美国国家公共电台 NPR--Fire crews are gaining the upper hand on the Oak Fire near Yosemite

（单词翻译）

Fire crews are gaining the upper hand on the Oak Fire near Yosemite

Transcript¹

The fire near Yosemite National Park exploded in a matter of hours last week. Thousands have been forced to evacuate² in recent days. Families are beginning to reckon with the devastation³.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Firefighters are making gains on the Oak Fire burning near Yosemite National Park. California's largest fire of the year so far has consumed nearly 19,000 acres and forced thousands to flee. Families there are beginning to reckon with the devastation. From KVPR in Fresno, Joshua Yeager has more.

JOSHUA YEAGER, BYLINE⁴: The fire exploded in a matter of hours last week. It burned at an intensity⁵ and pace that local crews said they had never seen before. Flames chewed through dozens of structures. Among them, Heather and Aaron Martinez's (ph) home in the small mountain community of Jerseydale.

AARON MARTINEZ: It was gut-wrenching.

YEAGER: Standing⁶ in the aftermath, Aaron Martinez chokes up. They lost everything.

A MARTINEZ: It's beyond gut-wrenching. I wept for the land. I wept for all the animals and everything I see. I see it right now. This whole mountainside's still smoldering⁷. But it's still filled with lots of life and lots of life that needs help.

YEAGER: When the fire broke out, the couple was out shopping about an hour away. Heather Martinez says they didn't have a chance to grab that go bag they meticulously⁸ packed exactly for that moment.

HEATHER MARTINEZ: All the preparedness in the world did not help us.

YEAGER: Jerseydale was especially vulnerable to fire. Many trees were already dying because of beetles⁹ and drought. The fire moved swiftly through the community. An emergency worker discovered their month-old kitten severely¹⁰ burned in the rubble¹¹. He rushed the kitten to the vet¹², but it didn't survive. The couple fears their other cats also perished.

H MARTINEZ: Knowing that the rest of them probably met the same fate is just - I hope it was quick.

YEAGER: This is the third time the couple have evacuated¹³ due to wildfires since 2014. Still, they resolved to stay in the mountain community they've called home for 24 years.

A MARTINEZ: Like I said, I'm going to spend the rest of my life up here. I'll give my life to this mountain, to this community, to this area.

YEAGER: Officials are getting the fire under control, but it's tentative. Aaron Martinez says enduring this kind of crisis is the price of living in this wild place. Though he loves it here, the extremes, he says, are both beautiful and deadly.

For NPR News, I'm Joshua Yeager in Mariposa, Calif.

(SOUNDBITE OF J'SAN AND EPEKTASE'S "DEEP DIVE")