As of Tuesday morning, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for Monterey County was caring for more than 25 pets evacuated from the fire, shelter officials said on Facebook.
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Several state parks near Big Sur were shut down as the Soberanes fire grew closer.
By TERENCE CHEA and KRISTIN J.
In Monterey County, a bulldozer operator who was called in to help battle the Soberanes fire was killed overnight, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
No injuries, other than one death, have been reported as almost 3,000 firefighters tried to get control of the fire.
Authorities identified the operator killed Tuesday as 35-year-old Robert Reagan of Fresno County.
The wildfire has spread to 23,568 acres since it began shortly before 9 a.m. Friday in Garrapata State Park’s Soberanes Creek and is threatening 2,000 structures.
Firefighters got a break early Wednesday from cooler temperatures and increased humidity.
No further information on the identity of the person who died or the circumstances around the death was immediately available. “We’ve never seen a fire come into Sand Canyon like that and neither have those residents”.
A stretch of the Metrolink commuter rail closed because of the fire was running again and some 20,000 people evacuated over the weekend returned home.
The fire command said Thursday that crews have stopped the spread of the almost 60-square-mile blaze in forest land east of Santa Clarita. The Monterey Ranger District of Los Padres National Forest will be closed until the fire has been contained and controlled.
Firefighters were aided by light winds but contended with triple-digit temperatures. “And that’s a lot”.
Burning along the Pacific Coast, erratic flames ran through brush-choked canyons and sent embers into the rocky hills.
The Big Sur closures were put into place for parks that draw 7,500 visitors a day from around the world for their dramatic vistas of ocean and mountains.
The fire, which is chewing its way through rugged and hard-to-access terrain, is only 10 percent contained, Cal Fire officials said.
In Southern California, most of the Sand fire evacuees have been allowed to return home.
With assistance from air support, the search team was able to locate the stranded hikers after many hours of looking for the men and whisk them to safety at the east end of Palo Colorado Road in Carmel, reports CBS San Francisco. No other injuries have been reported.
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Acting Gov. Tom Torlakson, filling in as Gov. Jerry Brown who is at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, declared a state of emergency for both fires. The move frees up funding and relaxes regulations to help with the firefight and the recovery.
