The raging Rim Fire that's been burning out of control since Saturday leapt into Yosemite National Park on Friday, with the total acreage count so far put at 105,620 acres, nearly doubling in size for the second night in a row.
On Friday, officials issued new voluntary evacuation orders to the towns of Tuolumne City and Ponderosa Hills. Both are about five miles from the fire line, Forest Service spokesman Jerry Snyder said.
A mandatory evacuation order remained in effect for part of Pine Mountain Lake, a summer gated community a few miles from the fire.
"It feels a little bit like a war zone, with helicopters flying overhead, bombers dropping retardant and 10 engine companies stationed on our street,'' said Ken Codeglia, a Pine Mountain Lake resident who defied evacuation orders of his community. "But if the fire gets very hot and firefighters evacuate, I will run with them.''
Although Pine Mountain Lake and other communities are threatened by the fire, within Yosemite the blaze is burning in a remote area and is not threatening the famed Yosemite Valley.
While Yosemite remains open, the wildfire caused the closure of a 4-mile stretch of State Route 120, one of three entrances into Yosemite on the west side, devastating areas that rely on tourism. Only one campground, Hodgdon Meadow, was closed, according to the National Park Service website.
"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.''
So far, no one has been hurt and only 16 structures -- four of them homes -- have burned despite the massive size. The fire now covers 165 square miles, more than three times the size of San Francisco.
Still, the rugged terrain and hot weather conditions have proved to be terribly difficult for nearly 2,000 firefighters trying to contain the blaze located on the mountain rims of the Stanislaus National Forest. Until Friday, the fire had stayed on the outskirts of Yosemite National Park.
But as of Friday morning, with the fire only 2 percent contained, the flames were continuing east, with San Jose Family Camp and Camp Tawonga still in the path of the fire as it moves of the middle fork of the Tuoloumne River Canyon, according to the U.S. Forest Service and CalFire.
More than 4,500 residences are threatened.
"The biggest challenge is the fire itself," Lee Bentley of the U.S. Forest Service told NBC Bay Area on Thursday. "It's just too doggone dangerous."
- RAW VIDEO: Rim Fire Rages Near Yosemite National Park
The size and scope of the wildfire prompted California Gov. Jerry Brown to issue an emergency proclamation Thursday afternoon.
And several communities had been asked to voluntarily leave their homes.
"I'm a little shook up," said Groveland, Calif. resident Fred Faiella who had to find a safe place to sleep. "But it's in God's hands. I just gotta let what happens, happen."
In addition to the state plea for help, the city of San Francisco on Thursday also officially declared a state of emergency.
Mayor Ed Lee said the fire damaged some of the city's power and communications equipment owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission as part of the Hetch Hetchy Water and Power System.
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission spokesman Tyrone Jue said two of three hydroelectric powerhouses have been "offline" since Monday as a precaution. "We didn't want the lines energized...through a fire zone," Jue said.
Because of the proximity of the fire, power crews are unable to determine how much of the equipment, including large turbines, has been damaged. Jue said some transmission lines have been burned, but most towers and lines are still intact.
The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park, which provides water to 2.6 million Bay Area residents and businesses, is east of the fire area, and has not been affected.There are no impacts to water quality or the water delivery and supply system because of the fire, officials said.
For the last week, camps frequented by Bay Area residents such as Camp Tawonga, San Jose Family Camp, Berkeley Tuolumne Camp and San Francisco’s Mather Camp were also asked to evacuate and shut down their programs. On Friday, the fire was still actively burning east along the Mather Road and southeast along Pilot Ridge.
NBC Bay Area's Jodi Hernandez and Bay City News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
More Bay Area Stories:
- Bay Area Woman Reflects on Witnessing MLK Speech
- SUV Crashes Into SF Martial Arts Studio
- San Jose Police Union Spars Again With City Hall
- Bay Bridge Bike Path First Ever on Span
- Rim Fire Leads to Evacuations For Bay Area Campers
Photo Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS