Yosemite wildfire: state of emergency declared for San Francisco

California governor Jerry Brown cites threats to electricity and water supplies as firefighters consider asking for military help

• Reuters in San Francisco
• theguardian.com, Saturday 24 August 2013 01.29 EDT

Firefighters wait in a safety zone near the fire next to Yosemite national park. Photograph: Al Golub/Corbis

A wildfire raging at the edge of Yosemite national park is threatening power lines that provide electricity to San Francisco, prompting Californiagovernor Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency.

The fire has damaged the electrical infrastructure serving the city, and forced the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to shut down power lines, the governor said in his declaration.

There were no reports of blackouts in the city, which is about 200 miles west of the park.

The wildfire swept further into Yosemite national park on Friday, remaining largely unchecked as it threatened one of the country's major tourist destinations.

The so-called Rim Fire, which started last week in the Stanislaus national forest, had blackened 11,000 acres (4,450 hectares) at the north-eastern corner of Yosemite as of Friday afternoon after exploding in size overnight, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said.

The blaze burning in the western Sierra Nevada mountains is now the fastest-moving of 50 large wildfires raging across the drought-parched US west that have strained resources and prompted fire managers to open talks with Pentagon commanders and Canadian officials about possible reinforcements.

The blaze, which has now charred a total of 165 square miles of forest land, mostly outside Yosemite, was about four miles west of Hetch Hetchy reservoir and some 20 miles from Yosemite Valley, the park's main tourist centre, Cobb said.

The reservoir provides water to 2.6 million customers in the San Francisco area. Should the blaze affect the reservoir, the city's water supply could be affected, Brown said in his declaration.

The fire has destroyed four homes and 12 outbuildings and was only 2% contained as of Friday.

Highway 120, one of four access routes to the park, was temporarily closed. The fire was also threatening 4,500 homes, up from 2,500 on Thursday.

Link to video: Wildfire near Yosemite national park tackled by more than 1,000 firefighters

In Idaho, crews increasingly had the upper hand over a massive blaze near the ski resort town of Sun Valley, as a storm system predicted to bring lightning and high winds brought rain instead.

The so-called Beaver Creek fire, now 67% contained, at its peak forced out occupants of 2,250 houses in upscale neighborhoods outside Sun Valley and destroyed one home and seven other buildings.

The 2013 fire season has already drained US Forest Service fire suppression and emergency funds, causing the agency to redirect $600 million meant for other projects such as campground and trail maintenance and thinning of trees to reduce wildfire risks, said agency spokesman Mike Ferris.

The service has spent some $967 million to protect lives and properties amid a season in which fires in Idaho, Utah, Colorado and California have threatened homes and communities that border forest and wild lands where fire is more dangerous and costly to fight, Ferris said.

With hotshots and other elite fire crews stretched thin, US fire managers will decide in coming days whether to seek US military or international aid to check the roughly 50 large fires burning in the west.