Fire Rages Near Yosemite

A wind-driven brush fire continued to burn out of control near Yosemite National Park on Thursday night after destroying at least three structures and scorching more than 400 acres, officials said.

“It’s spreading fast,” said Judy Ward, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “There are lots of homes in the area, and people are being evacuated.”

Ward said the fire, of suspicious origin, started about 2 p.m. near Mormon Bar, a rural community in Mariposa County, about 35 miles northeast of Merced.

Fanned by winds, the flames moved rapidly into large stands of dry grass and chaparral south of the town of Mariposa. Daytime temperatures were in the 90s and relative humidity was low.

“The winds are causing a lot of the difficulty,” said Diane Crisp, a spokeswoman for the Mariposa County Fairgrounds, where a temporary evacuation center was set up.

“The smoke is going way up, maybe 1,000 feet in the air,” she said.

About 250 firefighters were battling the blaze, which was 20% contained by about 9:30 p.m.

Air tankers had made water drops until nightfall.

Crisp said scores of homes had been evacuated. Many residents went to the fairgrounds, which had few permanent structures suitable for housing.

“The fair is opening tomorrow,” she said, “so there’s already a lot of people there.”

Kent Gosting, a transportation planner working in Mariposa, said trucks in town were being commandeered to help haul livestock away from the flames.

Ward and Crisp said there had been several arson brush fires in the area in recent weeks, leading to suspicion that the same person may have started Thursday’s blaze.