Dolan Fire shifts away from Highway 1 as some evacuation orders change
The Dolan Fire near Big Sur spread an additional 2,100 acres since Thursday.
The fire, which is believed to have been started by arson, had burned 113,486 acres and was 26% contained as of Friday morning, according to Cal Fire.
From Sunday to Tuesday, the fire tripled in size, the U.S. Forest Service said.
Fire growth has led to widespread evacuations and warnings to the south and east of the fire, while some evacuation orders to the north and west have been reduced to evacuation warnings.
Evacuation orders remained in place Friday for Monterey County zones 26, 28 and 24, to the east of the fire. Evacuation orders near Highway 1 were in place for South Lucia, Prewitt Ridge and South Coast Ridge Road areas, according to the Monterey County Office of Emergency Services.
The Gorda and north Lucia areas were changed to evacuation warning zones.
Monterey County zones 14 West, 29 and 25 were also under evacuation warnings, as well as Big Creek, Salmon Creek, Partington and Fort Hunter-Liggett.
According to the Forest Service, fire activity has shifted to the east, away from the coast. However, areas near the coastline continued to actively burn and debris was falling regularly on Highway 1 throughout the area, the Forest Service said.
As of Friday, Highway 1 closures had shifted north once more, stretching from Gorda to the Sycamore Draw Bridge, north of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, according to Caltrans.
Nacimiento-Ferguson Road was closed from Highway 1 to the Fort Hunter-Liggett base boundary line.
The shift in fire activity prompted firefighters to relocate their incident command post to King City, the Forest Service said.
As of Friday, the fire had destroyed 14 structures were destroyed and four more were damaged, the Forest Service reported.
The Nacimiento Fire Station was among the 14 destroyed structures.
Fourteen firefighters who had been protecting the station along Nacimiento-Fergusson Road on Tuesday morning were forced to deploy their shelters as a last-ditch effort against the flames.
Three of the 14 firefighters were injured and airlifted to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno. The remaining 11 firefighters were removed from the Dolan Fire assignment and were receiving care, according to the Forest Service.
Two of the injured firefighters had been released by Wednesday and the third was in stable condition and able to speak, according to the Forest Service.
This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 11:31 AM with the headline "Dolan Fire shifts away from Highway 1 as some evacuation orders change."
