US wildfire threatening thousands of homes
Print Edition
Firefighters were braced for strong winds yesterday that could push a raging wildfire further into the northwest edge of Yosemite National Park, threatening thousands of rural homes.
The massive blaze was also burning in the vicinity of two groves of giant sequoias that are unique the region, prompting park employees to take extra precautions of clearing brush and setting sprinklers.
The towering trees, which grow only on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada and are among the largest and oldest living things on earth, can resist fire. However, dry conditions and heavy brush are forcing park officials to take extra precautions. About three dozen of the trees are affected.
The Rim Fire has burned 525 square kilometers — an area about the size of Chicago — and was just 7 percent contained late Saturday night. It started in a remote canyon of the Stanislaus National Forest on August 17 and grew rapidly under dry conditions. More than 2,600 firefighters and a half dozen aircraft were battling the blaze.
The fire has grown so large and is burning dry timber and brush with such ferocity that it has created its own weather pattern, making it difficult to predict which direction it will move. Steep, inaccessible terrain was hampering the efforts of firefighters to surround it.
With winds up to 64 kilometers per hour expected to push the fire further north into the park, fire crews are focused on attacking its northern edge to keep flames from the communities of Tuolumne City, Twain Harte and Long Barne.
“The wind could push it further up north and northeast into Yosemite and closer to those communities and that is a big concern for us,” said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The US Forest Service says about 4,500 structures are threatened. Berlant said 23 structures were destroyed, though officials have not determined whether they were homes or rural outbuildings.
Jessica Sanderson said one of her relatives gained access to the family’s property in Groveland, 42 kilometers from the park’s entrance, on Saturday and was able to confirm their vacation cabin had burned to the ground.
The family saw firefighters defending the cabin on a TV news report just a day earlier.
The tourist mecca of Yosemite Valley, the part of the park known around the world for such sights as the Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and waterfalls, remained open, free from signs of the fire that remained about 32 kilometers away.
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