The blaze stretched to around half of a mile in the Crane Creek area but firefighters have successfully brought it under control. It was spotted about 10 miles from Merced Grove where the treasured sequoia trees are located.
According to park spokesman Scott Gediman, the fire, once it becomes really active, can possibly reach and threaten the grove.
"We're not looking at an imminent threat right now," Gediman said.
There are at least three stands of giant sequoias in the famous park, and Merced Grove is one of them. The trees are native to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada and are believed to be one of the Earth's largest and oldest living things. They have a life span of more than 3,000 years and can withstand fire.
The fire had temporarily cut off some entry points to the park and prompted the authorities to close Big Oak Flat Road and some parts of Highway 120. It has affected the tourism business of the place which is supposed to be thriving on a peak summer season. Campgrounds were also affected, and at least three of them had to be closed. Nestled in the park is the Merced Grove of giant sequoia which faced threat from the blaze. These trees are huge ancient trees that are closely related to redwoods.
The wildfire is dubbed as California's worse-than-usual wildfire of the year. The condition must have been caused by the extreme drought that has affected 80% of California which made it vulnerable to the blaze. The biggest and most destructive fires that have been recorded so far occurred in the Pacific Northwest. Washington State has recorded its biggest wildfire to date while the Buzzard Complex in Oregon had the nation's largest wildfire recorded.
While there is still some smoke in Yosemite Valley, the rest of the park remained unaffected by the fire and can be accessed by the public.
Apart from threatening the Merced Grove, the fire is also causing threat to around 50 homes which were placed under evacuation orders. The fire has completely destroyed two homes and has affected a stretch of more than 6 square miles since it started. At present, firefighters were able to contain it by 34%.
Another blaze incident has been spotted at the Sierra National Forest which is about 60 miles of Fresno. Though the fire was threatening around 20 homes, they were not placed under evacuation orders.
