Fire Causes State of Emergency in San Francisco

A giant wildfire of over 200 square miles has spread into California's Yosemite National Park and is now threatening San Francisco's power grid, prompting a state of emergency to be declared.

"The wildfires that started in Tuolumne County have caused damage to electrical infrastructure serving the City and County of San Francisco, and now threaten damage to property, equipment, and resources of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department," San Francisco Governor Jerry Brown said in a statement on Friday.

The "Rim Fire" has burned through 125, 000 acres, destroyed electrical infrastructures and forced the evacuations of hundreds of local residents. Two out of the city's three hydroelectric plants had to be closed down.

In spite of this, San Francisco has managed to remain largely unaffected by using existing supplies — but if the fire keeps raging, disruptions and damage are likely to come about.

On Friday, officials also advised evacuations for two other cities.

The fire is, as of now, only 5% contained, but over 2,700 firefighters are working on reigning it in.