Lodge managers and cafe owners along California’s dramatic Big Sur coast were looking Friday at a summer of jittery guests and cancelled bookings after fire officials warned that crews will likely be battling a wildfire raging in steep, forested ridges just to the north for another month.
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The so-called Soberanes Fire, which started on July 22 and is burning just south of the oceanside town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, has roared through almost 32,000 acres (13,000 hectares) of drought-parched chaparral, grass and timber in the Los Padres National Forest.
A bulldozer operator was killed while fighting the fire earlier this week.
Huge plumes of smoke have settled in the area, causing air quality concerns.
The fire zone grew by several thousand acres yesterday, even as firefighters hacked away more vegetation to keep containment lines extended around 15 per cent of its expanding perimeter, officials said.
(AP) – A week-old wildfire along California’s dramatic Big Sur coast is expected to burn until the end of August, the peak time for tourists to pass through the region.
Lodge managers and cafe owners say they are anxious and all state parks in the fire area remain closed. Other residents and travelers agreed.
About 300 miles (485 km) away, a 67-year-old man was found dead in a burned-out auto last Saturday after refusing to heed evacuation orders in a separate fire that destroyed 18 homes in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles. The fire has destroyed 41 homes and burned 48 square miles (124 square kilometers).
Flames have already destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings, with at least five other structures damaged, according to the latest tally of property losses.
“That could possibly slow the spread of the fire for the next few days, because with the change in the wind, it would be blowing the fire back into itself”, said Elizabeth Marks, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). Till now, no exact clue has been identified that why the fire was sparked by marijuana cultivation, the authorities are still investigating for the same.
Elsewhere in Wyoming, favorable weather allowed firefighters to take the offensive against a wildfire threatening hundreds of seasonal homes. As of Thursday, the blaze spanned 42 square miles (109 square kilometers) and was only 10 percent contained.
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In Idaho, a wildfire crossed a state highway and threatened a backcountry yurt outpost popular among winter recreationists.
