The largest grove of giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park was closed Friday and hundreds of people ordered evacuated nearby as a wildfire burning through dense forest became the latest in recent years to threaten the world's largest trees.
The cause of the fire was under investigation and the rest of the park remained open, though park cameras showed thick smoke hanging in the air around some of the park's most iconic views.
The bulldozers would primarily be used to put in fire lines to protect the community of Wawona, which is surrounded by the park and home to several hundred people, she said. Evacuation orders were issued Friday for the community as well as the Wawona Campground, where about 600 to 700 people were staying in a campground, cabins and an historic hotel.
There was no obvious natural spark for the fire that broke out Thursday next to the park's Washburn Trail, Phillipe said. Smoke was reported by visitors walking in the grove that reopened in 2018 after a $40 million renovation that took three years.The fire had grown to about 1.1 square miles by Saturday morning.
The park has used prescribed burns to clear brush around the sequoias, which helps protect them if flames spread farther into the grove.
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