In today's newscast:
Big Sur fires continue
The Plaskett Fire on the southern end of Big Sur is edging closer to 30,000 acres, and the Timber Fire to the north has burned over 25,000 acres.
Helicopters roar by, and smokiness drifts through the air near the strip of Highway 1 beside the Little Sur River. Some tourists hoping to start their drive into Big Sur are turned around.
" Might be people from out of the area on vacation that aren't aware of the current fire and road closures," Evan Morgan said.
Morgan is a public information officer with Cal Fire. He’s urging people to check the CalTrans and U.S. Forest Service social media accounts, plus the Cal Trans website for closures and fire updates.
” A good sign is the relative humidity is going up over the next couple days into the higher elevations," he said. "So that could decrease fire activity and bring some moisture to these dry fuels."
Morgan says harnessing the power of drones has been key.
"We can detect any heat sources over the fire, so we know we can get people in there to put out the hotspots."
Other airborne approaches have been just as helpful since these fires are concentrated in steep, rugged terrain.
“Safety is our number one priority," Morgan said. "Safety to the firefighters, safety to the citizens, and we're doing everything we can to bring some normalcy back to these communities.”
He says people living in a zone under an evacuation warning should be ready to leave with their belongings if an evacuation order is issued.
Residents can go to readymontereycounty.org for emergency information. KAZU also has a fire updates page for the Timber and Plaskett fires.
Roadless rule under threat
Federal officials are planning to rescind a longtime policy called the “roadless rule,” which protects millions of acres across the country.
The Trump administration says it’s necessary to improve wildland firefighting and remove heavy-handed restrictions.
But critics say getting rid of the “roadless rule” could lead to even more wildfires.
US Forest Service data from California shows that most wildfires are started by humans on or near a road.
