Governor declares emergency over wildfire near Yosemite

A destructive wildfire near Yosemite National Park burned out of control Sunday and has become one of California’s biggest fires of the year, forcing thousands of residents to flee communities. remote mountainous areas.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, about 2,000 firefighters are battling the Oak Fire, along with planes and bulldozers, facing extreme conditions including steep terrain and high temperatures. skyrocketed.

“Today, the weather is expected to remain hot with a minimum humidity of 5 to 10 percent, which will hamper firefighting efforts,” a Sunday morning incident report said.

The fire broke out Friday on the southwest side of the park near the town of Midpines in Mariposa County. Officials described “fire behavior” on Saturday as flames raced through bone-dry vegetation from the worst drought in decades.

By Sunday, the fire had consumed more than 22 square miles (56 square kilometers) of woodland, with no containment measures, Cal Fire said. The cause is under investigation.

Evacuation orders have been issued for more than 6,000 people living on a several-mile stretch of sparsely populated area in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

The Gavin Newsom government has declared a state of emergency for Mariposa County due to the effects of the fire.

The fire destroyed 10 residential and commercial properties and damaged five others, Cal Fire said. Many roads were closed, including Highway 140 between Carstens Road and Allred Road – one of the main routes into Yosemite.

California has experienced increasingly larger and more severe wildfires in recent years as climate change has made the West much warmer and drier over the past 30 years. The weather will continue to get more extreme and wildfires more frequent, destructive and unpredictable, scientists say.

Pacific Gas & Electric said on its website that more than 3,100 homes and businesses in the area were without power as of Sunday and there was no indication when it would be restored. “PG&E was unable to access the affected device,” the utility said as the blaze broke out on Friday.

The Oak Fire was sparked as firefighters made progress against the previous blaze, the Washburn Fire, which burned at the edge of a giant grove of Sequoias in the southernmost part of Yosemite National Park. The 7.5 square mile (19 sq km) blaze was nearly 80% extinguished after burning for two weeks and moving into the Sierra National Forest.