Oak Fire Explodes Near Yosemite

It is fire season once again. Due to extreme drought conditions and the hot weather, brought on by global warming, the fires will be bigger and costlier.

The latest — and currently the biggest — wild fire is in Mariposa County. The Oak Fire started on Friday afternoon (2 p.m.) and has quickly spread to 11,900 acres.

The fire is located near Hwy 140 and Carstens Rd, near Midpines and is moving into the Sierra National Forest.

For your information:

“FIRE INFORMATION LINE: 844-MMU-FIRE (844-668-3473)

This information line is extremely busy and will roll over to Mariposa County History Information voicemail when all lines are being utilized. Please be patient and try again.”

Click here for updates on the fire and follow CalFire on Twitter.

•••• •••• ••••• •••• ••••

UPDATE: As of Sunday Morning, July 24, at 9:27 a.m. the Oak Fire is now 14,281 acres and is 0% contained.

Cal Fire wrote on their incident website:

The fire remained active through the night moving toward the communities of Jerseydale, Darrah, and Bootjack. Poor humidity recovery was observed overnight. Today the weather is expected to remain hot with minimum humidity between 5 and 10%, which will hamper firefighting efforts. High tree mortality and dense fuels are throughout the fire area. Fire evacuation and advisories remain in effect. Damage inspection teams are beginning their assessment of the areas affected by the fire.

For more information call the Public Information Line: 844-668-3473 or click on their website.

•••• •••• ••••• •••• ••••

UPDATE: As of Monday Morning, July 25, at 9:50 a.m. the Oak Fire is now 16,791 acres and is 10% contained.

The damage inspection teams say seven residential structures have been destroyed by the fire. It has remained a very active fire due to dry, dead and downed fuels.

Fire restrictions are in place on the Sierra National Forest. For additional information, visit: https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/sierra/alerts-notices.