Natural History Wanderings

If you are heading to the Sierra be aware there is a large wildfire west of Yosemite that is quickly spreading and highway 120 is closed west of the park.

The Sacramento Bee reports:

As of Thursday morning, the 5-day-old wildfire has charred 53,866 acres west of Yosemite National Park. Several communities have been evacuated and a stretch of Highway 120, the main artery into the park, has been closed. Nearly 1,356 firefighters from across the state, including 60 from Sacramento Metropolitan Fire, are battling the flames.

The fire is only 2 percent contained.

Two homes and seven outbuildings were destroyed along Packard Canyon Road, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Another 2,500 homes, hotels and camp buildings remain threatened along Ferretti Road, north of Highway 120.

In the story Wildfires burn throughout Northern California KCRA reports

An advisory evacuation has been issued to the following areas: San Jose Family Camp, Yosemite Riverside Inn, Spinning Wheel, Rainbow Pool, Buck Meadow, Yosemite Vista Estates, Ferretti Road to Clements, Camp Tawonga, Berkeley Family Camp, Harden Flat, Naco West, Yosemite Lakes RV Pakrs, Evergreen Lodge, and Pine Mt. Lake.

You can get the latest incident reports on the Rim Fire at: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3660/

Related articles

• Rim Fire Spreads to Yosemite (naturalhistorywanderings.com)