2,000 Flee Fire Raging 20 Miles From Yosemite
A fire raging out of control Saturday burned 3,500 acres and forced the evacuation of about 2,000 people, officials said.
High winds and temperatures fueled the blaze that burned about 20 miles outside of Yosemite National Park in southern Tuolumne County, said Glenn Bass, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry.
Officials did not know when the fire would be contained.
No injuries were reported and no structures had been burned, said a dispatcher with the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department. About 2,000 evacuees from the towns of Big Oak Flat, Groveland and Pine Mountain Lake were taken to Tenaya Elementary School in Groveland.
Bass said the fire started near Don Pedro Lake near Moccasin Point Marina, where temperatures hovered near 100 degrees Saturday.
At least 186 firefighters, 103 engines, two air tankers and two helicopters were fighting the fire. The fire knocked out telephone and power lines to the area, a Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman said. Highways 49, 120 and 108 leading to Yosemite have been closed.
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