The Washburn Firemore more than doubled in size Saturday, growing to 1,190 acres, fire officials said. Firefighters worked Friday and Saturday to save the historic Mariposa Grove, which is home to giant sequoias that are about 500,000 years old. An area at the south end of the park was evacuated Friday afternoon. The fire remained 0% contained. As of Saturday night, there were no reports of damage to well-known redwoods in the park, such as the Grizzly Giant. The weather over the weekend did not look favorable for fighting the flames, officials warned – temperatures were expected to rise while humidity dropped, conditions that may favor the fire’s spread. Forecasters expect high temperatures in the mid-80s or higher to continue for several days. The relative lack of wind, however, helped the fire. The fire exhibited “moderate fire behavior,” officials said, including long-range spotting — when wind-borne sparks ignite new fires — and wildfire, when small groups of trees ignite, usually from the bottom up. More than 200 firefighters were on the scene working to keep the fast-growing fire from wiping out redwoods and advancing toward the historic community of Wawona, which was under a mandatory evacuation order late Friday. Wawona was added to Yosemite National Park in 1932 and had a population of 169 in the 2010 census. The Wawona Hotel was established in 1856. Park officials said about 600 to 700 people staying in campgrounds, cabins and a historic hotel were evacuated Friday. Crews at the park’s south entrance worked Friday night to clear vegetation and build fire lines around large trees, including the 3,000-year-old Giant Grizzly, one of the largest in the world. Many trees were also wrapped in fire blankets while hoses were placed to create a sprinkler-like system to moisten the giant trees and help them survive the flames. Although giant sequoias, which grow only in the Sierra Nevada, have long been naturally resistant to fire, California’s increasingly intense blazes have begun to challenge that resistance. An estimated 20% of mature sequoias have died in the fires in the past two years. A large pyrocumulus cloud had formed Friday over the southern edge of the park, and smoke was blowing into Fresno and other parts of the San Joaquin Valley. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. There was no apparent natural spark for the fire that broke out Thursday along the park’s Washburn Trail, Nancy Phillipe, a Yosemite fire information spokeswoman, told The Associated Press. Smoke was reported by visitors walking through the grove, which reopened in 2018 after a $40 million renovation that took three years. The southern entrance to Yosemite on Highway 41 remained closed. Other parts of the park were still open. Associated Press and Chronicle staff writer JD Morris contributed reporting. Danielle Echeverria is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: DanielleEchev
