Hotter Weather Means Spreading Yosemite Fire

As someone who was able to visit Yosemite National Park just a few weeks before the current wildfire started, I was interested to take a look at the current situation of the fire. Of course it's been national news for a while, but I hadn't looked into it a great deal. First off, the cause was an illegal fire by hunters. I would have never believed that hunters would be allowed in a National Park, but due to my recent visit, I can see why it's allowed. Yosemite is larger than a few states. When I visited, it would take 45 minutes just from the entrance to the middle of the park where we were doing our hike. I was also able to to see firsthand the number of campers that are allowed in Yosemite, and with that, the number of campfires. It was so interesting to see the change in climate when I was in California. My family spent a few days in San Francisco where it was surprisingly very cool. The four hour drive East to Yosemite brought us to what I always thought California weather would be like: hot and dry. Therefore, the fact that a fire could spread quickly in Yosemite didn't surprise me. What was shocking to me was the article stated that the fire spread 10,000 acres on Thursday! I was also very surprised to read that the fire was 80% controlled. It was interesting because perhaps my favorite part about Yosemite was when we visited the giant sequoias. During the tour of these beautiful trees, the tour guide discussed how they create fires on purpose quite a bit because it's good for the trees and the forest as a whole. Still, I find it very impressive that a wildfire this large could be 80% controlled. The image above is a personal photo I took while at Yosemite. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/06/20362060-crews-could-lose-ground-as-rim-fire-gains-speed-in-california?lite