San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
‘Pretty surreal’ January wildfire on Big Sur coast
A wildfire that broke out along the Big Sur coast Friday night and prompted evacuations in Monterey County remained active overnight and through Saturday amid “extremely challenging” weather, officials said.
The blaze, dubbed the Colorado Fire, had burned 1,050 acres and was 20% contained as of Saturday afternoon, Cal Fire officials told The Chronicle.
Officials said that acreage was less than initially thought due to better mapping.
Strong winds Friday night and Saturday morning — reaching 50 mph — made the flames hard to battle, Cal Fire spokesperson Cecile Juliette said.
So far, there have been no reports of injuries, she said, and only one structure — a yurt — has been damaged. The origin of the fire remains unknown.
Winds died down to less than 10 mph Saturday afternoon, and fire officials were able to get two tankers and two helicopters to help control the fire, Juliette added.
Evacuation orders were in place and Highway 1 remained closed in both directions between Big Sur and Carmel-bythe-Sea, according to Caltrans and emergency officials.
“What everyone should really take notice of is the fact that we have a fire of this size in this area, so close to the Pacific Ocean, in late January. It’s cause for concern,” Juliette said, adding that the strong winds and low humidity were able to dry out the area quickly despite recent rain. “Everybody needs to be fire aware all year long.”
A 32-second video taken from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. webcams shows flames and smoke rising along the Big Sur Coast coast near Rocky Creek and Palo Colorado Canyon. The blaze was first reported at 7:30 p.m. Friday, according to Cal Fire. Shortly after 10 p.m., it had burned 150 acres in the area north of the Bixby Bridge and prompted mandatory evacuations in the area.
“It was very dark, very steep
terrain, very dangerous conditions,” Juliette said. “So it wasn’t really about a direct attack last night, it was more about structure protection and evacuation.”
Monterey County sheriff ’s officials ordered evacuations for areas west of 3800 Palo Colorado Road to Highway 1 and south to Bixby Creek. Local law enforcement contacted about 500 people to evacuate, Cal Fire said.
The CHP reported the fire jumped Highway 1 and was burning on the west side, causing poor visibility. Shortly before 10:45 p.m., Caltrans officials announced that Highway 1 was closed in both directions, from near the entrance to Andrew Molera State Park in Big Sur to Rio Road in Carmel.
Fire officials from Northern California and the Central Coast
are working with local volunteer firefighters to stop flames, Juliette said. Four fire engines from Cal Fire’s San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit responded to assist with the firefighting operations, officials said on Twitter, adding that the fire could be seen from Santa Cruz County.
The blaze broke out during strong winds in the Bay Area region. On Friday morning, winds started picking up speed at Mound Umunhum in the Santa Cruz Mountains and other Northern California peaks.
The area where the fire is burning has “little or no fire history,” according to the National Weather Service, which pointed out that other major fires in Monterey County haven’t previously hit the area.
A wildfire in January, especially after a couple of wet winter months, is “pretty surreal,” the agency said.
“Anecdotally it seems as though the long term drought is acting like a chronic illness where even recent rains and cold winter (weather) isn’t helping to keep fires from developing,” weather service meteorologist Ryan Walbrun wrote in a forecast.
Using a screenshot of GOES 17 satellite imagery, weather officials noted that the fire was blazing near the burn scar of the Soberanes Fire from 2016, which scorched 132,127 acres in Monterey County.
An American Red Cross shelter opened at 11:30 p.m. Friday at Carmel Middle School in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Monterey County officials said.
Cari Dighton, an American Red Cross spokesperson, said that Friday night, one resident stayed inside the shelter, while three stayed in their own temporary lodging outside the shelter.
Separately, another wildfire broke out Saturday morning in Sonoma County, but firefighters were able to extinguish the 5-acre blaze, the Press Democrat reported.