Thousands of firefighters fight the California wildfire burning around Yosemite National Park

Key takeaways: 

• More than 6,000 citizens were forced to escape from California’s most enormous fire of the year.
• Units on the ground protected houses as air tankers dropped retardant on 15-meter flames racing along ridgetops east of the small neighborhood of Jerseydale.

On Sunday, a deadly wildfire around Yosemite National Park in central California burned out of control through the tinder-dry forest. It had become one of the state’s most enormous fires of the year, causing thousands of citizens to run remote mountain districts.

Several 2,000 firefighters fought the Oak Fire, along with airplanes and bulldozers, facing harsh circumstances, including steep terrain, sweltering temperatures, and low humidity, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.

“It’s burning out there again today,” Cal Fire representative Natasha Fouts told Sunday. “And the fuel moisture levels are critically low.”

Teams on the ground protected houses as air tankers dropped retardant on 15-meter flames racing along ridgetops east of the tiny neighborhood of Jerseydale.

Also read: Wildfire around Nahanni Butte, N.W.T., declared under control

Light winds blew embers on into tree branches, “and because it’s so dry, it’s easy for the area fires to get set, and that’s what fuels the growth,” Fouts said.

The fire exploded Friday southwest of the park around the town of Midpines in Mariposa County. Officials explained “fierce fire behavior” on Saturday as flames made runs through bone-dry vegetation driven by the most destructive drought in decades.

By Sunday, the fire had destroyed more than 56 square kilometers of forest land, with no containment, Cal Fire said. The reason was under study.

Evacuations were in place for over 6,000 individuals living across a several-kilometer span of the sparsely populated region in the Sierra Nevada foothills. However, a handful of citizens fought the orders and remained behind, said Adrienne Freeman with the U.S. Forest Service.

Source – CBC News