A wildfire in California’s Big Sur region was burning Saturday near the Pacific coastline and Highway 1, prompting evacuation orders in Monterey County, officials said.
The Colorado Fire, which started Friday in Palo Colorado Canyon, has burned about 1,500 acres in the hours after evacuation orders were issued by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, said Michael Meddles, assistant chief with Cal Fire in Monterey County. The blaze is 5 percent contained, he added.
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Jim Shivers, a spokesman with the California Department of Transportation, announced that a stretch of iconic Highway 1 was closed in both directions due to the fire, which is located north of the Bixby Bridge and near the Palo Colorado section of Monterey County.
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“Please drive safely and be aware of all emergency responders,” the agency tweeted.
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Officials said the evacuation orders were in effect for “all areas West of 3800 Palo Colorado Rd. to Highway 1 and south to Bixby Creek,” but it remains unclear how many residents are affected by the blaze. About 430,000 people live in Monterey County.
“The sheriff’s office went down there and moved everyone out,” Meddles said.
No injuries or deaths had been reported as of early Saturday. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Dry northeast winds pushed the fire toward Highway 1, according to the National Weather Service. The Weather Service had issued a wind advisory in the San Francisco Bay area for Friday night through Saturday morning, with meteorologists noting that stronger winds were more likely at higher elevations.
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Thirteen agencies are responding to the fire, according to KCRA. The Monterey County Office of Emergency Services is monitoring the situation.
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Cal Fire tweeted that the fire could be seen about 70 miles away in Santa Cruz County.
Videos and photos shared to social media showed how the Colorado Fire remained largely uncontained along the scenic coastline early Saturday.
“The fire is running up the top of the mountain,” said one observer who posted a video of the fire to Twitter.
The wildfire is the latest to burn across California in the past year. The Dixie Fire was the second-largest in California’s history and the biggest to burn in the United States last summer, as climate change turbocharged severe storms, floods and fires. More than 1,300 structures were leveled, causing government agencies to dole out roughly $540 million to battle the blaze. The Dixie Fire burned nearly 1 million acres, an area larger than New York City, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles combined.
Anatomy of a wildfire: How the Dixie Fire became the largest blaze of a devastating summer
California’s shifting weather patterns have presented new threats to Highway 1, a California spectacle that features stunning beauty along its 650-mile route.
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One of the most serious blazes in recent years was the 2016 Soberanes Fire along Highway 1 just south of Carmel-by-the-Sea, about 75 miles outside of San Jose. The fire burned nearly 60 homes and killed a bulldozer operator, and it was among the most expensive fires to fight in state history at the time.
A road like no other, in peril like never before
Shivers told The Post that there was “no estimated time for reopening” Highway 1.
The state has experienced exceptional drought, which brought moisture levels in California’s forests to historic lows, as well as searing heat. Recent rains have helped reduce some of the drought in the state.
Humidity levels in the area are in the teens and wind gusts are around 35 mph, according to the Weather Service.
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More than 1,000 customers with PG&E, the state’s public utility, were experiencing power outages from Los Padres National Forest to Carmel as of late Friday, KRON reported.
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The Red Cross has set up a shelter at Carmel Middle School, officials said. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals also announced that it is providing emergency pet supplies at the shelter.
The Weather Service said a wind shift Saturday was expected to push some of the smoke and haze from the Colorado Fire toward the Monterey Peninsula and Salinas.
Meddles praised the efforts of first responders and said more work was needed to figure out how to contain the blaze along Highway 1.
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“As daylight hits, we can get an aircraft overhead to do better mapping of the fire,” he said.
Marisa Iati, Dylan Moriarty, Adela Suliman and Scott Wilson contributed to this report.
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