Yosemite wildfire gone awry- Jonell Williams, 2nd Period

      A Yosemite wildfire that has previously been building up during the past weekend, has quadrupled in size and engulfed miles of backcountry. The fire has lead to two separate group evacuations over the last weekend, with the most recent evacuation occurring this Sunday. Eighty-five hikers had to be rescued from the rock formation, the Half Dome in helicopters, and afterwards 100 visitors had to be evacuated from the Little Yosemite Valley.

      The wild fire began 49 days ago when lighting struck between Little Yosemite Valley and the Half Dome. The Meadow Fire was kept around to restore the park's natural ecosystem, but was not expected to grow any further than from the high altitude spot it was in. Instead it erupted with the encouragement of the wind and high temperatures, and ended up tearing up 2, 500 acres of forest as of Monday. The park remains open, but numerous trails leading to the Half Dome or the valley are closed. There has also been a another fire, called the Bridge Fire that has evacuated over 300 homes Saturday and is located 15 miles southwest of the park. As of Monday, the Bridge Fire has been 75 percent contained and all evacuation orders have been lifted. 

     The two articles that I used have been written recently and updated just hours ago. The first article was written by Noelle Swan and the second by Eric Zerkel. I knew from previous knowledge that Yosemite had planned fires inside the park to balance out the ecosystem, but not to help it procreate or bring back the "fire cycle" of the meadows. "Some trees, such as the Giant Sequoia, actually need fire to reproduce" as mentioned in the first article I read. Also that natural and man-made fires have been encouraged and left to burn to maintain healthy habitats and continue natural fire cycles in the meadows. The first article was written for the purpose to inform but also to educate about the use and reasons for wildfires in Yosemite Park. The second article was mainly for the purpose of informing.   

1.   http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/0908/Yosemite-wildfire-scorches-backcountry-as-firefighters-scramble-to-contain-blaze

2.   http://www.weather.com/safety/wildfires/yosemite-california-wildfire-update-20140908