Rangers step up search for missing man

Park rangers took the step of calling a large-scale search-and-rescue mission Sunday as they continued hunting for Ronald Hoggard, a 58-year-old city worker who was last heard from Friday.

Hoggard is city manager of Corcoran, a town in the San Joaquin Valley. He called his wife from the car on Friday afternoon, and rangers say he seems to have disappeared between Fresno and the park’s south entrance near Fish Camp.

The park typically conducts two large-scale searches per year, said park spokeswoman Adrianne Freeman. Such missions rely on rescue specialists, canine squads and helicopter crews from Fresno, Madera, Marin, Mono, and Tulare counties.

It’s unclear whether Hoggard had entered park boundaries, Freeman said.