Sierra evacuees returning to homes

MARIPOSA -- Rural residents began returning to charred neighborhoods as firefighters continued to make good progress Thursday toward containing a destructive blaze that has scorched 50 square miles of Sierra terrain west of Yosemite.

About 100 residences outside the towns of Mariposa and Midpines along Highway 140 remained off limits, but fire officials expressed hope that people who live there could return soon.

"I think we are feeling good," said Suzanne Grin, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman.

Nearly 4,500 firefighters continued to battle the Telegraph fire, which claimed 21 homes and displaced thousands after it erupted a week ago, ignited by a resident taking target practice near the Merced River.

The 53-square-mile blaze was 45 percent contained Thursday as crews shored up fire lines around residential areas along its southern and eastern edges.

The most threatened areas are the web of rural neighborhoods arching down Greeley Hill along Highway 120.

More than two dozen helicopters and aerial tankers have been dropping retardant on the northern edge of the fire while hand crews and bulldozers constructed firebreaks and prepared for possible back burns to halt the flames' advance.

Firefighters also have prevented the blaze from turning east and heading farther up the Merced River canyon toward the town of El Portal, which houses administrative buildings for Yosemite National Park.

The fire was eight miles from the town and a dozen miles from the park's western entrance on Highway 140.

Adrienne Freeman, a park spokeswoman, said smoke that poured into Yosemite Valley during the early days of the blaze has largely dissipated and all air quality warnings have been lifted.

But with power lines into the park cut off by the fire, parts of the valley remain without electricity while other buildings, such as the visitor's center, are running on diesel-powered generators.

Freeman said there is no estimate when repairs to the power lines will be complete.

The only other hitch for Yosemite visitors has been occasional road closures along Highway 140, the major entrance to the park, when firefighters were working.

Meanwhile, a 6.3-square-mile wildfire in a lightly populated region of Plumas County led to evacuations and the closure of a state highway.

The fire is burning in steep terrain in the Feather River canyon.

Highway 70 through Plumas County is closed west of Quincy, about 150 miles northeast of Sacramento.