The Oak fire near Yosemite has grown to 14,281 acres, making it California's largest blaze so far this season and prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency for Mariposa County.
A combination of heat, low humidity and parched vegetation continues to bedevil firefighters battling an inferno burning in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Yosemite that has forced thousands to flee their homes.
“I think we can expect much more of the same, unfortunately,” said Park Williams, an associate professor and climate scientist at UCLA. “As long as we have more heat waves then we will continue to see forests in California really primed to burn because it’s just been so dry.”California fires are burning faster, hotter, more intensely — and getting harder to fight
The plumes of smoke were so thick Sunday morning that they were blowing into Bootjack Market & Deli, about a quarter-mile from the blaze. Despite lackluster weather conditions, resources have been plentiful. More than 2,000 firefighters were battling the blaze Sunday, up from about 500 a day earlier. Air quality officials predicted the relentless smoke would travel as far as the Bay Area early Monday.Red Cross officials had checked in more than 100 people at the main evacuation center at Mariposa Elementary School as of early Sunday afternoon.
The couple, both 70, moved from the Bay Area a year and a half ago, enticed by a countryside that reminded them of their youth in more rural areas. Less than a mile from the evacuation zone in Midpines, Pratt had packed up her car on Saturday ready to leave.
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