A wildfire near Yosemite National Park is expected to grow worse in the coming days as firefighters go up against blaze-fueling weather conditions.

Californias Ferguson fire started Friday night and remained just 5 percent contained as of Tuesday morning as it continued to move east and south, threatening several communities and burning more than 12,000 acres .

Because the burning terrain is so precipitous and lined with tinder-dry vegetation from years of drought and fires, firefighters have to be incredibly careful in their approach, officials say.

Due to the steep, rugged terrain, the volatility of the vegetation, the hazard trees, the mortality, firefighters are just simply not able to fight this fire directly, U.S. Forest Service fire behavior analyst Taro Pusina explained in an update Monday morning. Its too dangerous. So theyre looking at indirect fire attack methods where theyre using roads out in front of it with anticipation of burning those out to secure your communities.