A blaze in Fish Camp shortly south of Yosemite National Park, reported around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, grew to 300 acres by 3 p.m. with the potential to scorch as much as 5,000 acres in the area. Evacuations and road closures were quickly ordered as the fire rapidly expanded throughout the afternoon.

Closures on Highway 41 repeatedly changed since they were first put in place near Tenaya Lodge around 12:40 p.m. As of 4:30 p.m., the highway was closed in Cedar Valley to the south, at Road 630.

By 1 p.m., Narrow Gauge Inn and the communities of Sugar Pine and Sugar Pine Camp had been completely evacuated.

Shortly before 2:15 p.m., authorities prepared to request evacuation of Tenaya Lodge. Around 30 minutes later, mandatory evacuations were issued for the resort, and later put in place for the entire Fish Camp area, as the flames continued to burn towards the resort and the boundaries of Yosemite National Park.

All evacuees were being directed to go through Yosemite instead of to the south, as flames reportedly surrounded portions of Highway 41.

The fire was first reported near Highway 41 and Mill Canyon Road in Fish Camp, near Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad.

Haywood and around a dozen other railroad employees were on the front lines Tuesday afternoon as the wildfire ignited, called the Railroad Fire because of its proximity to the business. Employees there spotted a plume of smoke across Highway 41 shortly before the 12:30 p.m. train ride, says manager Shane Blackwell, who rushed up the hill to try and find the source of the blaze.

Blackwell says within about 15 minutes of spotting smoke, the fire reached the highway and embers flew across the road, igniting at least half a dozen small fires on railroad property.

“It created its own wind,” Blackwell says. “It was just pulling oxygen.”

Around a dozen employees working Tuesday were able to extinguish the spot fires using a water truck, fire hoses and fire equipment owned by the railroad. Blackwell says he also filled a Caltrans water truck twice for a state employee who was working alongside railroad employees to extinguish the blaze before firefighters arrived. They were later told to evacuate.

“That day we kind of said goodbyes to our place and to each other – we didn’t know that it would be here,” Blackwell says. “There’s just so much fuel in the area.”