A small California town near Yosemite National Park was evacuated Tuesday due to a wildfire.
Reuters reports that the 2,000 residents of Mariposa, which is in the Sierra Nevada mountains southwest of Yosemite in central California, were ordered to flee after the Detwiler Fire jumped over Highway 140 and began advancing on the community.
Smoke from the #DetwilerFire impacting @YosemiteNPS as seen from the @YoseConservancy webcam #CAFire pic.twitter.com/YwmgfZHRKN
— NWS Hanford (@NWSHanford) July 18, 2017
According to Yosemite’s official Twitter account, smoke from the wildfire was affecting visibility in the park as of 2:00 p.m. PDT Tuesday afternoon.
KCRA 3 reports that the flames broke out at 4 p.m. Sunday at Detwiler and Hunters Valley roads, approximately two miles east of Lake McClure. The fire has so fare consumed 25,000 acres and was 5 percent contained as of 8:20 p.m. local time Tuesday night.
Pilot's helmet cam captures aerial view of Calif. wildfire that's forced thousands to evacuate area near Yosemite. https://t.co/MwHzNrVWu3 pic.twitter.com/DCfxeXwVFR
— ABC News (@ABC) July 19, 2017
According to ABC News, California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency in Mariposa County due to the fire, which has damaged power, water and communication infrastructure and forced the closure of both major highways and local roads in the area. More than 1,400 personnel from multiple fire agencies have been dispatched to fight the “extreme and aggressive fire.”
“I don’t think we can emphasize enough how erratic and active this fire activity is – especially with this fire,” Mariposa County Sheriff Doug Binnewies told ABC News. “It’s done stuff that we’ve never seen before.”
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