Wildfire near Big Sur burns 200 acres, prompting campground evacuations
A fire that sparked near Big Sur on Thursday night has burned 200 acres in Los Padres National Forest and prompted evacuations of nearby campgrounds.
The Willow Fire started around 9:30 p.m. Thursday northwest of Arroyo Seco, the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office reported. The fire began just above the burn scar for the Dolan Fire, which burned more than 120,000 acres in 2020.
By 10 a.m. on Friday, the fire had grown to 200 acres and was burning in rugged terrain that requires firefighters to hike into the area, said Lynn Olson, public information officer for the National Forest Service.
“It’s very inaccessible in the wilderness,” Olson said of the burn area.
About 300 firefighters were battling the fire Friday morning, and the Forest Service had ordered air crews, Olson said. The fire was burning at a moderate rate of spread.
At 9:30 a.m. on Friday, The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office issued an evacuation order for Tassajara Road northwest to China Camp Campground in Los Padres, including “tributary forest routes and the Tassajara Zen Center,” the agency said in a Facebook post.
The fire was burning about 7 miles west of the Arroyo Seco Campground, the post said.
This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 10:31 AM.
