The Rim Fire crosses the edge of Yosemite National Park!
Well, I’ve got GOOD news and BAD news….
The GOOD news is that Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, will retire in the next 12 months! 
The BAD news is that the Rim Fire has grown to 105,620 acres (DOUBLING in size from a DAY ago!) and threatens THOUSANDS of homes in the Sierra foothills! For the first time, the fire has crossed the boundary of Yosemite National Park! Forested land around Lake Eleanor is on fire! The entrance to Yosemite from Highway 120 remains closed! SFGate.com says:
Most of the park is still open and can be reached via Highway 140 from Merced and Highway 41 from Fresno.
Park officials said they didn’t think the fire would affect visitors – at least anytime soon. On Friday, the blaze was at least 20 miles from popular Yosemite Valley.
Even with all the bad news, firefighters scored some important victories against the blaze. Firefighters started to WIN the battle to save San Francisco‘s Camp Mather, a mile west of Yosemite, which has long been a retreat for city families. Some 200 seniors were evacuated from Camp Mather on Tuesday.
The roughly 2,800, mostly seasonal, residents of the community of Pine Mountain Lake were under orders to evacuate Friday. Residents of nearby Groveland, population 600; Tuolumne City, population 1,800; and the Ponderosa Hill area were urged to leave, too, but under an advisory rather than an order.
A thick blanket of smoke enveloped the communities. The air smelled like ash.
“It’s really eerie here,” said Pat Wrinkle, 59, who grabbed what he could from his ranch home at Pine Mountain Lake and headed out with his wife and two long-haired dachshunds, Cole and Simba.
More than 2,000 firefighters were engaged in battling the Rim Fire today, from all over the nation, and large air tankers are fighting the fire from the air. The Rim Fire is only 2% contained, and four homes have burned! Over 4,500 structures are threatened, and the cause of the fire remains unknown.
The popular Strawberry Music Festival, which was scheduled to take place at the site over the Labor Day Weekend, has been called off by organizers. It’s the third time in the festival’s 32-year history that fire has canceled the event, which is held twice a year.
Organizers said Friday they’re considering rescheduling in October.
The camp was one of several evacuated over the past week as the Rim Fire neared. On Friday, officials revealed a cabin had burned at an emptied-out Camp Tawonga, which is popular with Bay Area families, but that other structures there had been spared.
The fire also threatened electrical power transmission lines owned by San Francisco and the water quality of the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, which holds San Francisco’s water supply! Today, city officials announced that they were looking at tapping back-up reservoirs, fearing that ash from the Rim Fire could pollute Hetch Hetchy’s water.
This week, California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Tuolumne County, which will help free up resources and money to fight the Rim Fire. The fire grew from 16,000 acres on Wednesday morning to 54,000 acres on Thursday to 105,620 acres on Friday!
(Note added August 24, 2013: The Rim Fire has grown to more than 129,000 acres and is 7% contained, according to TV news. Westerly winds are pushing the fire eastward, AWAY from more populated areas.)
(Note added August 25, 2013: The Rim Fire has grown to 210 SQUARE MILES and is now ranked the 15th largest in California history!
-Bill at
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