MARIPOSA COUNTY, California (Reuters) — A raging wildfire in central California that has forced more than 5,000 people from their homes spread rapidly on Thursday (July 20) after destroying dozens of buildings not far from Yosemite National Park, fire officials said.
The Detwiler Fire, which is menacing the former gold rush town of Mariposa in the Sierra Nevada foothills, is only 10 percent contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said on its website.
“We’re doing everything we can to protect that town and all the other communities in that area,” Amy Head, a spokeswoman for Cal Fire, said by telephone. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us to get the upper-hand on this fire.”
Mariposa is 50 miles (80 km) outside Yosemite National Park and largely dependent on tourism.
Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Mariposa County on Tuesday.
More than 3,000 firefighters, working in 90 to 96 degrees Fahrenheit (32 to 36 degrees Celsius), were battling the fire, which has charred 70,096 acres (28,366 hectares), Cal Fire said.
It has expanded by more than 22,000 acres (8,903 hectares) since Thursday morning. Cal Fire said it has burned 45 buildings and damaged another six since it began on Monday. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The fire came within a half-mile of Mariposa on Wednesday, said Cal Fire spokeswoman Shanelle Saunders. The town’s 2,000 residents were ordered on Tuesday to evacuate.
