US firefighters rush to defend towns

Hundreds of firefighters who have rushed into the US state of California to battle a huge wildfire near Yosemite National Park have not yet succeeded in their effort.

The blaze is threatening the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which supplies water to 2.6 million people accounting for 85 percent of San Francisco’s water supply, and at least three local towns, according to media reports.

More than 3,700 firefighters are trying to slow the advance of the giant Rim Fire, which moved northwest and southeast toward the communities of Tuolumne, Twain Harte and Ponderosa Hills.

As of Monday evening, it is the 11th-largest fire in California history, according to the Los Angeles Times.

San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday night that thousands of homes, many in the hills above the Gold Rush-era city of Sonora, are now threatened.

California Gov. Jerry Brown pledged on Monday to commit the money and personnel needed to control the fire. “We have to spend what it takes,” Brown said after he visited the area.

Federal disaster officials offered to pay up to 75 percent of the cost. The extent of ecological damage from the fire will be known only after it dies out.

The Rim Fire, erupted on August 17 in a remote section of the Stanislaus National Forest, has so far destroyed at least 23 structures. Officials said two people have also been injured. The cause of the fire is not yet known.