An out-of-control wildfire burning near an entrance to Yosemite National Park has destroyed 12 homes and threatened thousands more as flames forced authorities to cut power to the park.
The blaze has charred more than 7,285 hectares since Friday as wooded slopes ignited amid hot, dry conditions that have plagued California for months. The fire was completely uncontained on Sunday.
“There’s no fire history in the past 100 hundred years. That’s one of the reasons this fire’s been able to burn so erratically,” said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
PHOTO: AP
In Southern California, about 4,000 visitors were evacuated on Sunday from the Los Angeles zoo as a fast-moving brush fire burned nearby in Griffith Park.
Flames came within about 305m of a California condor enclosure in the zoo, forcing the relocation of the condors and two vultures, zoo spokesman Jason Jacobs said.
The fire had burned about 10 hectares and was contained in less than three hours, Los Angeles fire officials said. No injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, near Yosemite National Park, the wildfire led officials to order the evacuations of 195 homes under immediate threat. About 2,000 homes faced at least some danger from the fast-spreading flames, fire officials said. No injuries were reported.
shooting
State fire spokeswoman Karen Guillemin said the blaze was sparked by someone who was target shooting, but would not elaborate.
Most of the evacuated homes are in the town of Midpines, about 19km from the park.
The southern edge of the blaze was as little as 3km from Mariposa, a town of about 1,800 residents, Berlant said.
Mary Ann Porter, a nursing assistant who lives in Midpines, left her goats, chickens and dog when she evacuated on Sunday morning.
Porter, who lives with her daughter and grandchildren, said the family took pictures and some computer hard drives.
To protect firefighters battling flames beneath power lines, electricity was cut to a wide area, fire officials said.
The transmission line that fed power to Yosemite was also destroyed in the fire, said James Guidi Jr, a spokesman for Pacific Gas Electric.
Some park buildings were closed because of the power outage, but generators were still providing hotels, stores and other heavily used park facilities with electricity, park spokeswoman Julie Chavez said.
Mobile generators were being set up to restore power to the whole park and about 500 customers nearby by yesterday evening. In all, about 1,000 customers had lost power, Guidi said.
second death
Authorities reported the death of a second firefighter in as many days.
A firefighter believed to be a fire chief from Washington state died on Saturday while scouting a blaze in Northern California, Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said on Sunday.
On Friday, another Washington state firefighter died after he was hit by a falling tree while battling another Northern California wildfire.
In south-central Montana, the fire in the Custer National Forest had grown to more than 1,000 hectares by Sunday evening and burned five summer homes and an outhouse in the historic Camp Senia area.
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