By October 3, the fire's footprint spanned over . A spot fire across Mineral King Road provoked evacuation orders for Sierra King Drive, Hammond, and Oak Grove. That evening, part of the fire still burning near Pierce Meadow surged up the western side of Redwood Mountain. By morning it had merged with a fire front burning up through Redwood Canyon, and the combined head of the fire burned the central portion of the canyon, scorching the southern part of Redwood Mountain Grove at high severity. The fire burned hot in the canyon, putting up a convective pyrocumulus cloud visible from the far side of the Sierra Nevada, and generating winds so strong that they ripped bark and foliage from the sequoia trees and hurled them into the air. In some areas the fire may have climbed into the canopies of the sequoias and become a crown fire. On October 4, the fire's run took it across Generals Highway near Stony Creek. The fire eventually subsided upon reaching Big Baldy and parts of the grove that had previously been treated with prescribed fire. The Redwood Canyon area growth took the fire's total burned area to just shy of by October 5.
