SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – While the Washburn Fire burns in Yosemite National Park, portions of nearby Sierra National Forest remain closed as the blaze remains especially active on its eastern side.
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The Washburn Fire was 31% contained after burning 4,759 acres as of Friday, Sierra National Forest's third day of partial closures. Those closures expanded on Friday, now covering the area seen on the map at the bottom of this story.
"We're just slowly seeing that containment go up," Yosemite Fire and Aviation Management spokesperson Nancy Philipee told KCBS Radio's Bret Burkhart during a Friday afternoon interview. "The containment is mostly on the western edge of the fire, and just looking forward to having that number increase every day and doing our best to fully suppress that fire."
Yosemite officials on Friday also banned visitors from having campfires in some areas of the park. Wood and charcoal fires are only allowed in designated open campgrounds, as well as some picnic, residential and wilderness areas.
More than 1,500 firefighters are assigned to the Washburn Fire, which has surpassed the nearly contained Electra Fire (4.478 acres) as California's largest active wildfire.
The Washburn Fire began burning on July 7, Yosemite Superintendent Cicely Muldoon said on Monday that humans started the fire. Yosemite National Park officials asked for the public's help in determining why the fire started in a Twitter thread on Friday night.
Officials ordered Wawona residents to evacuate, but Phillipe said that could change shortly.
"We are working on plans to, hopefully very soon, get those folks back into their homes," she said.
Philippe said it's still "up in the air" when firefighters expect to fully contain the blaze.
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