamarack Resort, Idaho, closed yesterday due to activity from the Lava and Boulder fires burning south of the ski area. “Operations will continue to be suspended until we get notification from Valley County that we are back to a ‘Ready’ or safe stage,” said the ski area in a statement shared to Instagram.