Firefighters are battling a new wildfire in a remote area of southern Monterey County, about 25 miles south from the larger Timber Fire burning farther north.
The Plaskett Fire started Wednesday near Fort Hunter Liggett Road and northeast of Los Burros Road, according to the CAL FIRE incident report. The fire has prompted an evacuation order for the immediate area and evacuation warnings for areas farther.
Lee Beyer, a public information officer working on the Timber and Plaskett fires, said Thursday that the Plaskett Fire is burning in a rugged and low populated area, making it difficult for firefighters to reach the flames.
“It’s a couple, three-mile hike for crews to get in there,” Beyer told KCBX. “So thus far, it’s been really just an aircraft show and then hiking hotshot crews and hand crews into the fire area itself.”
Beyer said the nearest structures are at least a couple of miles from the fire and there was no immediate threat to buildings as of Thursday morning.
Dry air could fuel the fire activity
Some light showers and clouds moved through coastal cities in the region Thursday morning. But, Beyer said the moisture was not significant enough to affect the fire’s behavior. Instead, dry offshore air that mixed into the area could allow the Plaskett Fire to burn more quickly.
“That’s allowing that drier air to get in there and mix, and then allow the fire to burn a little bit quicker as well,” Beyer said.
Beyer says the steep, rural terrain is also complicating efforts to contain the fire. Firefighters initially relied heavily on an aircraft to access the area, but they are also now hiking about three miles to get into the fire zone.
He says the difficult access points, along with the weather conditions allowed the fire to grow about 100 acres overnight.
Plaskett and Timber fires close Highway 1
As of Thursday morning, the Plaskett Fire is burning 25 miles south of the Timber Fire, which is farther north in the Big Sur region. Both fires are being handled under the same incident management operation, Beyer said.
Despite how close they are, firefighters are not concerned about the two fires merging.
“There’s really not a lot of risk or concern of the two fires merging at this time,” Beyer said. “They would both have to be quite a bit larger fires before that would happen.”
However, the two fires are affecting travel through the area. Beyer said Highway 1 will close at 1 p.m. in areas near the Timber and Plaskett fires. CalTrans is urging travelers to avoid unnecessary travel in the area and to use Highway 101 as an alternate route. The agency has not announced when the highway will reopen.
Drivers can check current road and evacuation information on the CalTrans Quick Maps app before travelling through the region.
Meanwhile, at 9 a.m. Thursday fire crews captured a firefighting helicopter collect water from nearby coastal waters to help battle the Plaskett Fire near Big Sur. The video below is courtesy of Cal Fire.
