KATY BRANDENBURG

The Union Democrat

The Telegraph Fire continued to ravage the Mother Lode on Monday, destroying 25 homes, threatening more than 4,000, and burning approximately 29,600 acres of wilderness terrain in Mariposa County near Coulterville.

As of 11 p.m. Monday night, the fire was still only 10 percent contained, with no estimated date for further containment, according to Cal Fire.

The Mariposa County Sheriff's Office is investigating whether or not to seek criminal charges in the cause of the fire, determined to be started by target shooting. No charges have been filed yet, however a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office said that is being looked into.

All roads and trails in Yosemite National Park remain open, but visibility is limited because of the smoke. Electricity to the park has been cut off since Saturday. While facilities in Yosemite Valley are running on generators, the small town of El Portal, where nearly all park employees live, is still in the dark.

"The park has been offering free ice to employees, which is good, but I did have to bring some meat from my house (in El Portal) up to refrigerators in the valley," said park spokeswoman Kari Cobb. "It's been quite complicated."

The fire is about eight miles from El Portal as the crow flies, but evacuation of the tiny town has not been deemed necessary yet, she said.

So far about 300 Midpines residents and, more recently, 25 Greeley Hill-Coulterville residents have been forced to evacuate.

The Mariposa County Sheriff's Office has closed several roads in that area, and given about 1,000 residents the warning that they may be next to evacuate if the fire moves closer, according to Suzanne Grin, a Yosemite employee.

Golden State Cellular set up a temporary cell service site to aid in fire communications, as the remote area did not have good reception before.

The 160-foot tower will also provide reception to Verizon and Sprint customers in the area, since Golden State uses the same technology as those two companies, according to marketing and communications director Darrell Slocum.

Contact Katy Brandenburg at kbrandenburg@uniondemocrat.com or 588-4528.