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Wildfire Near Yosemite National Park Prompts Thousands Of Evacuations

Wildfire Near Yosemite National Park Prompts Thousands Of Evacuations

By Joseph Serna, Los Angeles Times

Out-of-control wildfire burning near Yosemite has triggered thousands of evacuation orders.

A wildfire burning near Yosemite National Park is threatening 500 homes, has triggered 13,000 evacuation orders, and prompted the Madera County sheriff to declare a local emergency.

The fast-moving Junction fire had burned 1,200 acres and was 0 percent contained overnight, prompting local school officials to close five campuses Tuesday.

Authorities have also closed California 41 leading in and out of Yosemite National Forest and have sent out an additional 2,500 phone calls warning residents they may have to leave if the fire spreads in their direction.

The fire is just one of several blazes raging across California’s parched forests that have state and federal officials on constant alert for the latest flare-up.

In Kern County, Calif., the Way fire had burned through buildings and 3,000 acres after igniting Monday afternoon in Wofford Heights north of California 155. Crews are trying to control the blaze as it crawls through steep terrain and bone-dry vegetation. Evacuation orders were issued Monday for residents among half a dozen Wofford Height neighborhoods.

And in the hills above Azusa, the Tecolote fire in the Angeles National Forest was 60 percent contained Monday after burning approximately 274 acres, the U.S. Forest Service reported.

The blaze was burning in steep, rugged terrain away from homes, said fire officials. California 39 at East Fork was open only to residents.

AFP Photo/Mike Mcmillan

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Yosemite Park Fire Threatens Famous Giant Sequoia Trees

Yosemite Park Fire Threatens Famous Giant Sequoia Trees

Los Angeles (AFP) — A fire raging in California’s Yosemite National Park threatens a grove of famous giant sequoia trees.

The blaze, which began on Saturday, has scorched some 3,545 acres of the popular tourist spot and is about one-third contained, a spokeswoman for the Yosemite Fire Information call center told AFP.

Some 830 firefighters and seven helicopters have been mobilized but the inferno is still moving toward the northwest, encroaching on Merced Grove — home to some of the park’s cherished giant sequoias.

Towering sequoias, a type of redwood coniferous tree, include some of the largest trees in the world.

Complicating efforts to extinguish the fire are an intense California drought and temperatures that have soared past 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

While the park remains open to the public, the blaze has forced the closure of three camp sites and some sections of Highway 120.

Authorities have allowed residents of the small town of Foresta — evacuated after two houses were engulfed by flames — to return to their homes, but warned that a “potential threat” to the community still exists.

Last year, a gigantic blaze — the third largest in Californian history — ripped through a swath of Yosemite, burning 257,314 acres of the park that welcomes millions of visitors each year.

Dubbed the “Rim Fire,” it affected an area more than five times the size of the U.S. capital city Washington, but did not claim any lives.

AFP Photo/Mladen Antonov

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