UPDATE: Sheriff Orders Evacuation As Fire Crews Continue Battling Advancing Wildfire Near Big Sur
BIG SUR (CBS SF/AP) -- A wildfire that started in Willow Thursday continues to advance in the steep, mountainous terrain near Big Sur, prompting local authorities to order evacuations Monday.
Mother Nature gave fire crews a break early Monday as a cooling marine layer blanketed the coast, breaking the grip of a weekend heat wave. But by that afternoon, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office went into Unified Command with Los Padres National Forest and California Interagency Incident Management Team 11, and were issuing evacuation warnings and orders.
According to a press release, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office issued evacuation orders for the following areas:
- Tassajara Road from China Camp Campground to the Tassajara Zen Center in Los Padres National Forest, including tributary Forest Routes.
- Upgraded the Evacuation Warning to an Order for Zone WF-3a. All areas of the Arroyo Seco Road west of Woodtick Canyon, to include the Arroyo Seco Campground, Rocky Creek Road, Camp Cawatre.
The Monterey County Sheriff's Office also issued an evacuation warning for Tassajara Road from China Camp Campground in the Los Padres National Forest northwest to Kincannon Canyon. The Warning stops at the Los Padres National Forest boundary. This does not include Kincannon Road or tributaries of Jamesburg or Cachagua Road.
The blaze covered 3.7 square miles -- 2,392 acres -- of Los Padres National Forest as of late Sunday night, the U.S. Forest Service said. It was zero percent contained.
More than 450 firefighters were on the lines, aided in the daylight by planes and helicopters.
The fire broke out Thursday evening in the Ventana Wilderness and burned near the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, a Buddhist monastery located in a remote valley.
Most people evacuated the zen center but members of the zen center's fire crew stayed in order to run a sprinkler system dubbed "Dharma rain," said Sozan Miglioli, president of San Francisco Zen Center, which operates the monastery.
"Our water supplies are good and we are well prepared for this situation," Miglioli said in a statement.
The nearby Arroyo Seco Campground, crowded with families planning on celebrating Father's Day in the coastal wilderness, was also evacuated.
"The fire is burning in steep, rugged and brushy terrain that is accessible only by hiking in," Los Padres National Forest rangers said of the difficult firefight.
Flames were climbing uphill among chaparral, grass and scrub.
"Last night there was minimal fire growth due to the increased humidity," rangers said. "Hand crews were able to put handlines in front of the fire in the Arroyo Seco area."
The blaze is burning near burn scars of two other recent major wildfires, last year's Dolan Fire and the Soberanes fire of 2016.
It's the largest of several wildfires that erupted during days of dangerously high heat wave up and down the state.
