Firefighters battled a growing wildfire in Yosemite National Park over the weekend that threatened the park’s largest grove of giant sequoias and the historic community of Wawona.
The Washburn fire more than doubled in size Saturday, reaching 1,190 acres, fire officials said.
Firefighters worked Friday and Saturday to save the historic Mariposa Grove, which is home to about 500,000 year-old giant sequoias. An area at the south end of the park was evacuated Friday afternoon. The fire remains 0% contained.
As of Saturday night, there were no reports of damage to well-known redwoods in the park, such as the Grizzly Giant.
Weather over the weekend did not appear to be conducive to fighting the flames, officials warned, with temperatures expected to rise while humidity drops, conditions that could favor the fire’s spread. Forecasters expect high temperatures in the mid-80s or higher to last for several days. However, the relative lack of wind has aided the extinguishment.
The fire is showing “moderate fire behavior,” officials said, including long-range spotting — when wind-borne sparks start new fires — and ignition, when small groups of trees catch fire, usually from the bottom up.
More than 200 firefighters were on the scene working to prevent the fast-growing fire from destroying redwoods and advancing toward the historic community of Wawona, which was under a mandatory evacuation order late Friday.
Wawona was added to Yosemite National Park in 1932 and had a population of 169 at the 2010 census. The Wawona Hotel was founded in 1856. Park officials said about 600 to 700 people stay at the campground, cabins and historic hotel. , were evacuated on Friday.
Crews at the park’s south entrance worked Friday night to clear vegetation and create fire lines around large trees, including a 3,000-year-old giant grizzly that is one of the largest in the world. Several trees were also wrapped in fire-resistant blankets while hoses were laid to create a sprinkler-like system to moisten the giant trees and help them survive the flames.
Although giant sequoias, which grow only in the Sierra Nevada, have long been naturally resistant to fire, increasingly intense fires in California have begun to challenge that resistance. An estimated 20% of mature redwoods have died in fires in the past two years.
By Friday, a large pyrocumulus cloud had formed over the south end of the park and smoke was drifting into Fresno and other parts of the San Joaquin Valley.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. There was no apparent natural spark for the blaze that broke out Thursday near the park’s Washburn Trail, Nancy Phillip, Yosemite Fire Information spokeswoman, told The Associated Press. The smoke was reported by visitors walking in the grove, which reopened in 2018 after a $40 million renovation that took three years.
Yosemite’s south entrance on Highway 41 remained closed. Other parts of the park were still open.
Associated Press and Chronicle contributor JD Morris contributed reporting.
Daniel Echeverria is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: danielle.echeverria@sfchronicle.com Twitter: DanielleEchev
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