MIDPINES (AP) – A growing wildfire has forced the evacuations of 170 homes near the main entrance road to Yosemite National Park and is threatening more, fire officials said Saturday.

The blaze grew from about 1,000 acres to around 16,000 acres, or 25 square miles, between Saturday morning and evening, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It is burning on both sides of a steep, rugged canyon along the Merced River.

“The erratic behavior is because there is so much fuel out there to burn,” Berlant said.

In Northern California, authorities said a firefighter died after being struck by a tree. Andrew Jackson Palmer was struck Friday while working on the Eagle Fire near Junction City, about 50 miles west of Redding.

Palmer died while en route to a hospital, said Steve Ritchie, a spokesman for the Redding-area fire command center. He had been based in Port Angeles, Wash.

Near Yosemite Valley, most of the evacuated homes are in the town of Midpines, but more homes in other small towns are being asked to prepare to leave the area, state fire spokeswoman Karen Guillemin said.

In all, about 2,000 homes are threatened, officials said.

Midpines is on Highway 140, the thoroughfare that leads to the west entrance of Yosemite National Park. Campers on nearby Bureau of Land Management land were evacuated as a precaution.

Guillemin said the cause of the fire, first reported Friday, was target shooting, but would not elaborate.

Fire crews on Saturday were being flown into the hard-to-reach area.

Guillemin said the weather was not helpful, with temperatures over 100 degrees and low humidity. The weather, coupled with a wilderness area filled with tinder dry fuel, has made for an extremely dangerous fire.

“Dozers are trying to push dirt as fast as they can to get safety zones for our firefighters that are out there,” she said. “Crews are cutting brush as fast as they can but it’s an extremely dangerous situation at this point.”

The California National Guard planned to send two Blackhawk helicopters equipped with 660-gallon water buckets on Sunday, guard Capt. Al Bosco said.

AP-ES-07-27-08 0030EDT

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