The fire, now entering its fourth day and fueled by timber and brush, is active in Mariposa Grove, the largest and most popular of the park’s three giant sequoia stands. The grove is home to some of the longest and tallest trees in the world, including a tree called the Grizzly Giant that stands over 200 feet tall. Nancy Phillipe, a Yosemite fire information spokeswoman, said the fire was zero percent contained and there was no estimate yet for damage to the redwood trees. Yuli Gotsev, director of marketing for The Redwoods at Yosemite, which operates about 120 vacation rentals in the park, said the company had evacuated dozens of guests and staff from Wawona Friday afternoon after receiving evacuation orders from authorities. . Although winds were pushing the fire away from the community, he said he saw smoke rising in the distance. “This is not our first fire,” he added. “We have some kind of reflex that we’ve developed over the years.” Nearly a dozen helicopters and more than 360 firefighters participated in the extinguishing effort. The causes of the fire are being investigated. Wildfires are increasing in size and severity in the western United States. Experts say climate change is increasing wildfire risks. Wawona Road is closed from the park’s south entrance to Henness Ridge Road, and Mariposa Grove is closed until further notice. All other areas of the park remain open, the Park Service said. Emergency responders are “proactively protecting” the giant trees by removing fuel such as dead trees and using sprinkler systems to increase soil moisture, Yosemite’s fire management office said Sunday. Firefighters were also using bulldozers to clear vegetation that was fueling the blaze, the Associated Press reported. With thick fibrous bark that acts as insulation and towering branches that can sometimes escape flames, sequoias are adapted to survive less severe fires. But in recent years, wildfires have become much more destructive to the giant sequoia trees, which grow on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, the National Park Service said. Between 2015 and 2021, more than 85 percent of the area of all giant sequoia forests across the Sierra Nevada burned in wildfires, compared with 25 percent in the previous century, according to the Park Service. Over the weekend, smoke obscured some of Yosemite’s most spectacular views. On Saturday, a tour guide showed a model of the topography at Tunnel View, a popular roadside overlook 20 miles north of Wawona, and told a group of visitors it was what they might see ahead if it weren’t for the Fire. The mountains in the front could be seen, but the farther ones were obscured by mist. Even beyond the perimeter of the park, the smoke was thick on the horizon. “It’s definitely a new normal that everybody’s getting used to,” Jenna Boozer Yip, who lives in Oakhurst, about 18 miles south of the fire, said Sunday. He said many, frustrated by California’s relentless fire seasons, had moved away. But, he added, “People who have stayed are comfortable knowing they have to evacuate.” Livia Albeck-Ripka contributed reporting.
