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@@@ Authorities reopened Highway 140 heading into Yosemite National Park on Sunday as crews made significant improvements in containing the wildfire that claimed the life of a San Jose air tanker pilot last week. The Dog Rock Fire has grown to 311 acres but was 95 percent contained as of the afternoon, officials said. A mandatory evacuation order for Foresta, a community along the northern border of the blaze, was lifted, and Highway 140 reopened. The fire was first reported about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday. Two hours later, a plane contracted by the of Forestry and Fire Protection to drop fire retardant crashed into a canyon near where the wildfire was burning, killing 62-year-old Geoffrey 鈥淐raig鈥?Hunt. Investigators believe the fire was caused by metal fragments such as a dragging trailer chain or brake parts that heated up along Highway 140 and blazed into the hills near the park鈥檚 entrance near El Portal. The fire burned along steep, heavily vegetated terrain, complicating firefighting efforts. Much of the blaze was fought by aircraft flying overhead, dumping water and fire retardant where firefighters could not reach. After the crash that killed Hunt, Cal Fire grounded its firefighting S2 Tracker fleet statewide as a safety precaution, and aircraft from the National Park Service began flying missions over the Dog Rock Fire. Hunt had flown for DynCorp International, a Cal Fire contractor, for 13 years and was based in Hollister, as was the plane, officials said. He lived in east San Jose and had a wife and two daughters.
Vivian Ho is a staff writer. E-mail: Twitter: @VivianHoRelated Articles:
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