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| Yosemite fire swallowing everything in its path - CBS News Posted: 24 Aug 2013 08:45 AM PDT FRESNO, Calif. After burning for nearly a week on the edges of California's Yosemite National Park, a massive wildfire of nearly 200 square miles has now crossed into it, and firefighters have barely begun to contain it. Flames of the so-called "Rim Fire" continue to shoot up toward the sky with the fire swallowing up everything in its path, reporter Anjali Hempbill of CBS Sacramento station KOVR-TV reported on "CBS This Morning: Saturday" from near the park. "It's scary," said resident David Husid. "You just don't want to see your house go up. We've got so many memories in the last year." Neighbors watched as a helicopter hovered over their homes, picking up more water to fight the growing flames as thick smoke fills the valleys. The plume of smoke from the fire is so big it creates its own weather patterns inside, making it even harder for crews to predict where the fire burns next. "It's like 'Backdraft' the movie," said Husid. "It sucks the air out, and all of the sudden you get a wind coming from nowhere, and it's not windy up here, and it's just the fire that's pulling all the oxygen, so it can breathe." Crews say the dry brush and rugged terrain make getting into the fire on foot to build containment lines very difficult. "It's dryer than lumber that you buy at a lumber yard," some guy said. The Yosemite Valley, the part of the park frequented by tourists and known around the world for such iconic sights as the Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and Yosemite falls, remained open, clear of smoke and free from other signs of the fire that remained about 20 miles away. But the blaze was reverberating around the region. It brought a governor's declaration of emergency late Friday for San Francisco 150 miles away because of the threat the fire posed to utility transmission to the city, and caused smoke warnings and event cancellations in Nevada as smoke blew over the Sierra Nevada and across state lines. And the fire had established at least a foothold in Yosemite, with at least 17 of its 196 square miles burning inside the park's broad borders, in a remote area near Lake Eleanor where backpackers seek summer solace. Park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said that the park had stopped issuing backcountry permits to backpackers and had warned those who already had them to stay out of the area. She emphasized that the skies over Yosemite Valley were "crystal clear," however. "Right now there are no closures, and no visitor services are being affected in the park," Cobb said. "We just have to take one day at a time." The blaze did, however, pose a threat to the lines and stations that pipe power to the city of San Francisco, so Gov. Jerry Brown, who had declared an emergency for the fire area earlier in the week, made the unusual move of doing the same for the city across the state. San Francisco gets 85 percent of its water from the Yosemite-area Hetch Hetchy reservoir that is about 4 miles from the fire, though that had yet to be affected. But it was forced to shut down two of its three hydroelectric power stations in the area.  Firefighters monitor the Rim Fire Aug. 23, 2013, near Groveland, Calif., outside of Yosemite National Park. / Getty ImagesThe city has so far been able to buy power on the open market and use existing supplies, but further disruptions or damage could have an effect, according to city power officials and the governor's statement. The declaration frees funding and resources to help the city and makes it eligible for more federal funds to help with power shortages and outages or water problems. The 196-square-mile blaze was 5 percent contained and more than 2,000 firefighters were on the lines. It continued to grow in several directions, although "most of the fire activity is pushing to the east right into Yosemite," said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. In Nevada, the smoke forced officials in several counties to cancel outdoor school activities and issue health advisories, especially for people with respiratory problems. The fire was threatening about 5,500 residences, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The blaze has destroyed four homes and 12 outbuildings in several different areas. It closed a 4-mile stretch of State Route 120, one of three entrances into Yosemite on the west side. Two other western routes and an eastern route were open. Officials issued voluntary evacuation advisories for two new towns — Tuolumne City, population 1,800, and Ponderosa Hills, a community of several hundred — which are about five miles from the fire line, Forest Service spokesman Jerry Snyder said. A mandatory evacuation order remained in effect for part of Pine Mountain Lake, a summer gated community a few miles from the fire. "It feels a little bit like a war zone, with helicopters flying overhead, bombers dropping retardant and 10 engine companies stationed on our street," said Ken Codeglia, a retired Pine Mountain Lake resident who decided to stay to protect his house with his own hoses and fire retardant system. "But if the fire gets very hot and firefighters evacuate, I will run with them." Officials previously advised voluntary evacuations of more than a thousand other homes, several organized camps and at least two campgrounds in the area outside the park's boundary. More homes, businesses and hotels are threatened in nearby Groveland, a community of 600 about 5 miles from the fire and 25 miles from the entrance of Yosemite. Usually filled with tourists, the streets are now swarming with firefighters, evacuees and news crews, said Doug Edwards, owner of Hotel Charlotte on Main Street. "We usually book out six months solid with no vacancies and turn away 30-40 people a night. That's all changed," Edwards said. "All we're getting for the next three weeks is cancellations. It's a huge impact on the community in terms of revenue dollars." The fire is raging in the same region where a 1987 blaze killed a firefighter, burned hundreds of thousands of acres and forced several thousand people out of their homes. |
| March to focus on continued fight for civil rights - Boston.com Posted: 24 Aug 2013 09:06 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Alice Long planned months ago to use vacation time to travel from Huntsville, Ala., to the 50th anniversary events for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Long, a NASA administrative assistant, brought along her grandchildren to give them a close-up view of African-American and civil rights history that she said isn't being taught in schools. ''I'm here supporting this march because there are so many injustices in this country,'' Long, 59, said on the eve of Saturday's march from the Lincoln Memorial to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. ''I'm very concerned about it because I have a 5-year-old grandson and a 13-year-old granddaughter.'' Marchers began arriving early Saturday to gather on the National Mall, many staking out their spots as the sun rose in a clear sky over the Capitol. The NAACP passed out signs reminiscent of the 1963 event expressing reasons for the march five decades later: ''We March To Protect Voting Rights,'' proclaimed one of the placards. Organizers have planned for about 100,000 people to participate in the event, which is the precursor to the actual anniversary of the Aug. 28, 1963, march. It will be led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and King's son Martin Luther King III. After several speeches, participants will walk the half-mile from the Lincoln Memorial to the 2-year-old memorial. On the day of the anniversary, President Barack Obama will speak from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the same place King stood when he delivered his ''I Have a Dream'' speech. Obama will be joined by former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Churches and groups have been asked to ring bells at 3 p.m. Wednesday, marking the exact time King spoke. On Friday, a coalition of black leaders issued what they said is the 21st century agenda for the nation as it marks the watershed civil rights event that helped bring about the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The 1963 march drew some 250,000 to the National Mall and ushered in the idea of massive, nonviolent demonstrations. The leaders named economic parity, equity in education, voting rights, health care access and criminal justice reform as national policy priorities. National Urban League President Marc Morial said the agenda was ''by no means a complete agenda'' but one that can strengthen the unity among the coalition's members and a way to go forward in a new civil rights movement. Throughout the buildup to the anniversary march, leaders have been acknowledging and honoring civil rights progress spurred by the 1963 march. But they also have bemoaned what they see as an attack on that progress since King delivered his stirring speech. They cite the Supreme Court ruling that effectively erased a key anti-discrimination provision of the Voting Rights Act; persistent unemployment among African-Americans, which is about double that of white Americans; and the shooting death of unarmed black teenage Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of George Zimmerman. Organizers of Saturday's march hoped this year's event would serve to inspire people again to educate themselves about issues they see as making up the modern civil rights struggle. ''It's very difficult to stomach the fact that Trayvon wasn't committing any crime. He was on his way home from the store,'' Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon's mother, said Friday as she prepared to participate in the march. ''Don't wait until it's at your front door. Don't wait until something happens to your child. ... This is the time to act now. This is the time to get involved.'' ___ Follow Suzanne Gamboa at http://www.twitter.com/APsgamboa © Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. |
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