A 75-acre wildfire prompted evacuation orders for Tuolumne City and the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians early Friday, Tuolumne County officials said. The fire is 0% contained.

Officials were first notified of a vegetation fire in a canyon near Tuolumne at 11:44 p.m., the county sheriff’s department said. Evacuation orders were issued for surrounding communities five hours later.

Residents of Ponderosa Hills, Tuolumne Rancheria and the Tuolumne Mira Monte area have been evacuated since Friday morning. The northeastern part of Tuolumne City was initially evacuated, but that order has since been lifted.

Nearly the entire reservation of the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians is under an evacuation order. The tribe is part of California’s original, unratified treaties and purchased the reservation land on October 26, 1910. Today, 200 residents and another 200 nonresident tribal members live there. The tribe is one of many that conduct cultural and controlled burns that benefit both ecological and cultural resources.

After the fire was reported, several evacuation centers were initially set up, but they have since been consolidated into a single location at the Sonora Senior Center at 540 Greenley Road. The evacuation center also accepts small animals.

“The CAL FIRE Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit, Stanislaus National Forest and Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office are in joint command of the Canyon Fire,” officials said. “Firefighters continue to build a direct attack firebreak, steep terrain and dense fuels are contributing to the spread of the fire.”

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