Thousands evacuated as officials declare state of emergency over 'explosive' California wildfire

Lewis Warner reports on the out of control fire tearing through California

Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes as a wildfire near Yosemite National Park ripped through tinder-dry forest.

The fire has grown into one of California's biggest blazes of the year fuelled by bone-dry vegetation caused by the worst drought in decades and light winds.

Approximately 2,000 firefighters battled the Oak Fire, along with aircraft and bulldozers.

The blaze started on Friday near the town of Midpines in Mariposa County. Governor Gavin Newsom, announced a state of emergency on Saturday.

By Sunday the blaze had consumed more than 22 square miles of forest land.

Evacuation orders were put in effect on Saturday for over 6,000 people living across a several-mile span in the sparsely populated, rural area, Daniel Patterson, a spokesman for the Sierra National Forest, said.

More than 2,600 homes and businesses in the area had lost power as of Friday afternoon and there was no indication when it would be restored, Pacific Gas & Electric said.

California has experienced increasingly larger and deadlier wildfires in recent years as climate change has made the West much warmer and drier over the past 30 years. Scientists have said weather will continue to be more extreme and wildfires more frequent, destructive and unpredictable.

The Oak Fire was sparked as firefighters made progress against an earlier blaze.

The Washburn Fire, which burned to the edge of a grove of giant sequoias in the southernmost part of Yosemite National Park, was nearly 80% contained after burning for two weeks and moving into the Sierra national forest.

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