The Donnell Fire was a wildfire that started on August 1, 2018 due to an unattended illegal campfire,[3] near Donnell Reservoir, burning around California State Route 108 in Tuolumne County, California and in the Stanislaus National Forest.

[4][5][6] It spread rapidly, and the Forest Service closed a California state highway, many forest service roads, campgrounds, wilderness areas, access to privately-owned inholdings, and the Pacific Crest Trail.

[1] Among the destroyed buildings were those of the historic Dardanelle Resort[8][9] and the 1933 Dardanelle Bridge[10][11] a unique bridge listed on the Historic American Engineering Record.

[12] Both were at Dardanelle, an unincorporated community on California State Route 108, the highway to Sonora Pass.

The ancient Bennett Juniper was threatened by the fire, which came within half a mile,[13][14][15] but the fire front stabilized after sustained ground and air attacks, and by the evening of August 14, it was no longer advancing toward the tree.