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A28 u.s. news
Dialuna 25 Juli 2022

California forest fire burns out of control near Yosemite

per firefighting efforts," said routes into Yosemite.
a Sunday morning incident
report. California has experienced
The blaze erupted Friday increasingly larger and dead-
southwest of the park near lier wildfires in recent years
the town of Midpines in as climate change has made
Mariposa County. Officials the West much warmer and
described "explosive fire be- drier over the past 30 years.
havior" on Saturday as flames Scientists have said weather
made runs through bone- will continue to be more
dry vegetation caused by the extreme and wildfires more
worst drought in decades. frequent, destructive and un-
predictable.
By Sunday the blaze had con-
sumed more than 22 square Pacific Gas & Electric said
miles (56 square km) of forest on its website that more than
land, with no containment, 3,100 homes and businesses
Cal Fire said. The cause was in the area had lost power as
under investigation. of Sunday and there was no
Evacuation orders were in indication when it would be
place for over 6,000 people restored. "PG&E is unable
living across a several-mile to access the affected equip-
span of the sparsely populat- ment," the utility said as
ed area in the Sierra Nevada flames roared Friday.
foothills.
The Oak Fire was sparked
Gov. Gavin Newsom pro- as firefighters made progress
claimed a state of emergency against an earlier blaze, the
for Mariposa County due to Washburn Fire, that burned
the fire's effects. to the edge of a grove of giant
(AP) — A destructive mountain communities. cording to the California De- Flames destroyed 10 residen- sequoias in the southernmost
wildfire near Yosemite partment of Forestry and Fire tial and commercial struc- part of Yosemite National
National Park burned out Some 2,000 firefighters were Protection, or Cal Fire. tures and damaged five oth- Park. The 7.5-square-mile
of control Sunday and has battling the Oak Fire, along ers, Cal Fire said. Numerous (19-square-km) fire was
grown into one of Califor- with aircraft and bulldozers, "Today the weather is ex- roads were closed, including nearly 80% contained after
nia's biggest blazes of the facing tough conditions that pected to remain hot with State Route 140 between burning for two weeks and
year, forcing thousands of included steep terrain and minimum humidity between Carstens Road and Allred moving into the the Sierra
residents to flee remote spiking temperatures, ac- 5 and 10%, which will ham- Road — one of the main National Forest.

Biden improves 'significantly,' throat still sore from COVID

(AP) — President Joe "Thank goodness our vac- tant for the American people this is going to be a course of Biden's press secretary has
Biden continues to "im- cines and therapeutics work to know how well their presi- COVID that we've seen in said 17 people, including
prove significantly" de- well against it, which is why dent is doing," he said. many Americans who have members of the president's
spite a lingering sore I think the president's doing ben fully vaccinated, double senior staff and at least one
throat from his coronavi- well," Jha told CBS' "Face the "Obviously if he has persis- boosted, getting treated with member of Congress, were
rus infection, according Nation." tent symptoms, obviously if those tools in hand," Jha said. determined to have been
to an update Sunday from Jha also gave a positive up- any of them interfere with his "The president's been doing in close contact with Biden
his doctor. date on the president's health. ability to carry out his duties, well and we're going to ex- when he might have been
"I checked in with his team we will disclose that early pect that he's going to con- contagious. None has tested
"The president is responding late last night. He was feeling and often with the Ameri- tinue to do so.'' positive so far, Jha said on
to therapy as expected," wrote well. He had a good day yes- can people. But I suspect that "Fox News Sunday."
Dr. Kevin O'Connor in his terday," Jha said.
latest note. Biden has been
taking Paxlovid, an antiviral That variant is an offshoot
drug that helps reduce the of the omicron strain that
chance of severe illness. emerged late last year. It is
believed responsible for the
O'Connor wrote that Biden vast majority of coronavirus
still has a sore throat, though cases in the country. He has
other symptoms, including a been isolating in the White
cough, runny nose and body House residence since then.
aches, "have diminished con-
siderably." Administration officials have
emphasized that his symp-
Biden tested positive for the toms are mild because he has
coronavirus on Thursday received four vaccine doses,
morning. O'Connor said Sat- and he started taking the an-
urday that the president likely tiviral drug Paxlovid after be-
became infected with a high- coming infected.
ly contagious variant, known Jha pledged that the White
as BA.5, that is spreading House would keep giving
throughout the country, and updates on the president's
Dr. Ashish Jha, the White condition and whether he
House COVID-19 response might have long-term symp-
coordinator, said Sunday, "It toms.
is the BA.5 variant." "We think it's really impor-