Much of the community of Mariposa was evacuated in the early hours of the French Fire, which started around 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Bulldozer and hand crews worked through the night to establish a fire line along the east side of the Sierra Nevada foothills community, said the Madera-Mariposa-Merced unit of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
As of Friday night, the wildfire had burned 908 acres (1.4 square miles) and was 20% contained, CalFire said. The cause was under investigation.The map above shows the approximate fire perimeter as a black line and the updated evacuation area in red.
The evacuation order was lifted at noon Friday for a large part of the community’s central residential and commercial area, just east of Highway 49, as was the shelter-in-place order for John C. Fremont Hospital and two motels.
Highway 140, a main route in and out of Yosemite National Park, was reopened with traffic controls.
For more details of the evacuation, including warning areas, see the Mariposa County emergency map. A 24-hour fire information line has been set up at (209) 742-1377.
