Updates: Gifford Fire explodes to more than 800 acres; evacuations ordered
Update, 6:30 p.m.:
The Los Padres National Forest has issued an evacuation order for additional zones impacted by the Gifford Fire as of Friday evening.
Those zones are: LPFs 016, 017 and 019, as well as SLC337, north of Highway 166, east of Cable Corral Road, south of Tajea Flats Road and west of Chimineas Road, according to ReadySLO.org.
In an update Friday at 6:28 p.m., Cal Fire SLO said it had “multiple resources en route” to the Gifford Fire, though it noted that Los Padres had jurisdiction.
Update, 5 p.m.:
As the Gifford Fire continued blazing in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, evacuations were issued for the area north of Sierra Madre Road, west of Cottonwood Canyon Road, east of the Willow Springs Trailhead and south of Highway 166, Noozhawk reported Friday afternoon.
The fire was burning on both sides of Highway 166, according to Cal Fire’s incident map.
Update, 4:30 p.m.:
The Gifford Fire broke out just a few miles west of the western edge of the scar of the Madre Fire, which burned more than 80,000 acres in July. Hot and dry conditions contributed to the spread of the Madre Fire.
Hot and dry conditions were also expected Friday afternoon, with a warming and drying trend projected for Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
The Weather Service said on X that the fire’s “plume dominated” conditions would continue through Friday.
A spot forecast for the Gifford Fire showed the maximum temperature for Friday afternoon was 92 degrees. The low for Friday night was expected to be around 53 degrees, the Weather Service said. Onshore wind gusts up to 17 mph were expected Friday afternoon.
Humidity was slated to hit 30% by 6 p.m., with a maximum of 75% Friday night, the forecast showed.
Update, 4 p.m.:
As of 3:53 p.m., the fires had quickly reached a combined total of 818 acres, the SLO County Office of Emergency Services reported on X.
Orginal story:
A fire broke out in southern San Luis Obispo County on Friday afternoon, sending smoke pluming into the air and closing a local highway.
Bordering the Santa Barbara County line east of Santa Maria along Highway 166, the Gifford Fire was reported around 2 p.m., emergency response app PulsePoint showed.
There were four fires at the location, with one of the fires reaching between 5 and 10 acres, according to a 2:24 p.m. update from emergency response app Watch Duty.
Los Padres National Forest shared on X that the four fires ranged from 2 to 10 acres.
Watch Duty showed that multiple air tankers had been requested to help extinguish the flames.
Smoke could be seen pluming from multiple angles on the Alert California fire cameras as of 3 p.m.
The fire resulted in the closure of Highway 166 between Highway 101 and New Cuyama, the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management shared on X.
This story was originally published August 1, 2025 at 3:34 PM.
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