The Rim Fire burning in and around Yosemite National Park grew slightly Friday and has now become the third largest wildfire in California history.
The fire had burned 246,350 acres by Friday afternoon and remained 80 percent contained.
Because of progress that fire officials have made, Highway 120, one of the main routes into Yosemite, reopened at noon Friday, allowing park visitors for the first time in weeks to drive into the park through Tuolumne County and into the popular Big Oak Flat entrance, then down to Yosemite Valley.
"The safety concerns are being lessened. Operations have calmed down," said Leslie Auriemmo, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Forest Service.
"If you drive along Highway 120,
Crews clear California Highway 120 of debris near Yosemite National Park in California, Sept. 4, 2013. (AP Photo/U.S. Forest Service, Mike McMillan) (Mike McMillan)
you might see some logs burning and smoke, though, so it's important not to stop along the road," she added. "There still are some firefighters and trucks."The Tioga Road remains closed from Crane Flat to White Wolf.
Fire officials say that Sept. 20 is still the estimated containment date.
On Thursday, the Forest Service announced that the fire was started by a hunter who let an illegal campfire spread out of control on Aug. 17 in the Stanislaus National Forest. Campfires have been illegal in the forest since June, when Forest Service officials banned them because of dry conditions.
The Forest Service has declined to answer key questions about the case, however. Forest Service investigators have not released the hunter's name or said where he is from, whether he has been detained or if other hunters were involved.
On Friday, Ray Mooney, a Forest Service spokesman, said investigators need to gather more evidence before they can make a decision whether to arrest the hunter.
"When they get to a point where they feel they have enough evidence, they'll make a decision, whether that is arresting him or something else," Mooney said.
The hunter could also face liability for the expense of fighting the fire, which so far has cost taxpayers $81 million.
The spread of the fire has slowed considerably in recent days as it moved from thick stands of trees in the Stanislaus Forest to different terrain in Yosemite National Park. Lakes in the park, such as Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and Cherry Lake, along with higher-altitude granite landscapes with less wood to burn, have curbed its intensity.
Still the fire continues to generate large amounts of smoke that was drifting northwest over Lake Tahoe and Minden, Nev., on Friday. Hot, dry weather conditions this weekend were expected to make fighting the fire more difficult, and shifting weather patterns led forecasters to predict that some smoke could be back over Yosemite Valley by Monday.
Despite its huge size -- eight times the area of the city of San Francisco -- the fire has burned only about 8 percent of the total 761,000 acres within Yosemite National Park.
The fire has charred more acreage in the Sierra Nevada than any fire in recorded history. To become the third largest fire in California history, it grew by nearly 10,000 acres from Thursday, passing the Zaca Fire, which burned 240,207 acres in rural Santa Barbara County in 2007. The largest fire in California history is the Cedar Fire, which burned 273,246 acres in 2003 in San Diego County, killing 14 people and destroying 2,820 structures.
Paul Rogers covers resources and environmental issues. Contact him at 408-920-5045. Follow him at Twitter.com/PaulRogersSJMN
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