A wildfire burning for a third day Sunday through tinder-dry forests in central California’s Mariposa County outside Yosemite National Park has forced thousands of rural inhabitants to flee while destroying more than 14,000 acres of land, reported the officials.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), nearly 2000 firefighters battled the ever-expanding oak fire in the western United States with the help of aircrafts and bulldozers amidst the sweltering temperatures, low humidity, and steep terrains of the area.
The fire erupted on Friday southwest of the park near the town of Midpines in Mariposa County. Described as “explosive fire behavior” by the officials, the flames made runs through bone-dry vegetation on Saturday, caused by the worst drought in decades while the cause was still under investigation.
Eleven fire crews with more than 400 personnel, as well as 45 fire engines and four helicopters, have been assigned to fight the flames, Cal Fire said.
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.
State of emergency for Mariposa County
Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Mariposa County due to the fire’s effects.
Evacuations were in place for more than 6,000 people living across a several-kilometer span of the sparsely populated area in the Sierra Nevada foothills, though a handful of residents defied the orders and stayed behind, said Adrienne Freeman with the US Forest Service.
“(Authorities) came by … and told us everybody’s got to go,” Wes Detamore, a resident of the Mariposa Pines area, told media on Friday.
Electricity service in the area stopped Friday at about 4 p.m., “and the fire has been coming towards us faster and faster,” he added.
According to scientists, the weather will continue to be more extreme and wildfires more frequent, destructive, and unpredictable.