A destructive wildfire near Yosemite National Park burned out of control Sunday and has grown into one of California’s biggest blazes of the year, forcing thousands of residents to flee remote mountain communities.
Flames destroyed 10 residential and commercial structures and damaged five others, Cal Fire said. Numerous roads were closed, including State Route 140 between Carstens Road and Allred Road — one of the main routes into Yosemite.
California has experienced increasingly larger and deadlier wildfires in recent years as climate change has made the West much warmer and drier over the past 30 years. Scientists have said weather will continue to be more extreme and wildfires more frequent, destructive and unpredictable. Pacific Gas & Electric said on its website that more than 3,100 homes and businesses in the area had lost power as of Sunday and there was no indication when it would be restored. “PG&E is unable to access the affected equipment,” the utility said as flames roared Friday.
The Oak Fire was sparked as firefighters made progress against an earlier blaze, the Washburn Fire, that burned to the edge of a grove of giant sequoias in the southernmost part of Yosemite National Park. The 7.5-square-mile fire was nearly 80% contained after burning for two weeks and moving into the the Sierra National Forest.
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