Satellite Gives Bird's-Eye View of California Wildfire Threatening Yosemite

Satellite images taken on Sunday offer a broad and sweeping view of the wildfire threatening to reach California's Yosemite National Park.

An image was shared on Twitter by the Sacramento branch of the National Weather Service (NWS) and was taken at 6:51 p.m. local time. A massive trail of smoke created by the Oak Fire can be seen arcing through most of Central Nevada, reaching the border into Central California.

"Here's a 651 pm satellite view of widespread smoke from the #OakFire now affecting much of the northern Sierra Nevada, Lassen Volcanic NP, the Mother Lode foothills, and the northern Sacramento Valley," NWS Sacramento wrote in its tweet.

The fire broke out on Friday near the Mariposa County town of Midpines, roughly 50 miles west of Yosemite National Park, and exploded in size over the weekend thanks to hot and dry weather conditions. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to SF Gate.

As of Monday morning, the fire had consumed more than 16,700 acres of land, making it California's largest fire of the year, with firefighters reporting that only 10 percent of the blaze had been contained. But that's up more than 1,000 acres from Sunday, when none of the fire had been contained.

Evacuation orders were issued in the area on Saturday. The same day, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Mariposa County, with his official statement saying that the fire had "destroyed homes, threatened critical infrastructure, and forced the evacuation of more than 3,000 residents."

Cal Fire told SF Gate that seven homes had been destroyed. A total of 3,271 homes are considered to be at risk as the fire rages on. As of Saturday, over 2,000 firefighters were reportedly battling the blaze.

"In my career, I haven't seen fire like that," Justin Macomb, Cal Fire team 5 operations section chief, told SF Gate, adding that the fire initially "outflanked" firefighters.

Yosemite National Park has also been under siege by the Washburn Fire, which began in the park on July 7 and had burned through nearly 5,000 acres as of Saturday. The increasing prevalence and impact of wildfires in the state over the years can be pinned on climate change, according to experts.

"Climate change has made wildfires worse," Matthew Casale, environment campaigns director for Public Interest Research Group, said in a statement to Newsweek. "There have always been wildfires, but it's hard to deny that things are different now. The number of annual large fires in the West has tripled. Five of California's ten largest wildfires on record occurred in 2020, as the state set a new record for acres burned."

Newsweek reached out to Cal Fire for comment.