The fire is larger than the city of San Francisco, Cal Fire tweeted on Friday.
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Highway 1, the scenic route that winds along seaside cliffs overlooking the Pacific, remained open, though motorists were advised to allow for traffic delays caused by firefighting equipment entering and exiting the roadway.
In addition to Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service, a dozen other agencies are cooperating on the fire response, including State Parks and Recreation, California Highway Patrol, Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, Monterey Peninsula Regional Parks District, Red Cross, California Conservation Corps, CAL-OES, state Fish and Wildlife, Carmel Highlands fire, Monterey County Regional fire, and the Mid-Coast and Big Sur volunteer fire brigades.
Fifty-seven homes and 11 outbuildings have been destroyed in the fire, and a private bulldozer operator fighting the blaze was killed after the vehicle rolled over Tuesday night.
A total of 4,277 firefighter personnel, 405 engines, 20 aircraft including helicopters and air tankers, and 67 bulldozers were battling the blaze Friday, a considerable increase from Saturday last week when 780 personnel, 56 engines, 14 aircraft and 15 dozers had been deployed as the fire grew.
The blaze has also scared away tourists who are cancelling 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.
The fire has prompted the closure of six state parks along the Central Coast through August 6, and all trails and roads in the Monterey District of Los Padres National Forest, Cal Fire said. The blaze was 5 percent contained Sunday morning, Cal Fire said.
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.
On the outskirts of Los Angeles crews had almost surrounded a 65-square-mile blaze that killed one man and destroyed 18 homes.
The spread of the fire as of Saturday.
Fire officials previously ordered at least 350 residents to evacuate homes that were closer to the flames. The fire has destroyed 41 homes and burned 48 square miles (124 square kilometers).
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