U.S. wildfires spread into Yosemite National Park

PanARMENIAN.Net - A giant wildfire raging out of control has grown to nearly 200 square miles and spread into Yosemite National Park, as California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for the city of San Francisco 150 miles away because of the threat to the city's utilities, Belfast Telegraph said.

The fire hit the park at the height of summer season, as officials geared up for a busy holiday weekend. It has closed some back-country hiking but was not threatening the Yosemite Valley region, one of California's most popular tourist destinations that features such famous sights as the Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and Bridalveil and Yosemite falls.

The blaze did, however, pose a threat to the lines and stations that pipe power to the city of San Francisco, so Brown, who had declared an emergency for the fire area earlier in the week, made the unusual move of extending the emergency declaration 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.