Wildfire closes Mariposa-Yosemite airport as crews battle Dome fire

Joshua Tehee, The Fresno Bee on Sep 24, 2026

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FRESNO, Calif. — The Mariposa-Yosemite Airport has been closed because of temporary flight restrictions in place around the Dome fire burning in Yosemite National Park.

The county-owned airport, which sits 18 miles from the park in Mariposa, provides aircraft services and charter/scenic flight opportunities for pilots and visitors, according to its website. The closure affects takeoffs and landings for all civilian aircraft, and comes as the area is seeing heavy traffic from helicopters supporting firefighting efforts.

“At this time, we don’t know how long the closure will last,” the airport wrote in a notice on its website.

The Dome fire has been in a slow-burn in the backcountry near Chilnualna Falls for more than a week.

It is now listed at just more than 4,000 acres in an area that’s hit Glacier Point Road and is well into the footprint of the 2017 Empire fire.

“The fuels are receptive,” according to Benjamin Cossel, a public information officer with the California Complex Incident Management Team 3, but the fire is “extremely slow growing.”

While the fire did cause the deaths of two helicopter pilots in a crash on Sunday, the effects to the park have been minor and operational, according to The National Park Service. It did close off an area from Wawona at the southern entrance to the Badger Pass Ski Area and Glacier Point Road, and from Wawona Road (Hwy 41) east to the Chinquapin junction.

On Wednesday, the closure area grew to include Glacier Point Road, which was closed over safety concerns. Smoke from the fire has caused reduced visibility on the 16-mile road, which is heavily trafficked as a staging point and thoroughfare for firefighting operations.

The Four Mile and Panorama trails remain open for visitors looking to access Glacier Point overlook.

While the road (and Glacier Point itself) is popular with tourists during the summer months, it is typically closed by snow in November and park service messaging was clear to say this is not a season-ending closure and the road will reopen as soon as conditions allow.

The Chilnualna Falls trail, along with several others at the top of falls leading to Buena Vista and Crescent lakes, have been closed since the fire began (though the lakes are accessible from the east) and the Ostrander Trail near the Mono Meadows trailhead has also closed, along with “all areas and trails south of it,” according to the park service.

But many of the well-known tourist spots, especially those in Yosemite Valley, are still accessible and efforts are being made to minimize the fire’s effects on those areas, Cossel said.

Bridalveil Falls, which is inside the closure zone of the fire, stands as one exception, he said.

“That’s probably the big one.”