August 31, 1990 El Portal, California -- Savage Fire – Exhausted tree feller Stan Brent catches a quick nap. The Savage Fire was 1,000 acres. After the Arch Rock and Steamboat Fires earlier in the month, CDF and US Forest Service wasted no time in stopping the fire. The fire started in the bottom of the Merced River Canyon near the old Savage Trading Post, then ran 1,700 feet up to Ferguson Ridge burning 550 acres of the Sierra National Forest.