Fire threatens homes, vacations at Yosemite

Steep terrain and flames that are shooting 200 feet into the air are hampering the efforts to control the fire burning out of control near Yosemite National Park.

“It is very steep, there are lots of brush and it is getting into the upper elevations, where there are trees,” said Dan George, the assistant fire chief for Gold Ridge, on site from Sonoma County.

George is leading a strike team of 20 men and five engines from Gold Ridge, Bennett Valley, Forestville, Rancho Adobe and Rincon Valley fire departments that arrived in Mariposa on Saturday.

“There is extreme terrain and extreme fire behavior, some of that stuff is coming off with 100-foot, 200-foot flame lengths,” George said.

Firefighters were working to contain a wildfire raging outside Yosemite National Park, and shut a major highway into the wilderness Tuesday, keeping travelers far from the park’s western gate so crews could battle flames licking close to thousands of homes.

Yosemite remained open. But a 10-mile stretch of Highway 140, which leads to the park’s western entrance, would remain closed until about 9 p.m. Tuesday, fire officials said. Other entrances to the park were still open along Highway 120 at Big Oak Flat, Highway 123 over Tioga Pass and Highway 41 through Oakhurst.

George said his team on Tuesday was working along Highway 140 north of Mariposa, patrolling the fire perimeter and trying to keep it from jumping the highway.

“It is burning pretty good, they are getting a handle on the south end, towards Mariposa, they are trying to keep it west of 140, trying to keep it out of Yosemite,” George said. “We are working in on the northeast corner of fire.

The blaze had destroyed 25 homes, and forced the evacuation of 300 others in the Sierra Nevada foothill towns of Midpines and Coulterville.

More than 46 square miles of rugged terrain have burned since a target shooter sparked the wildfire on Friday. The fire was just 10 percent contained Tuesday morning as it burned about 12 miles from Yosemite National Park, which remained open and teeming with visitors.

Still, some tourists packed their bags and left campgrounds and other areas near the park because of the fire and the smoky haze that accompanied it.

“You would like to be relaxed on your holiday,” said Trees Duipmans, visiting from Holland with her three teenage children.

“If you’re looking for tension you visit New York City. This here is a whole other kind of tension.”

Duipmans and her three children, ages 14 to 18, arrived at a campground outside Yosemite on Sunday afternoon, when smoke had already turned the sun a deep glowing red. They camped overnight but decided to leave Monday.

“There was ash falling on our tent. We think we will go to the beach,” she said.

Sonoma and Santa Rosa fire departments have sent two engines and eight men as part of a state Office of Emergency Services strike team to provide structure protection.

From Mendocino County, engines and men from Laytonville, Fort Bragg and Ukiah are at the Yosemite, led by Ukiah Valley Fire Chief Dan Gribel and Capt. Dan Adair. The are also part of the state OES strike force.

At the peak of summer, as many as 4,000 visitors a day stream into Yosemite. Officials didn’t expect the fire would keep many away.

“People are out there hiking, the campgrounds are full, everyone is taking the smoke in stride,” said Scott Gediman, a park ranger.

Power has been out since Saturday in the park and in the outlying community of El Portal on the park’s western boundary.

Hotels in the area are open and running on generators.

California has been dogged by wildfire since June, and hot, dry conditions have turned flare-ups into prolonged fire fights. While many earlier blazes were ignited by a massive lightning storm, the fire outside Yosemite was sparked by a target shooter.

Fire crews may get some help from a slight drop in temperatures, which are expected to remain in the high 80s Tuesday, accompanied by low humidity and northwesterly afternoon winds, National Weather Service meteorologist Cindy Bean said.

Outside the town of Midpines, some residents ignored mandatory evacuation orders, while for others the damage was already done.

“Everyone’s taken it really bad,” Phillip Mitchell said of the loss of his uncle’s double wide mobile home, which family members identified as one of the homes destroyed in the fire. “I’m grateful though for the lives that have been saved.”