400-acre Shell Beach fire is 50% contained, no homes lost overnight, Cal Fire says
Update 9 p.m.:
Containment on the Avila Fire has increased to 50% as of Tuesday night, Cal Fire said. Forward spread has been stopped.
Original story:
A vegetation fire that scorched about 400 acres in the Pismo Beach area was 20% contained as of 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to Cal Fire.
The Avila Fire broke out near Gragg Canyon Road in Shell Beach around 2:48 p.m. Monday and spread quickly through the area, leading to evacuations and the closure of Highway 101 lanes.
All evacuations issued Monday had been lifted as of Tuesday, according to Cal Fire. No structures were lost or damaged, and no one was injured as of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, the agency said.
All lanes of Highway 101 were reopened by Tuesday morning and the northbound off-ramps to Spyglass Drive and Avila Beach Drive were reopened Tuesday afternoon.
“For now, our city, it looks like it’s safe and in good shape,” Pismo Beach city manager James Lewis said via Facebook on Tuesday morning.
Lewis said crews had surrounded the fire and had hoped to have about 50% containment around noon Tuesday before winds pick up speed. However as of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the fire was still being held at 20% containment, according to Cal Fire public information officer Adam Orozco.
About 40 engines, four helicopters and two air tankers were on the scene of the blaze Tuesday morning, according to Orozco. He said 10 hand crews and seven bulldozers were responding as well.
Wind-whipped Avila Fire leads to evacuations
The flames sparked Monday afternoon amid windy conditions, with winds blowing at a sustained speed of 15 mph and gusts of up to 27 mph in the early evening, according to PG&E’s weather map.
Around 6:30 p.m. Monday, northwestern winds slowed to a sustained speed of about 7 mph with gusts of up to 18 mph, according to the PG&E weather station between Pismo Beach and Arroyo Grande.
As the fire spread south to the Pismo Beach area, many houses and buildings were threatened, leading to evacuations throughout the area.
According to a Cal Fire incident report, 100 structures were threatened, but none were lost to the fire as of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Buildings on Live Oak Lane, Indian Knob Road and Monte Road were evacuated Monday afternoon, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office. Homes on Barcelona, Costa Rica, Costa Brava and Costa del Sol streets were also evacuated.
An evacuation warning was also issued for Pismo Heights and the area east of Highway 101 from North Bello Street, south to Price Canyon Road and east to the city limits of Pismo Beach, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.
The Red Cross set up a temporary evacuation center at the Walmart parking lot in Arroyo Grande.
Teri Nelson was staying at the Spyglass Inn in Pismo Beach when the fire broke out. She said she awoke from a nap to find smoke in her room.
Nelson was told to evacuate immediately, and she headed to the Walmart parking lot.
Shell Beach resident Shelly Malcom drove to the evacuation center with her family and dog when she saw flames from her home.
Evacuation orders were lifted around 9:30 p.m. Monday night in all areas except for Barcelona, Costa Rica, Costa Brava and Costa del Sol streets, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.
All evacuation orders were lifted by Tuesday morning, according to Cal Fire.
Fire along Highway 101
At one point on Monday, spot fires had sparked on both sides of Highway 101 and in the medians, and thick smoke over the freeway limited visibility.
Around 4 p.m., the CHP closed northbound lanes of Highway 101 at Mattie Road in Pismo Beach and southbound lanes of the highway at San Luis Bay Drive.
One woman was driving with her family and a friend to the Avila Pier when they heard the fire crackling.
“We had just gotten off the off-ramp in Avila,” Shanee Best recalled. “We could hear the crackling and we were like, ‘What is that?’ ”
She said they “didn’t think too much about it,” until they saw the smoke. They left the area, using back roads to get to San Luis Obispo.
Both lanes of southbound Highway 101 reopened around 8:30 p.m. Monday, the but northbound lanes of the highway remained closed until early Tuesday morning, according to Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol logs.
Bulldozers and hand crews worked overnight, monitoring the situation as the fire held at around 400 acres, according to Cal Fire.
“We will be out here for many days,” Cal Fire Battalion Chief Paul Lee said in an update shared via Twitter by the city of Pismo Beach on Monday evening. “There’s still a lot of open line for us to try to control. And a lot of work and mop up over the next week.”
Lee said an air attack would resume Tuesday morning.
Fire crews were continuing to improve fire lines as they faced the flames in steep, rugged terrain, Cal Fire said.
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 10:36 AM.
