Rare, ‘terrifying’ Big Sur fire burns down to iconic bridge
BIG SUR >> A rare winter wildfire that started near the Big Sur coast burned to the edge of the famed Bixby Bridge early Saturday, closing California’s scenic Highway 1 and forcing people living in rugged back canyons to flee.
The wind-driven Colorado fire that burned at least 1,500 acres of mostly coastal chaparral had calmed as winds died late Saturday morning and firefighters had 5% containment as of 5:22p.m. and continued to dig fire lines to avoid its spread.
Despite dramatic flames that lit up the night sky Friday and a glow that could be seen for miles, no injuries were reported nor homes burned. Some outbuildings may have been damaged, Big Sur Fire Chief Matt Harris said Saturday.
“People say, ‘well it rained,’ but it’s not enough rain,” said Mark Courson from Cal OES, who met with Harris Saturday on the edge of Highway 1. “Throw wind on it and all bets are off.”
Friday’s fire in the Big Sur region comes less than a month after a devastating wildfire in the state of Colorado burned more than 500 homes, the latest example of what has become a yearround fire season in the Western states, driven in part by global warming.
Although Monterey County rainfall is still 118% of average, thanks to rains through December, there has been no measurable rain here in January, according to the National Weather Service. The chaparral on the steep mountainsides of Big Sur dry out quicker than forests and are more susceptible to catch fire, meteorologist Jan Null of Golden Gate Weather Services said.
“Some of it is carryover from the drought of the last two years,” Null said of the fire, “and the ‘flash-burn’ types of fuels that seem to be in this area.”
In the Bay Area, the winds that gusted to 40 mph and spread the Colorado fire were even stronger in the Oakland Hills, toppling trees and leaving nearly 30,000 customers without power.
Wildfires are unusual in California this time of year. Since 2013, Cal Fire has battled only 20fires that broke out during January, and in four of the years there weren’t any.
In Big Sur, however, Fire Chief Harris remembers the “very destructive” Pfeiffer fire in December 2013 that burned more than 900 acres and destroyed 22 structures and 14 homes along Pfeiffer Ridge Road.
Evacuation orders shocked those forced to flee Friday. Rachel Meuller, who lives at the mouth of the canyon close to the highway, was one of them, leaving her home with her husband at about 8 p.m.
“My neighbor called to say someone up the canyon could see the flames. We didn’t believe it,” said Meuller, waiting with other evacuees at a roadblock near Garrapata on Saturday to try to return to their homes. Quickly, though, “I could see the flames coming over the ridge right behind us. It was terrifying. We got in the car as far as we could.”