Containment increases as Gifford Fire burns over 110,000 acres in SLO County

The Gifford Fire continues to burn in rugged wilderness areas of the Los Padres National Forest in San Luis Obispo County.

The total size of the fire increased to more than 110,000 acres while containment remained steady.

Nearly 100 animals evacuated from fire

Update, 2:40 p.m.

San Luis Obispo County Animal Services is currently sheltering close to 100 animals that were evacuated from the Gifford Fire, including dogs, cats, llamas, goats, and ducks.

Woods Humane Society, the Santa Maria Elks Rodeo & Parade 2025, the Horse Emergency Evacuation Team of San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara County Animal Services have all been assisting.

For questions or concerns related to animals and the Gifford Fire, call the Animal Services Gifford Fire Hotline at 805-781-2800.

Gifford Fire has now burned more than 111,000 acres

Update, 12:50 p.m.:

The Gifford Fire grew Saturday afternoon following an incident status update from Cal Fire.

The fire has burned 111,557 acres and remains 21% contained, according to Cal Fire.

Fire behavior analyst Kevin Montoya provided an update on the Gifford Fire Saturday morning on the Los Padres National Forest Facebook page.

Montoya said in the video update that many of the large smoke columns from the fire are a result of recently impacted areas that have not experienced fires in decades.

Old, grown vegetation at the bottom of many of these steep sloping hills within contact of the fire create enough heat and energy to nearly double the height of the smoke, Montoya said.

Also, the evacuation shelter at Arroyo Grande High School for evacuees from the Gifford Fire will move to New Life Community Church in Pismo Beach starting Sunday.

According to the SLO County Office of Emergency Services, the new shelter will be in place at 4 p.m. on Sunday at 990 James Way, Pismo Beach.

Original Story:

Firefighters continue to increase containment over the more than 100,000 acres burned by the Gifford Fire as of Saturday morning in San Luis Obispo County, even as the fire moved

At 104,402 acres, the fire was now 21% contained, according to an update to Inciweb.

Cal Fire’s status report of the fire on Saturday said two structures have been destroyed while 2,912 structure were threatened. Three civilians have been injured as well as five firefighters.

“The Gifford Fire advanced into the rugged Garcia Wilderness and is now threatening the Machesna Mountain Wilderness, fueled by two large fire columns observed yesterday afternoon,” Los Padres National Forest said in an update posted on its X account.

The incident update said hot and dry weather condition will continue to persist into early next week, producing “very elevated fire weather conditions.”

On Friday night, a Gifford Fire Community Meeting was held in Arroyo Grande and livestreamed on Youtube to address questions and provide information on the fire. Officials at the meeting emphasized that the fire will continue to grow over the next few days.

As of Saturday day morning, evacuation orders have been issued for the following areas in San Luis Obispo County: LPF-009, LPF-010, LPF-011, LPF-012, LPF-013, LPF-014, LPF-015, LPF-016, LPF-017, LPF-018, LPF-019, SLC-222, SLC-223, SLC-225, SLC-239, SLC-240, SLC-259, SLC-260, SLC-261, SLC-262, SLC-263, SLC-264, SLC-296, SLC-297, SLC-298, SLC-311, SLC-334, SLC-335, SLC-336 and SLC-337.

Evacuation warnings were additionally in place on Saturday for the following areas in SLO County: LPF-002, LPF-003, LPF-007, LPF-008, SLC-193, SLC-194, SLC-195, SLC-196, SLC-197, SLC-221, SLC-224, SLC-226, SLC-238, SLC-258, SLC-293, SLC-294, SLC-295, SLC-310, SLC-312 and SLC-333.

An evacuation shelter is also in place at Arroyo Grande High School, while two temporary evacuation points are located at Benjamin Foxen Elementary School in Santa Maria and the Cuyama Valley Family Resource Center.

This story was originally published August 9, 2025 at 11:06 AM.