A deadly wildfire near California’s Big Sur coast raged mostly unchecked for a ninth day after gutting almost 60 dwellings and forcing hundreds from homes and campgrounds, but a wind shift late yesterday was expected to help firefighters quell the blaze.
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The blaze 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 fire covers 52 square miles now, or 38,000 acres, and as CBS 5 reports, there are now 5,000 firefighters battling it. Another 2,000 structures were threatened, with an estimated 350 residents displaced by evacuations, officials said.
In Central California, the fast-moving fire is being fueled by hundreds of dead trees amid triple-digit temperatures and single-digit humidity that are expected to last for several days.
The Soberanes Fire that started July 22 north of Big Sur is only 18 percent contained as of 7:40 p.m. Sunday, and firefighters may need until the end of next month to contain it.
The wildland fire is burning in steep, rugged and inaccessible terrain, requiring more than 400 engines, 14 helicopters, 6 air tankers, 67 bulldozers and 94 hand crews.
Fire officials say crews continue to battle the blaze raging in steep ridges just to the north.
The almost 3-square mile (7.27-square-kilometer) wildfire started Saturday afternoon south of the town of Prather about 30 miles northeast of Fresno.
“We watched it explode, coming across Old Millerton Road, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger”, resident Dana Bays told KFSN-TV.
Palo Colorado, Robinson Canyon Road and Weston Ridge roads at Highway 1 were closed.
A new fire in southwest Wyoming has destroyed eight rural homes and forced the evacuation of about 140 others. That fire was 93 percent contained Sunday, nine days after it broke out in suburban Santa Clarita and spread into the mountainous Angeles National Forest, officials said.
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More than 5,000 fire personnel are working to extinguish the blaze. Please see our terms of service for more information.
