Burning creek fires in the Sierra National Forest have exploded in size, said Dan Tune, information officer for the U.S. Forest Service.
A forest fire broke out south of Yosemite National Park on Friday evening and had risen to 36,000 acres by Saturday night. The group on the lake was alerted by a helicopter with a public address system.
The Mammoth Pool Reservoir is a popular recreation area, but you can’t give an estimate of how many people have been asked to shelter in the place.
“Emergency crews from multiple agencies need to focus on the critical work at hand – about 150 people need to be rescued at the Mammoth Pool Boat Launch.” “We are in contact with people who have taken refuge in mammoth pool reservoirs and while they have reported ten injuries, they are able to shelter safely at this time.”
Campgrounds throughout the area are under mandatory evacuation order, but the exit has been compromised.
“The fire runs as soon as the road exits. We didn’t want to try to put the campers in a convoy in the event of a fire,” Tune said.
Tune said forest fires are burning aggressively and temperatures in the area are approaching 100 degrees.
“This is in a river valley, so in the afternoon you wind the valley,” Tune added, adding that the constant wind speed is about 10-15 miles per hour.
There have been some instances of limited visibility due to smoking, but planes and helicopters have been fighting the fire from the air, Tune said.
“A fire on a fire like this can be very dangerous, so the plane had to go back for a while, and go back after the situation changed.”
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