Yosemite Fire

You probably have heard about the large fire that has been threatening Yosemite for days now.  The fire has actually been in very rugged area north and west of the park.  There aren't that many people that actually live where the fire has been, mostly there are a few cabins in there.  There are many reasons this fire needs to be stopped before it get much closer to Yosemite, and it is getting closer.

 Yosemite is such a special place and it would be a horrible thing for the area to burn.  The park service does scheduled burns in the park so that the undergrowth does not build up and a fire more likely.  It takes many years for the damage of a fire to be covered up by new growth, as we saw a couple of years ago in Yellowstone.

Hetch Hetchy is a valley near Yosemite.  In 1913, congress gave permission for San Francisco to build the O'Shaughnessy Dam across Hetch Hetchy valley.  The valley was filled with 300' of water that supplies San Francisco, San Mateo and Alameda counties.  And power also is supplied by the water and the dam.

If the fire puts the pumps of the dam out of commission it may cause power and water disruption in the Bay Area.  Since we live in Alameda County, I wonder if it will affect us much.

An interesting side note:  San Francisco is suing Nevada for giving their criminals a one-way bus ticket to San Francisco to get them out of Nevada.  Well, pay back!  Nevada, especially Reno, is getting all the heavy smoke from the fire!  Even Yosemite Valley hasn't been getting smoke up to this point!