Raging fire near Yosemite National Park

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A 26,000-acre wildfire raged out of control Sunday night insteep and rugged canyons 12 miles west of Yosemite, destroying 12homes and threatening the tiny town of Midpines as firefightersbraced for volatile weather conditions during the coming days.
The fire, burning just northwest of Midpines and 2 miles northeastof the town of Mariposa, forced hundreds of residents to flee theirhomes, threatened thousands more homes, caused a power outage inthe Yosemite Valley, and was threatening the water supply for theMariposa Utility District, authorities said.
The blaze, called the Telegraph Fire, was ignited by a targetshooter Friday afternoon, officials said. It is being fought by1,900 firefighters aided by helicopters and planes dropping waterand fire-retardant chemicals. Fire officials said the blaze was 10percent contained late Sunday. They expected the hot, dry weatherto continue into the week.
The fire is east of Highway 49 and north of Highway 140. Bothhighways remained open Sunday as the fire moved north towardCoulterville and the Sierra and Stanislaus national forests,officials said. In addition to the 12 homes destroyed, 27 otherbuildings have been lost, officials said.
Power in El Portal and Yosemite Village was deliberately cut offfor the safety of firefighters because, officials said, thick smokecan act as an electrical conduit and could carry harmfulelectricity to firefighters working close to active power lines.
"It is more of an inconvenience for folks in the park," saidYosemite concessionaire spokesman Kenny Karst. "There is absolutelyno danger (here)."
The fire couldn't have come at a worse time - the peak of thetourist season for Yosemite National Park and the historic MotherLode.
Many businesses in the area of the fire were operating ongenerators, and their owners hoped tourists would not leave theregion. Yosemite park remained open. Tourist inquiries
At the Mariposa County Visitors Center in Mariposa - the 1849 GoldRush hub that doubles as a staging ground for Yosemite trips - morethan 250 tourists had walked in by 5 p.m. Sunday. All asked roughlythe same question: Can we get into Yosemite today?
They got good news but were shown an image from a live Web camerabehind the counter. It normally shows Half Dome, but on this day,it displayed only an ugly, smoky haze.
At Yosemite, the Ahwahnee Hotel's 123 rooms and cottages werecompletely booked. However, management decided on Saturday to runthe hotel on a generator, said Barbara Cash, who works at the hoteland has taken some cancellations over the phone since the fire hit.
"People are really freaked out about the fire," she said. "We'recrossing our fingers and hoping that it can be contained."
The guests have mostly stayed in camp, with a handful seekingspecial attention from the hotel's medical clinic forasthma-related issues.
"Some of the guests that have stayed have complained of poor airquality and visibility," she said.
Mariposa County's economy is almost completely driven by tourism,said Paul Hall, vice president of the county's Chamber of Commerce.He said he didn't expect the fire to hurt the area unless flamesclosed major roads - particularly Highway 140 toward Yosemite'smain entrance.
"People come to Yosemite," Hall said. "Right now, it hasinteresting views - that's how we'd put it. The sunsets will begreat. ... Yosemite in clear skies or smoky skies is stillspectacular."
Hall said all of the hotels in the town of Mariposa were full,though he admitted that many rooms held napping firefighters. Candles and flashlights
The Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal was handing out candles andflashlights to its guests, officials said. The lodge expected 220of its 347 rooms to be filled Sunday night, even though guestscould get a full refund if they decided to cancel.
"Most people are staying," said the front desk receptionist whodeclined to give her name. "It is really smoky outside, but peoplesay, 'We came here for a vacation, so we are staying.' Even peoplewho have been here for five nights already are staying."
Meanwhile, residents were fighting for their homes. After about 300homes were evacuated Saturday, more evacuations were ordered Sundayon the northwest edge of the fire, affecting Dogtown Road, TexasHill Road and Schilling Road, in the Coulterville area.
Six air tankers were dropping retardant liquid on hot spots Sunday,and four water-dropping helicopters were also on the scene, thoughtheir flights were being hampered by poor visibility due to smoke.
Officials with the California Department of Forestry and FireProtection said they could confirm that 12 homes had beendestroyed. Some of those were near Mariposa on East Whitlock Road,which a reporter toured Sunday with an agency spokeswoman.
The area, where firefighters tried to steer flames around homes onSaturday, has dense stands of oak and pine trees along withmanzanita and chamise. Many residents live at the top of long dirtdriveways that wind through the canyons.
Along the road, tree stumps and fence posts burned. "The fire wentthrough here fast," said Cal Fire spokeswoman Sarah Gibson,pointing out places where firefighters had cut down dangerous treesor where aircrafts had dropped retardant. Some successes
Pointing toward an untouched home with blackened vegetation allaround, she said, "There's a save."
At a Red Cross evacuation center at Mariposa Elementary School,where more than 15 people slept on green cots Saturday night, kidswatched an animated movie Sunday afternoon while teenagers played aboard game.
Standing on a basketball court outside the school gymnasium,evacuee Larry Laity, 64, pointed toward a ridge in the distance andsaid he didn't know whether his home - which was hidden behindtrees - was burned or saved. White ribbons of smoke - and one blackplume - rose from the forest.
Laity said he and his wife, Joan, had been shopping at about 3 p.m.Sunday in Merced when he heard the fire was heading toward hisneighborhood.
"I broke every law in the book getting back to my house," he said.
They had 10 minutes, he said, to pack important documents, photoalbums, several framed posters and jewelry, plus a walnut chestthat Laity's great-grandmother brought to America from England in1910.
"It's all been kind of a blur," Laity said. "But everything's OK."