A crew was sent to Mariposa Grove to wrap some of the massive logs in fireproof sheeting to protect them as the fire burned out of control, said Nancy Phillipe, a Yosemite fire information spokeswoman. More than 500 mature sequoias were threatened, but there were no reports of serious damage to any named trees, such as the 3,000-year-old Giant Grizzly. The cause of the fire was under investigation and the rest of the park remained open, although park cameras showed thick smoke hanging in the air around some of the park’s most iconic viewpoints. The fire grew overnight but did not threaten new areas, Phillipe said. It was difficult to contain, with firefighters throwing “every tactic imaginable” at it, he said. That included fire-retardant air drops as well as the planned use of bulldozers to establish firelines, a tactic rarely used in wilderness conditions like Yosemite, Phillipe said. The bulldozers will primarily be used to lay fire lines to protect the community of Wawona, which is surrounded by the park and is home to several hundred people, he said. Evacuation orders were issued Friday for the community as well as the Wawona Campground, where about 600 to 700 people were staying in campsites, cabins and a historic hotel. Giant sequoias, native to only about 70 forests spread along the western slope of California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range, were once considered impervious to flames, but have become increasingly vulnerable as fires are fueled by the accumulation of undergrowth from a century of fire suppression and drought exacerbated by climate change has become more intense and destructive. Fires sparked by lightning in the past two years have killed up to a fifth of the estimated 75,000 grand sequoias, the largest trees in volume. There was no apparent natural spark for the fire that broke out Thursday off the park’s Washburn Trail, Phillipe said. Smoke was reported by visitors walking through the grove, which reopened in 2018 after a $40 million renovation that took three years. The grove, located inside the park’s south entrance, was evacuated and no one was injured. The fire had grown to about 1.1 square miles (2.8 square kilometers) by Saturday morning. A fierce windstorm tore through the grove a year and a half ago and felled 15 giant sequoias, along with countless other trees. Fallen trees, along with huge numbers of pines killed by beetles, provided plenty of fuel for the flames. The park has used prescribed burns to clear brush around the redwoods, which helps protect them if the flames spread farther into the grove. “When unwanted fires hit these areas, it tends to slow the rate of spread and helps us get some control,” Phillipe said. In the Sierra foothills, 80 miles (128 kilometers) northwest of the Yosemite fire, some evacuation orders came in as containment rose to 72 percent on the Electra Fire, which broke out near Jackson on Monday. It temporarily forced about 100 people celebrating the Fourth of July holiday along a river to seek shelter at a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. facility.
