Update 5/31/25 9:00 a.m: Joshua Tree National Park has issued an update on the overnight fire progress:
The ongoing response to the Eureka Fire in Joshua Tree National Park had crews working through the night on containment lines. There was a slop over fire on the southeast side of the line early this morning. Crews quickly contained the 4 acres. The fire is at 212 acres and 40% containment as of 9:00am.
Fresh crews will continue to work through the day. The weather will be warmer with temperatures near 86. South southwest winds of 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph are expected.
Equipment assigned to the fire includes 11 engines, 2 water tenders, 2 hand crews, and 1 helicopter for the day shift. Crews from Bureau of Land Management, Cal Fire, U.S. Forest Service, San Bernardino County Sheriffs and Fire Protection continue to assist.
The cause of the Eureka Fire is currently unknown and under investigation.
There are temporary closures within the affected areas of the park while fire containment remains active:
Lower Covington Flats Road and La Contenta within the Park boundary.
Backcountry camping in the zones covering Black Rock, Covington, Quail Wash, and Juniper.
California Riding and Hiking Trail starting in Black Rock
Creosote/Bigfoot Trail starting off Park Blvd in the park.
A fire broke out in Joshua Tree National Park yesterday but as of 6AM on Saturday it’s been contained at 40% with at an estimated 175 acres affected.
At around 12:00 p.m. on Friday a fire was reported in the Covington Flats area of Joshua Tree National Park. At the time of the report the fire was around 20 acres, with winds forecast to be 10 to 20 miles per hour in the afternoon, and temperatures in the area in the low to mid 80’s.
A little over an hour later the fire had grown rapidly to around 165 acres and a column of dirty white smoke could be seen rising from the ridge behind Joshua Tree neighborhoods that border the park. Inside the park, initial reports of the fire’s point of origin was approximately 900 feet from lower covington flats road, near Nolina Peak in the Covington Flats area. 65 personnel had responded to the scene and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and San Bernardino County fire resources called in to help with the containment.
Fire retardant lines used to contain fire growth
By 1:45 p.m. it was reported that a Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT) was called in from Riverside to lay down lines of fire retardant. The VLAT joined 5 other rotating air units, along with ground and air units from CALFIRE, San Bernardino County Sheriffs and Fire Protection, the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service.
The U.S. Forest Service is the agency responsible for the VLAT firefighting planes, which are modified DC-10’s that can hold and deliver upwards of 8000 gallons of fire retardant. The giant tankers need to be at least 250 above the vegetation to be effective. From the ground on the Nancy Karl trail just a few miles north of the fire, the tankers could be spotted making loops through the smoke, occasionally appearing above the ridge as they swept large circles and set up containment lines.
Photos from the Joshua Tree National Park’s Instagram show parts of Covington Flats with visible scorching on the ground and around the Western Joshua Trees in the area, with a hot pinkish-orange stripe where the tankers had laid down the fire retardant.
The substance dropped by these VLATS is called Phos-Chek, and gets its bright color from the iron-oxide found in the mixture. According to Perimeter Solutions which is the the company that makes the product, Phos-Chek contains common agricultural and household fertilizer ingredients and may impact more delicate plants, but the fire retardant can be rinsed off with water and the hot pink color fades into earth tones within a few days.
About the Covington Flats area inside Joshua Tree National Park
The Covington Flats area has some of the park’s largest Joshua trees, junipers, and pinyon pines. It’s located between Black Rock Canyon and Joshua Tree and is accessible from Yucca Valley through La Contenta Road off Highway 62, or from inside the park along Covington Flats Road. The area is a few miles north of Eureka Peak.
Our source inside the national park says that fighting a fire in the Covington Flats area is a complex situation as crews have to balance the methods they are using to fight the fire because of the old growth Joshua Trees and other delicate vegetation in the area. The air and ground crews are being tasked with stopping the fire’s spread while simultaneously trying not to harm or kill the very trees and plants they are fighting to save.
From the ground, the column of smoke had become more dispersed by 2:00 p.m. and some of that smoke had started to settle into the Friendly Hills neighborhood in Joshua Tree, where the MDLT-maintained Nancy Karl trail runs east/west just on the other side of the ridge where the fire was burning. A helicopter could be heard making an announcement, but from the ground on the Nancy Karl trail the message couldn’t be heard clearly enough to decipher it. The area is a popular backcountry camping and hiking spot.
At around 2:45 p.m. helicopters were seen filling up water buckets in the pond at Hawk’s Landing Golf Club in Yucca Valley, located approximately 8 miles to the northwest of the fire.
By 3:30 p.m. Joshua Tree National Park had confirmed the fire was still around 165 acres but it was holding at that number, contained within the pinkish orange lines that the VLATs had laid down. As the giant tankers and other planes left the smokey area, helicopter units could still be heard and seen hovering in the park and by adjacent neighborhoods. It was reported but unconfirmed that one of the tanker planes was diverted to the Frazier Fire whic is burning nearly 100 acres in the Los Padres National Forest approximately 200 miles northwest of Joshua Tree.
As ground crews continued to work on the fire, Joshua Tree National Park released an update at 6:30 p.m. last night saying the fire was officially reported at 175 acres, and crews would work overnight to continue to fight the fire and work toward more containment which was at 40% at the time of the report.
Park Closures impacted by the Eureka Fire
As of 6:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, the Park had not yet issued an update on the size of the fire though updates are expected as the day progresses. From the ground in the Joshua Tree neighborhood located about 3 miles south of the fire, no visible smoke could be seen.
According to the National Weather Service, it is expected to warm up to the 90’s in Joshua Tree, with south winds from 5 to 15 mph.
The cause of the Eureka Fire is currently unknown and will be under investigation, according to the National Park. The park also announced temporary closures within the affected areas of the park while fire containment efforts remain active:
- Lower Covington Flats Road and La Contenta Road inside the park will be closed.
- Backcountry camping in the zones covering Black Rock, Covington, Quail Wash, and Juniper are also shut down.
- California Riding and Hiking Trails starting in Black Rock, and the Creosote/Bigfoot Trail starting off Park Blvd inside the park will also be closed.
Our source inside the park says that while the official reported size is still 175 acres, there are estimates that the affected area could be closer to 290 acres. However, they say that National Park officials are holding off on a higher official number until it can be confirmed.
Z107.7 will continue to update this story on air and online as we receive more information on the Eureka Fire currently burning inside Joshua Tree National Park.
Update 7:27 p.m.: Joshua Tree National Park has released an update on the fire, including some closure information:
TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif.– Joshua Tree National Park staff has been responding to a fire 3 miles Northeast of Eureka Peak in the Covington Flats area of the park. Crews from Bureau of Land Management, Cal Fire, U.S. Forest Service, San Bernardino County Sheriffs and Fire Protection worked with the park to contain 40 percent of the fire to an estimated 175 acres as of 6:30pm PST. Crews will continue to work through the night.
The cause of the Eureka Fire is currently unknown and will be under investigation.
There are temporary closures within the affected areas of the park while fire containment remains active:
- Lower Covington Flats Road and La Contenta within the Park boundary.
- Backcountry camping in the zones covering Black Rock, Covington, Quail Wash, and Juniper.
- California Riding and Hiking Trail starting in Black Rock
- Creosote/Bigfoot Trail starting off Park Blvd in the park.
Update 5/30/25 3:46pm: The Public Information Officer from Joshua Tree National Park says that the Eureka Fire is currently holding within the fire retardant lines at 165 acres and there is no current structure threat.
Update 5/30/25 at 2:00pm: The fire has been reported at 165 acres, with no current reports of containment. Sources within the National Park says that over 65 fire personel are responding to the fire, which is in a particularly sensitive geological zone of the Convington Flats area. A tanker, spotter planes and helicopters were spotted flying over the area.
We will continue to update this story as more information comes in.
Joshua Tree National Park released the following update at 1:40 p.m.:
TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif.– Joshua Tree National Park is responding to a fire in the Covington Flats area of the park. This fire was reported around 12pm PST on May 30th, 2025. Approximately 20 acres has been affected as of this report. Today’s weather: sunny,
with a high temperature near 84. South winds around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Additional resources from BLM and County are being called to help with containment.
A vegetation fire inside of the Joshua Tree National Park Friday (May 30) has burned approximately 20 acres in the Covington Flats area as of 2 p.m.
Z107.7 has confirmed that the fire is burning in the Covington Flats area of the park. The National Park Service is coordinating the response, which includes crews from San Bernardino County Fire and the Bureau of Land Management.
As of 2:30 p.m., smoke from area has reduced since it’s peak at around 1:15 p.m.
Stay tuned to Z107.7 for updates.
