SAN JOSE – A massive wildfire in Los Padres National Forest continued spreading northward and eastward yesterday, relieving the danger to the storied coastal town of Big Sur but forcing residents of another community to stay away from homes for a third day.
Evacuation orders issued Saturday remained in place for more than 200 homes in the rural Cachagua community northeast of Big Sur. The blaze, which has charred 187 square miles and destroyed 27 homes, was about 1½ miles from the area, the U.S. Forest Service said.
The fire line in Los Padres National Forest was expected to hold, keeping the flames from reaching the more populated Carmel Valley, said Tacy Skinner, a Forest Service spokeswoman.
On the southwest border of the blaze, which was more than 60 percent contained, firefighters were in cleanup mode yesterday. The scenic Pacific Coast Highway reopened a day ahead of schedule, and residents and business owners in Big Sur – a tourist area historically popular with writers and artists – began settling back in after three weeks of evacuations.
Cal Fire said 288 blazes were burning around the state, most in the mountains ringing the northern edge of the Central Valley.
So far this fire season, nearly 1,300 square miles have burned and about 100 homes have been destroyed statewide. Most fires were sparked by a June 21 lightning storm across the northern part of the state.
The complex of fires is “the largest single fire event in history for California,” said Kelly Houston, spokesman for the Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
The previous record was set in October 2003, when wildfires scorched more than 1,155 square miles in the San Diego region and other parts of Southern California, Houston said. State record-keeping on wildfires began in 1936.
The state defines a “fire event” as a group of blazes within the same location or time period.
Although the 2003 fires killed 24 people and destroyed more than 3,600 homes, Houston said officials point to acreage when quantifying wildfires, to emphasize the strain on firefighting resources.
Yesterday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, where he credited the use of NASA-developed technology for saving lives last week as fires raged in Butte County.
An unmanned drone using infrared technology discovered a flare-up in a canyon near the town of Paradise, prompting evacuation orders for 10,000 people. Thick smoke and heat had prevented other aircraft from patrolling the area.
“This unmanned plane is a true lifesaver. But . . . California needs more resources . . . ,” Schwarzenegger said, pushing an initiative to charge homeowners a fee to pay for emergency-response equipment.
Cooler weather statewide allowed officials to lift evacuation orders in the fire-ravaged towns of Paradise and Concow, about 90 miles north of Sacramento. The fires there, which burned 83 square miles and destroyed 50 homes in the area, weren't threatening homes yesterday, officials said. Highs were in the mid-90s, helping the firefight.
At least one person was found dead after the blaze swept through Concow.
A fire on the southern extension of Los Padres National Forest near Santa Barbara County was 90 percent contained yesterday after charring more than 15 square miles. However, 55 homes remained under an evacuation warning.
In Washington state, about 160 homes remained evacuated yesterday north of Wenatchee, 150 miles east of Seattle, where two fires had burned 23 square miles and were 60 percent contained.
