100-acre fire breaks out in the burn scar of the Gifford Fire. See where
A vegetation fire that broke out in the burn scar of San Luis Obispo County’s most recent forest fire had burned 100 acres by Friday afternoon.
The fire was reported at 11:37 a.m. in Los Padres National Forest between Pozo and Highway 166 — the area scorched by the more than 130,000-acre Gifford Fire, third largest in modern Central Coast history, in August — according to emergency response app PulsePoint. It burned 80,000 acres in SLO County alone.
On Friday, a smoke plume rose could be seen rising from the hills around Stony Creek Road and Aqua Escondido Road — the location of the fire, according to PulsePoint — in an ALERTCalifornia fire camera photo at 11:45 a.m..
By 1:08 p.m. the fire was estimated to be between 50 and 100 acres with a potential for 500, according to police radio traffic.
By 1:30 p.m., the location of the fire had shifted to Caldwell Mesa Road and a forest service road Route 31S04, near Huasna Road. Firefighting units had changed the access point to the fire to be from the south through Huasna instead of from the north through Avenales Ranch Road, which posed access obstacles, according to police radio traffic.
Response units struggled to reach fire
Due to limited access roads in the area, firefighting units appeared to be having difficulty reaching the fire, with no units yet on scene at 1 p.m., according to police radio traffic.
Units were forced to turn around at washed-out paths and instead follow unnamed forest service roads to the base.
The fire was located in brush and steep terrain and was held in place by previously bulldozed firebreak lines, according to emergency response app Watch Duty.
“Sounds like there is a dozer line at the top of the ridge that should keep this thing contained,” a responder said on the radio.
Two air tankers and a helicopter were ordered to the area at 1:21 p.m.
“I don’t think we’re going to be able to get the dozer in,” a responder said on the radio at that time.
By 1:50 p.m., 10 units were en route to the scene and three had been cleared due to inability to access the fire, according to PulsePoint. Air attack units were canceled shortly after, but ground resources were retained.
At 2:30 p.m., all en route units including all dozers were cancelled.
By 5:18 p.m., the fire has burned around 100 acres of brush, Cal Fire posted on X. A dozer line was established around the perimeter of the fire, but containment remained at 0%.
This story was originally published March 20, 2026 at 12:40 PM.
