Keith Vandervere Morning Update, Timber and Plaskett

Saturday (8/29/26) Morning Update: Other than around Mt. Manuel, the Timber Fire has been pretty quiet over the past 24 hours. But quiet does not mean out. The fire continues to slowly smolder or burn along most of its backcountry perimeter.

Around Mt. Manuel, firefighters began burning along the Cabezo Prieto Ridge toward Post Summit and down Hopkins Ridge toward Highway One. This is intended to halt the further progression of the fire into the Big Sur Valley. Watch Duty reports that the fire in this area “pushed south and breached control features in multiple areas…” I interpret this as meaning that the fire may have gotten across the hand lines protecting the developed portions of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. There are quite a few heat detections showing in developed park areas. Hopefully, that slop over has now been extinguished.

The Plaskett Fire remained active during the day yesterday, finally cooling off some last night. While active, it spread further into the Prewitt Creek drainage, back to the Coast Ridge in the Willow Creek drainage and down to the Highway, just north of Willow Creek. Structure protection remains the top priority.