A wildfire burning in the rugged Merced River canyon about 20 miles west of Yosemite has grown to engulf
roughly 300 acres this afternoon.

Almost one-thousand firefighters are fighting the blaze along state Route 140 just east of Briceburg in Mariposa
County. The road was closed for much of the day, but the California Highway Patrol is expected to open one lane to traffic sometime this afternoon.

A
Yosemite National Park spokesman says the fire damaged power transmission equipment early this morning and the park was operating on emergency backup
generators for several hours.

Electricity has now been restored.

To avoid delays, visitors are still encouraged to take alternate routes into the
park, including state routes 41 and 120.