MARIPOSA, Calif. (Reuters) – Firefighters on Monday finally brought California’s largest wildfire so far this year under control, halting its spread eastward into nearby Yosemite National Park, while thousands of people remained under evacuation orders. The Oak Fire had spread quickly after starting Friday, overwhelming the initial deployment of firefighters as extremely hot and dry weather fueled its galloping pace through dry forest and brush. Trees burn after the Oak Fire burned near Darrah in Mariposa County, California, U.S., July 25, 2022. REUTERS/David Swanson Still, Monday was “a successful day for aircraft and firefighters,” as helicopters dropped 300,000 gallons (1.4 million liters) of water on the fire, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said in a Monday update. night. The fire grew to 17,241 acres (6,977 hectares) by Monday night, an increase of about 3 percent from Monday morning, Cal Fire said, more than half the size of San Francisco. It was reduced by 16%, down from 10% contained on Monday morning, and 3,700 people had been evacuated. Cars sit burned as the Oak Fire burns near Jerseydale in Mariposa County, California, U.S., July 25, 2022. REUTERS/David Swanson The report contradicts comments Sunday from several Cal Fire officials, who said the fire initially behaved unlike any they had seen and defied their best efforts at containment, with burning embers sparking smaller fires. up to two miles ahead of the main fire. The absence of other large fires in the area allowed Cal Fire to concentrate 2,500 firefighters on the blaze, and the lack of wind allowed the continued use of aircraft to drop water and fire retardant, officials said. “It was a perfect storm of a good kind,” Cal Fire spokesman Hector Vasquez said at headquarters in Mariposa, California, about 150 miles inland from San Francisco. A firefighting helicopter drops water on a hillside to control the Oak Fire as it burns near Darrah in Mariposa County, California, U.S., July 24, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria The fire’s northward direction was taking it into the Sierra National Forest, but no longer in the direction of Yosemite, about 10 miles away. A grove of giant, ancient Yosemite sequoia trees was threatened by another fire weeks ago. Temperatures in the region soared to 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 Celsius) as the minimal chance of thunderstorms dissipated. The National Weather Service predicted 100-degree weather for much of the week. More than two decades of drought and rising temperatures have conspired to make California more vulnerable than ever to wildfires, with the two most devastating years coming in 2020 and 2021, when more than 6.8 million acres burned, more than the size of Rwanda.
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(Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by David Gregorio and Stephen Coates)
