Ads
Wildfires are raging in California’s Yosemite National Park.
About 2,000 firefighters were battling the Oak fire, which is one of the largest to break out in the state this year.
Fueled by extreme heat and dry forests such as tinder and brush, the Oak Fire that started Friday closed within a half-mile (0.8 km) of the town of Mariposa Pines.
By Sunday night, the fire had consumed 15,603 acres (6,314 hectares), more than half the size of Paris, and nothing had been contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
Ten structures were destroyed and five more damaged.
Firefighters are using aircraft and bulldozers to fight the fire in difficult conditions, including steep terrain and high temperatures.
Where is the fire?
The fire is engulfing Mariposa County and has spread over 14,281 acres and is 0 percent contained.
The fire was moving east into the Sierra, toward the town of Mariposa Pines and toward Yosemite, Justin Macomb, Cal Fire operations section chief, said at a public meeting.
He said: “The the fire quickly overwhelmed us. We couldn’t even attack it with the resources we had at hand,” Macomb said. “In my career, I have not seen fire behavior like that.”
What has the state of California said?
Evacuation orders have been issued for more than 6,000 people living in a several-mile stretch of the sparsely populated area in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Mariposa County due to the effects of the fire.
The flames destroyed 10 residential and commercial structures and damaged five others, Cal Fire said.
Numerous highways were closed, including State Route 140 between Carstens Road and Allred Road, a major route into Yosemite.
California has experienced increasingly large and deadly wildfires in recent years as climate change has made the western United States much hotter and drier in the last 30 years.
Why are there wildfires in California?
More than two decades of drought and rising temperatures have conspired to make California more vulnerable than ever to wildfires, with the two most devastating years on record coming in 2020 and 2021, when more than 6.8 million acres burned. (2.75 million hectares), an area larger than the size of Rwanda.
Ads
–
