LOS ANGELES — Crews fighting the massive, still-growing Oak fire near Yosemite National Park reported some progress for the first time Monday morning, containing 10% of the almost 17,000-acre blaze.
The inferno in the Sierra Nevada foothills, which has forced thousands to flee their homes and destroyed at least 10 structures, grew by 1,000 acres since late Sunday, Cal Fire officials reported. The fire had no containment Sunday.
“We have more resources assigned to the fire — that certainly helped,” Jonathan Pierce, public information officer with Cal Fire’s Incident Management Team 5, said Monday. “The crews have been doing a lot of hard work.”
Almost 2,600 firefighters are working the wildfire, Pierce said, with crews prioritizing protection of nearby communities in central Mariposa County. More than 3,200 structures remain threatened by the flames, which are now only miles from the remote southwest border of Yosemite National Park.
The Oak fire started Friday near Midpines and quickly became California’s largest blaze of the season thus far. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday declared a state of emergency for Mariposa County.
Officials have not determined what caused the fire.
Pierce said humidity levels remained low overnight Sunday, which didn’t help firefighting, and he did not expect any major shifts in weather. High temperatures, low humidity and drought-parched vegetation have fueled the fire.
“There are parts of the fire where behavior is dying down, but there are parts of the fire that are still active, more extreme,” Pierce said. He said long-range spotting — firebrands or embers blown outside the main fire perimeter that can spark flames — continue to be a concern.
The Red Cross has opened a shelter for those displaced by the Oak fire at Mariposa Elementary School, where evacuees can also bring small animals. Large animals can be brought to the Mariposa County Fairgrounds, according to Cal Fire.
Red Cross spokesperson Taylor Poisall said about 40 people have slept at the shelter the last three nights, but many more have come in for resources such as free meals and showers.
Heading into the fourth night of mandatory evacuations Monday, Poisall said, the shelter is preparing for additional overnighters as the financial burden of an unplanned hotel stay can quickly escalate.
The Red Cross is prepared to shelter 100 people at the elementary school.
Scott Gediman, a spokesperson for Yosemite National Park, said the Oak fire is now just a couple of miles from the park’s southwestern border, though the area is remote.
“It’s close,” Gediman said Monday afternoon. “If (the fire) gets into the park there, it will be technically in the park, but that’s not a main visitor use area.”
No park entrances or roads have been directly affected by the Oak fire, but Gediman said the closure of Highway 140 near the fire, between Highway 49 and Ponderosa Way, limits access to the El Portal Road entrance. Park officials recommend people driving into Yosemite from the south or west to use Highways 120 or 41 to enter the park, not Highway 140.
There have been no changes to hotel or campground reservations, but Gediman said air quality at the park continues to fluctuate, from both the nearby Oak fire and the Washburn fire, which is still burning in the park’s south region.
The Washburn fire, which ignited July 7 in Yosemite National Park, has burned almost 5,000 acres and is now 87% contained. It had threatened the park’s largest grove of ancient sequoias, but officials say the trees are expected to survive.
Gediman said the town of Wawona, which was evacuated during the peak of the fire, is set to reopen Thursday, and much of the wilderness area north of the town reopened Monday. The Mariposa Grove, home to the sequoias, remains closed.
Air quality in the Yosemite Valley and in many other areas of the park fell to “very unhealthy” levels Monday afternoon, according to the U.S. Air Quality Index. In such conditions, official do not recommend outdoor activities, which Gediman said has prompted park officials to halt some activities and rentals, such as biking.
Gediman said he’s hopeful that previous wildfires in and around southern Yosemite, including the 2018 Ferguson fire and 2017 Detwiler fire, have reduced the amount of ground fuel available to burn, which could help limit the momentum of the Oak fire.
“As these areas burn, they’re more resilient to fires — these previous fire scars help minimize the spread,” Gediman said. “The emphasis right now is both on fire containment and the structure protection.”
