Major Fire Threatens San Francisco's Power Supply

A fire spreading through Tuolumne County, California is beginning to seriously threaten the utilities of one of the state's biggest cities.

A fire spreading through Tuolumne County, California is beginning to seriously threaten the utilities of one of the state's biggest cities. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency last night for the City and County of San Francisco because the massive, uncontained wildfire making its way through parts of the Yosemite National Park are threatening the power and water supply for the metropolitan area. According to the governor, the fires "now threaten damage to property, equipment, and resources of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission." Certain areas have been ordered to evacuate, but some stubborn locals refused to comply.

The fire is sprawling and scary right now. The U.S. Forest Service says the Rim fire, as it's being called, is only 5 percent contained. It's also covering an area much larger than San Francisco. "The total acreage count so far is at 125,620 acres. The fire now covers 165 square miles, more than three times the size of San Francisco," according to NBC News.

A lot of the locals' worry is focused on the historic Yosemite-area Hetch Hetchy reservoir, which supplies San Francisco with 85 percent of its water intake. Some are worried smoke and ash from the wildfire will damage the water supply system, but so far local officials have seen no change in water quality.