A wildfire raging on the western edges of Yosemite National Park has grown to roughly 15 square miles (10,000 acres) and is threating nearly 2,500 homes. The Rim Fire started on Saturday and has so far destroyed two houses and five outbuildings.
on Tuesday as the fire raged out of control. Two-hundred senior citizens staying at San Francisco’s Camp Mather were also bused out of the area as a precaution, though officials say that the camp is not under immediate threat.
A four-mile section of Highway 120, one of the three main roads into Yosemite, has also been closed.
The fire is one of 11 major blazes burning across the state of California. “We didn’t have as much snow as usual this year,” says Veronica Garcia of the Stanislaus National Forest public affairs office. “It’s not as moist.”
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.