Thousands evacuate as California's Oak Fire explodes in size

Thousands of firefighters have battled the Oak Fire for four days as thousands of homes and businesses near Yosemite National Park are under evacuation orders. Jonathan Vigliotti has the latest.

#oakfire #yosemite #news

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[gardensofthegods]

Always sad to see so many people losing their homes and you wonder also what happens to the wildlife around there ..
Hoping everybody will be safe and that there will be many miracles especially for the firefighters

[freeheeler]

First correction. Temperatures in Mariposa County, where the Oak Fire is burning, are relatively normal for this time of year, mid 90s. The big issue is the lack of precipitation this year, we are in the most extreme level of drought. This has led to relative humidity levels of 5 to 12 percent over the duration of this fire, far below the 20 percent relative humidity levels where extreme fire activity begins to occur.

Also, fuel moisture levels, the amount of moisture in the stems of grasses, shrubs and trees, are at record low levels, probably the lowest in hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Also, over 200 million trees have died in the Sierra Nevada over the last ten years because of climate change. Most of these have fallen to the forest floor, though many are still standing dead. This fuel load of dead and dying trees causes the fires to burn much, much hotter.

Also, tall weedy grasses and other weeds like smooth brome, wild oats, and star thistle are spreading like wildfire through the Sierra, many spread by firefighting trucks and dozers themselves. Most of these weeds are spring annuals, meaning they set seed and die by early summer. They also grow more densely than many of the native perennials, which adapted to our dry climate by growing less densely across the landscape.

Also, about a million more people have moved into the WUI, the Wildland, Urban Interface, i.e., moved into the woods, in the last 20 years. A third to half of all firefighting costs go to protecting these homes. So, if the Oak fire winds up costing taxpayers a half a billion dollars to fight, likely half of these costs will have gone to protecting somebody's vacation home, or the home of someone who lives 15 miles from a town.

[NoName-surl]

Fingers crossed hope the fire stays strong guys

[connieolson]

Horrible fire, the firefighters working so hard, feel so bad for them, the homes, business, animals.

[uhauha]

There is a very good advice in a very old film about a wolf and three pigs: Build
your house of stone instead of wood , cardboard and plastic

[Oliveria]

Climate refugees are going to become more and more common, yet only 100 companies create +70% of greenhouse emissions.

[kimberleypex]

Awful, second year now, the destroying wild fires, trees forests and animals 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼. So incredible sad .

[xxxquariangaming]

It's insane to think just months ago I drove thru there in semi and was completely fine it's burning to heck insanity hopefully folks stay safe out there.

[DoreenBellDotan]

Are any of you even aware that you're invading and occupying Native land and asking yourselves if maybe, just maybe, that is why this is happening to you? Are any of you capable of any level of self-reflection at all?

[josephpacchetti]

You Know This Happens Every Year!! MOVE!!!

[vj.joseph]

There is a company called arsac which has a drone to put out the fire by using certain sound waves. It's really high tech. Fire fighters should definitely contact the company and upgrade their fire fighting gear.

[SGNedtiz]

You reap what you sow the. The more carbon you put the more earth will become a living microwave

[iTRz]

I was going to south Lake Tahoe then I noticed that it was Smokey af out there and I just went to north auburn to swim

It’s sad tho i didn’t think there was fires because I’m from Sonoma county where the fires started back in 2017 and every time I smell fire it reminds me of last 2 big fire we had

[mopthermopther]

Is there some way we could use wildfires to heat our homes in winter ?

[thekidfromcleveland]

Kinda what happens when there's a fire. They should be used to this

[DopamineDecor]

Is it normal to have fires like this in California every year?

[juliojimenez]

You know what I was just thinking no wonder We're running out of water because of a lot of fires been going on if you think but what will happen if there's no water what then

[dougca]

According to the orange man they need to sweep the forest and keep it swept

[Chulitatr]

It helps if the fire fighters also have wider hoses, instead of a 3" fricking hose.

[kathleenthompson]

You don't think HAARP has anything to do with this?