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Firefighters responded to a vegetation fire at the base of the Cuesta Grade on Tuesday that was forcing evacuations of homes in the area.
The fire sparked at 10:17 a.m. on the 1300 block of Highway 101 southbound and Hawk Hill Lane, according to the emergency response app Pulsepoint.
Cal Fire said in a social media post at 11 a.m. that they were “making great progress” and the fire was less 60 acres.
Dispatchers initially reported on the scanner that the fire had the potential to grow to 200 acres and was spreading uphill “at a moderate rate of speed.”
At least two structures were threatened, Cal Fire said, while also noting on the radio that pedestrians on a nearby hill were in the way and hindering drops from firefighting aircraft.
Vegetation fire near San Luis Obispo
Reported on Hawk Hill Road in the hills along the Cuesta Grade on Highway 101.
Map created with the assistance of ChatGPT.
Firefighters were checking homes in the area to ensure residents were safely cleared.
According to Caltrans Quickmap, the fire was believed to have been started by a truck pulling a landscaping trailer. The truck stopped nearby, the California Highway Patrol incident report on Quickmap said.
The San Luis Obispo Fire Department also assisted fighting the fire, the agency said on social media.
The incident report also said that around 10:50 a.m. a car was seen overheating about halfway down the Grade going southbound.
Cal Fire spokesperson Toni Davis told The Tribune the fire was 5% contained as of 11:40 a.m., but remained under 60 acres.
“There’s going to be crews working alongside of the highway for the next few hours,” Davis said. “Please drive with caution, watch out for our fire personnel and our law enforcement partners as they get this thing contained.”
At least one lane southbound was expected to be a “long closure,” the report said. The CHP said on social media that drivers on the highway should expect delays.
The CHP and San Luis Obispo police assisted with response and traffic control.
Cal Poly spokesperson Matt Lazier told The Tribune in an email that the Poly Canyon trails were closed “out of an abundance of caution” due to the fire.
Source Agencies
