(KSBY) — Evacuations are underway as the Plaskett and Timber Fires continue to scorch tens of thousands of acres.
Plaskett Fire
The Plaskett Fire started August 26 just after 11 a.m. along Los Burros Road in Plaskett and has burned more than 27,000 acres so far, with 1% containment.
Evacuation orders are in place for the following areas: MRY-F034, MRY-F035, MRY-F036, MRY-F037, MRY-F038, MRY-G012-A, and MRY-G016.
Evacuation warnings are in place throughout Monterey County for MRY-F033, MRY-G011-A, MRY-G012-B, and MRY-G015. For San Luis Obispo County, evacuation warnings are in place for SLC-001, SLC-002, and SLC-003.
Shelters for evacuees have been set up at both the Carmel Mission Inn at 3665 Rio Road in Carmel and at the Cambria Veterans Memorial Building at 1000 Main Street in Cambria.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Click here for updates from Cal Fire.
WATCH: Cal Poly Wildland Fire/Fuels Mgmt. professor breaks down challenges of Timber, Plaskett fires
Timber Fire
The Timber Fire started August 8 southeast of Loma Vista and has so far scorched over 25,000 acres with 22% containment.
Evacuation orders have been issued for the following areas: MRY-D082, MRY-D089, MRY-D090, MRY-D091, MRY-F015-A, MRY-F015-B , MRY-F015-C, MRY-F016, MRY-F017, MRY-F020, MRY-F022, MRY-F023-A, MRY-F023-B, MRY-F025, MRY-F028-B, MRY-F028-C, MRY-F029, MRY-F031, MRY-F034, and MRY-G016.
Evacuation warnings are in place for MRY-D078, MRY-D084, MRY-D085, MRY-D086, MRY-D088, MRY-F014, MRY-F027-B, MRY-F028-A, MRY-F028-D, MRY-F030-A, MRY-F030-B, MRY-F031-B, MRY-F032-A, and MRY-F032-B.
Carmel Mission Inn and the Cambria Veterans Memorial Building are also being used as shelters for the Timber Fire.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation. Click here for updates from Cal Fire.
Chris Dicus, a Wildland Fire and Fuels Management professor at Cal Poly, says inaccessibility has been a challenge for firefighters battling the two fires in Big Sur.
“The terrain is incredibly steep. It's incredibly rugged. There's very little access, and anyone who's ever hiked back in there knows that as soon as you get off of a road or a trail, it's pretty treacherous footing, so it's very difficult to get crews in there, and frankly, it's just really unsafe at this point,” he said.
Dicus expects the fires will continue to burn for several weeks.
“Both areas are burning in inaccessible areas that are in designated wilderness areas which preclude the use of mechanized equipment in some places, so it's almost where you've got this large box that the fire operations staff will draw out and they'll allow it to burn to an area before they can get really aggressive, and there's a series of containment lines that kind of expand out,” he said. “But just given the nature of where it's at and how it's burning and future forecast just for this time of year -- it's hot, it's dry, it's windy -- and I would expect this to burn for a good time.”
