Explosive Oak wildfire consumes over 6500 acres in a few hours near Yosemite National Park; Images by John Tipton show California landscape and the destructive beauty of a wildfire

“The Oak Fire burning in Midpines, CA., in Mariposa County broke out around 2:00 PM Friday afternoon, July 22. I happened to be in Raymond, a small mountain community about 20 miles south as the crow flies. I spotted the plume not long after the fire ignited and watched it grow exponentially at a very fast pace, but I didn’t have a camera with me. Watching from home in Madera, I later drove back to Raymond, camera in hand, making photos along the way as I made my way to a clear view just above Raymond. The Central Sierra has been lucky so far this year with fires, but I fear that luck might have just run out with this one.

As of Saturday morning, July 23, the fire has burned 6,550 acres with zero containment.”

John Tipton, July 23, 2022

RAYMOND, CALIFORNIA – JULY 22: The Oak Fire explodes creating a pyrocumulus cloud above the Sierra Nevada mountain range above Midpines, California on July 22, 2022, in Raymond, California. The fire grew to 6500 acres in a few hours causing devastation to properties and the forest and necessitating evacuations from the area between Mariposa, California, and Yosemite National Park. The fire comes on the heels of the Washburn fire in Yosemite, which threatened giant Sequoia trees that are thousands of years old. (Photo by John Tipton/Special to the Bloomingtonian)
RAYMOND, CALIFORNIA – JULY 22: The Oak Fire explodes creating a pyrocumulus cloud above the Sierra Nevada mountain range above Midpines, California on July 22, 2022, in Raymond, California. The fire grew to 6500 acres in a few hours causing devastation to properties and the forest and necessitating evacuations from the area between Mariposa, California, and Yosemite National Park. The fire comes on the heels of the Washburn fire in Yosemite, which threatened giant Sequoia trees that are thousands of years old. (Photo by John Tipton/Special to the Bloomingtonian)
RAYMOND, CALIFORNIA – JULY 22: The Oak Fire explodes creating a pyrocumulus cloud above the Sierra Nevada mountain range above Midpines, California on July 22, 2022, in Raymond, California. The fire grew to 6500 acres in a few hours causing devastation to properties and the forest and necessitating evacuations from the area between Mariposa, California, and Yosemite National Park. The fire comes on the heels of the Washburn fire in Yosemite, which threatened giant Sequoia trees that are thousands of years old. (Photo by John Tipton/Special to the Bloomingtonian)
RAYMOND, CALIFORNIA – JULY 22: The Oak Fire explodes creating a pyrocumulus cloud above the Sierra Nevada mountain range above Midpines, California on July 22, 2022, in Raymond, California. The fire grew to 6500 acres in a few hours causing devastation to properties and the forest and necessitating evacuations from the area between Mariposa, California, and Yosemite National Park. The fire comes on the heels of the Washburn fire in Yosemite, which threatened giant Sequoia trees that are thousands of years old. (Photo by John Tipton/Special to the Bloomingtonian)

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