California’s Big Sur sees evacuation orders as Timber fire grows

California’s Big Sur coast is witnessing evacuations as the Timber fire spreads across the nearby steep, rugged mountains. The blaze, which started on Sunday, has escalated to cover more than 1,700 acres by Monday, according to Cal Fire, the state’s fire agency. This rapid growth has prompted evacuations of notable tourist destinations such as the Nepenthe restaurant, the Henry Miller Memorial Library, and the Alila Ventana resort. Additionally, part of the Pacific Coast Highway has been closed to non-residents.

Firefighters are diligently working to establish containment lines along Highway 1, a crucial effort to control the fire’s advance. Access to challenging terrain remains a difficulty for ground crews, but the fire is currently progressing at a slow pace, primarily consuming grass, brush, and oak woodland. The fire’s growth has not yet reached the tree canopy.

The origin of the fire remains under investigation. Meanwhile, firefighters across the western United States are battling numerous wildfires. In Canada, the military has put its forces on standby to assist in the fight against devastating wildfires in British Columbia, where at least one woman has perished, and roughly 20,000 individuals have evacuated their homes. Over half of the fires in the area are deemed uncontrollable by authorities.

In Summerland, a town with a population of 12,000, residents were ordered to evacuate on Saturday evening, alongside 8,000 people in and around the nearby town of Peachland. The mayor of Summerland cautioned that the affected regions remain too perilous to enter, and it is currently impossible to gauge the extent of the destruction.

Further west, a fast-moving fire north of Reno, Nevada, compelled approximately 5,500 people to leave their homes. Firefighters in Spokane, Washington, have bolstered containment lines around three destructive blazes, enabling some evacuated residents to return to their residences. In Oregon, the state is grappling with its most catastrophic year on record for land burned by large wildfires, with 3,671 square miles (9,508 square kilometers) ravaged so far, surpassing the previous record set in 2024.