Yosemite fire threatens Bay Area water supply, so far so good but its early

San Francisco Chronicle/Associated Press, Gosia Wozniack, 8/24/13.  "Huge California Wildfire spreads into Yosemite. 

Groveland Ranger Station (Yosemite), 8/22/13

Airplane dropping fire retardant

"FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A giant wildfire raging out of control grew to nearly 200 square miles Friday and spread into Yosemite National Park at the height of the summer season for one of California's most popular tourist destinations. But in an unusual move, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for San Francisco 150 miles away because of the threat to the city's utilities. The blaze had already done some damage and threatened more to the lines and stations that pipe power to San Francisco, so Brown, who had declared an emergency for the fire area earlier in the week, made the unusual move of extending it to the city across the state.

San Francisco gets 85 percent of its water from the Yosemite-area Hetch Hetchy reservoir that is about 4 miles from the fire, though that had yet to be affected. But it was forced to shut down two of its three hydroelectric power stations in the area. The city has so far been able to buy power on the open market and use existing supplies, but further disruptions or damage could have an effect, according to city power officials and the governor's statement."  Read article.

Related -   Christian Science Monitor, 8/24/13, ".... more than 2.6 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area receive water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite."  Article includes a KTLA 5 embedded video, about 60 seconds.. Groveland Ranger Station photograph from this article.

Humans and wildlife affected

CNN, 8/23/13, includes slides of the fire. "The Rim Fire has burned nearly 106,000 acres, up from about 53,000 acres a day earlier, spreading east from Stanislaus National Forest to part of Yosemite, Forest Service spokesman Bjorn Fredrickson said. The fire is only 2% contained."  Airplane Ranger Station photograph from this article, includes embedded video, 2:03 minutes. Airplane dropping fire retardant photograph  from this article.

Yahoo.com/AP, 8/24/13, includes video. "The so-called Rim Fire doubled in size in just one day, and the 125,600-acre (510-square kilometre) blaze was only five percent contained, according to InciWeb, the online Incident Information System that monitors fires in the western United States.  But more help was on the way, with California securing federal financial aid to help mobilize resources to extinguish the monster blaze."  Bears photograph from this article. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh