Yosemite fire growing at alarming rate

Updated at 3 41 p.m. ET

FRESNO Calif. A Northern California wildfire raging out of control on Friday grew to more than three times the size of the city of San Francisco as it spread inside the border of Yosemite National Park.

The flames have also forced the evacuations of hundreds from homes.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant said Friday the blaze had grown from 99 square miles to more than 165 square miles and was only 2 percent contained.

Berlant said the fire threatens about 4 500 residences.

Most of the fire activity is pushing to the east right into Yosemite Berlant said.

While the park remains open the blaze has caused the closure of a 4 mile stretch of State Route 120 one of three entrances into Yosemite on the west side. Yosemite can still be accessed via state Routes 140 and 41 from the west as well as State Route 120 from the east side.

Within the park the blaze is burning on about 17 square miles in a remote area around Lake Eleanor about 4 miles northwest of Hetch Hetchy reservoir Yosemite spokeswoman Kari Cobb said.

Backcountry permits are required to hike in that area Cobb said and the park is no longer issuing those and has contacted every person who had received a permit to go there. Two roads that lead into the area Hetch Hetchy Road and Eleanor Road have been closed. Hodgdon Meadow Campground which is near the park's west entrance via Route 120 has also been closed its campers relocated to other areas.

We don't have anybody we know of in that area based on the permits we have out now she said.

The fire is not threatening Yosemite Valley she said. It's burning more than 20 miles from the Valley where skies are crystal clear and there's no sign of smoke Cobb said.

Right now there are no closures and no visitor services are being affected in the park Cobb said. We just have to take one day at a time depending on fire activity.

Officials also have advised voluntary evacuations of more than a thousand other homes several organized camps and at least two campgrounds in the area outside the park's boundary. More homes businesses and hotels are threatened in nearby Groveland a community of 600 about 5 miles from the fire and 25 miles from the entrance of Yosemite.

Dry brush oak and pine have fueled the fire as investigators continue to examine how it all began.

Crews aided by the California National Guard worked in the air and on the ground creating fire lines to halt its progress.

It's a monster said Bentley. It's beating us up right at the moment. We're fighting this fire very very hard.

With lightning in the forecast for Friday Janes reports it remains an uphill battle.

A firefighter from the Cosumnes Fire Department monitors a back fire while battling the Rim Fire Aug. 22 2013 in Groveland Calif. outside of Yosemite National Park.

/ Getty Images

Usually during summer it's swamped with tourists you can't find parking downtown said Christina Wilkinson who runs Groveland's social media pages and lives in Pine Mountain Lake. Now the streets are empty. All we see is firefighters emergency personnel and fire trucks.

Play Video

Wildfire rages near Yosemite National Park

Though Wilkinson said she and her husband are staying put for now many area businesses have closed and people who had vacation rental homes are cancelling plans local business owners said.

This fire it's killing our financial picture said Corinna Loh whose family owns the still open Iron Door Saloon and Grill in Groveland. This is our high season and it has gone to nothing we're really hurting.

Loh said most of her employees have left town. And the family's Spinning Wheel Ranch where they rent cabins to tourists has also been evacuated because it's directly in the line of fire. Two outbuildings have burned at the ranch Loh said and she still has no word whether the house and cabins survived.

We're all just standing on eggshells waiting Loh said.

The governor's emergency declaration finding conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property frees up funds and firefighting resources and helps Tuolumne County in seeking federal disaster relief.

The Yosemite County Tourism Bureau based in Mariposa has been helping tourists displaced by the fire to find new accommodations in other park area towns said director Terry Selk.

A firefighter from the Colorado based Long Canyon Fire Department monitors a back fire while battling the Rim Fire Aug. 22 2013 in Groveland Calif. outside of Yosemite National Park.

/ Getty Images

The blaze is among 55 large fires burning nationwide.

14 Photos

Wildfire blazes through Idaho

Play Video

Massive wildfire chars Idaho over 1 000 firefighters on scene

Play Video

Idaho wildfire keeps tourists away during peak season

For rockers Huey Lewis and the News smoke from the massive Sun Valley Idaho wildfire known as the Beast had band members who famously worried about the heart of rock and roll worrying about their lungs.

They canceled their show as did the novelists poets and journalists who convene in this vacation region each summer for a writer's convention. Meanwhile squadrons of private aircraft whisked the affluent off to locales with cleaner air.

With its mountain backdrop Sun Valley is normally a playground for the rich the famous for super fit pursuers of outdoor sports or the Big Wood River's feisty brook trout. To many it's heaven. But the Beast has caused disruptions in the sun basking fun loving lifestyle and the economy.

This is the worst I've seen it said Brad Wood who helps run a shop that rents bikes at the posh Sun Valley Lodge. Wood said he's sent four employees home until business picks up On Thursday only five of the 350 bikes they rent were out.

Meanwhile five wildfires have burned about 18 square miles of mostly remote areas of Yellowstone National Park on the 25th anniversary of the infamous 1988 fires that burned more than 1 200 square miles inside Yellowstone or more than a third of the park.

This summer's fires haven't been anywhere near that disruptive. The biggest fire in Yellowstone one that has burned about 12 square miles in the Hayden Valley area for a time Tuesday closed the road that follows the Yellowstone River between Fishing Bridge and Canyon Village. By Wednesday the road had reopened. Later that day half an inch of rain fell on the fire.

Articles Source here