July 24 (Reuters) – Thousands of people have been forced from their homes in California as a wildfire west of Yosemite National Park spread rapidly due to scorching temperatures and drought in vegetation, the fire department said Sunday.
The “Oak Fire”, which is in no way contained, threatened to destroy some 2,000 homes on Saturday, forcing some 3,000 people to evacuate, the authorities said.
According to the local press, Sunday morning, 6,000 people in total had been ordered to evacuate, while the fire which broke out on Friday ravaged more than 5,7000 hectares. (Report Rich McKay Atlanta; French version Jean Terzian)