Californian Wildfire Has Almost Doubled In Size In Just One Day

A Californian wildfire near Yosemite National Park has almost doubled in size in just one day.

As of Saturday, 23 July, the huge blaze in Mariposa Country was yet to be contained as it spanned up to 12,000 acres of land.

The Oak Fire had destroyed around 6,555 acres of land on Saturday afternoon but had increased to a huge 11,900 acres by the evening.

Despite being near the National park, the fire is yet to reach the area.

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At least 10 homes have been destroyed by the flames, as well as five additional structures – leaving more than 6,000 people forced to evacuate the area as firefighters work on controlling the blaze.

At 9.10pm PT on 23 July, a total of 225 fire engines, 17 helicopters and 51 hand crews were assigned to tackle the fire – with a total of 2,093 personnel battling to control the blaze, according to the Cal Fire Department.

As of yet, there are no reports of human injuries or hospitalisation.

In an earlier report that day, the department reported in a statement that ‘fire activity is extreme’ and that ‘explosive fire behaviour is challenging firefighters’.

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Embers had also caused the fire to turn into ‘spot fires’, which are separate fires that have ignited outside the perimeter of the main fire and have caused firefighters to struggle with determining containment lines, according to the department.

Daniel Patterson, a spokesperson for the Sierra National Forest said of the blaze: “The fire is moving quickly. This fire was throwing embers out in front of itself for up to two miles yesterday.

"These are exceptional fire conditions,” he said, as the cause of the fire was still under investigation.

The fire marks one of the largest wildfires in California this year, spurring on evacuation orders for thousands of residents and blocking off power to over 2,000 homes and businesses in the area.

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The Oak Fire began on Friday afternoon southwest of Yosemite near Midpines town in Mariposa County.

By Saturday the blaze had grown to almost 19 square miles, according to the local fire department.

It ignited just as firefighters were containing an earlier blaze that burned along the edge of a giant sequoia grove in the southernmost area of Yosemite National Park.

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