Madre Fire grows to 70,000+ acres, burning along Highway 166 and east into the Carrizo Plain

By Andrew Gillies, Alissa Orozco, Nate Loop

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Firefighters are responding to a fast-moving wildfire called the Madre Fire, which has now burned 70,800 acres in rural San Luis Obispo County and is the largest wildfire in California so far this year.

The fire has stretched well into the Carrizo Plain Ecological Reserve and the Carrizo Plain National Monument, where there is very little burn history in recent years.

As of Friday morning, there was ten percent containment on the fire shared the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Evacuation orders and warnings have been issued in large stretches of rural San Luis Obispo County as part of the fire response. A map of those evacuation zones can be found at the emergency website for the County of San Luis Obispo.

A temporary evacuation point has been established at 13080 Soda Lake Road in Santa Margarita north of the fire for those displaced by the flames.

Evacuation warnings have been issued for a stretch of land south of Highway 166 in Santa Barbara County and Kern County to the east of the fire has also issued evacuation warnings for western portions of the county along the border with San Luis Obispo County and the Carrizo Plain National Monument.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has closed all areas within the Carrizo Plain National Monument. BLM officials say the move is necessary to protect both firefighters and the public, and to prevent interference with firefighting operations.

On Thursday, the fire continued to rage across some of the most remote and rugged terrain in eastern San Luis Obispo County, burning near its southern border with Santa Barbara County. The wildfire spans three separate jurisdictions: the Los Padres National Forest, San Luis Obispo County-managed property, and land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.

More than 300 firefighters from multiple agencies across the Central Coast and beyond are battling the blaze, both on the ground and in the air. Multiple helicopters were seen making drop after drop in rapid succession to try and contain the flames, which proved relentless—chewing through steep, brush-covered hillsides dotted with dry grasses, oak trees, and shrubs Thursday morning.

Hot and breezy conditions persisted throughout Thursday, further fueling the fire’s growth and making suppression efforts more difficult.

The Madre Fire started Wednesday afternoon around 1 p.m. off Highway 166 in rural San Luis Obispo County, east of Sycamore Creek and west of Rock Front Ranch. The fire grew to around 3,000 acres within the first couple of hours on Wednesday, generating pyrocumulus clouds at points during the afternoon and evening. By Thursday, that smoke had settled into a thick blanket hanging over the Cuyama Valley.

One of the top priorities for fire crews is preventing the blaze from crossing Highway 166. So far, the fire has stayed north of the highway, but officials say keeping it that way is critical.

“There’s going to be a lot more people at risk, a lot more property at risk if it moves the other direction,” said Toni Davis with CAL FIRE/San Luis Obispo County Fire Department. “So we want to keep it north of Highway 166. This isn’t going to be a two-day type thing. We’re going to be here for a little bit. Working towards more containment. Hoping for more, but we’ve got some work to do.”

Santa Barbara County Fire Department's Public Information Officer Scott Safechuck shared that teams from Santa Barbara County Fire Department, San Luis Cal Fire, and the Los Padres National Forest are part of the fire response. Your News Channel reporter Tracy Lehr saw crews from Ventura County Fire Department arriving Wednesday evening to assist as well.

This is an evolving fire response and more information will be added to this article as it becomes available.