Big Sur wildfire: 15 homes destroyed; more firefighters sent in
Hundreds of additional firefighters have been called to battle a wildfire in Big Sur that has consumed 500 acres and destroyed 15 homes.
The ranks of 400 firefighters on the lines Monday were increased to 625 by Tuesday morning.
U.S. Forest Service officials said they had no containment of the fire and do not even have an accurate count of acreage burned because of the heavy smoke and rough terrain.
The Pfeiffer fire, so named because it started in the area of Pfeiffer Ridge in the Monterey Ranger District of Los Padres National Forest, has also forced about 100 people to evacuate near state Highway 1, officials said.
One of the homes destroyed by the blaze belonged to Big Sur Fire Chief Martha Karstens.
It was not immediately clear how much progress crews were able to make overnight. They had hoped cooler temperatures would aid their efforts.
Los Padres National Forest spokesman Andrew Madsen told The Times on Monday that crews planned to work throughout the night to cut containment lines around the blaze, which broke out Sunday during unseasonably warm weather.
Conditions in Monterey County on Tuesday were expected to be warm and dry before a storm system brings cooler temperatures Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
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