Yosemite Fire Scorches 5K Acres

After five days of hard work, firefighters are making good progress against a wildfire raging near Yosemite National Park. The fire—started when a propane tank on a motor home traveling on one the main roads into the park exploded—has burned more than 5,000 acres and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. More than a thousand firefighters are battling the blaze along steep canyon slopes.

The park itself is open for business as usual and the massive fire hasn't even affected the skies over Yosemite Valley, a park spokesman says. California has had a relatively fire-free summer. although the risk is rising as the higher winds arrive with the change in season, a forestry department official tells the AP. "This year we have not had very many large and damaging wildfires," he says. "The combinations of cooperation from the weather and aggressive initial attacks have kept them small." (More California wildfires stories.)