California wildfire of 2025

Largest California wildfire of 2025 could explode with dry and hot weather

From SFGate.com

The Gifford Fire in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties is now the largest California wildfire of the year with over 82,000 acres burned, and officials warn it could get significantly worse when hot and dry weather hits the region this week. 

The fire started Aug. 1 and was 7% contained as of Tuesday morning. Fire officials said more than 1,900 firefighting personnel are attacking the blaze, which shut down state Highway 166 from Highway 101 to New Cuyama and is burning in a largely remote area. 

Officials say fire activity is likely to increase as the weather is expected to heat up this week. Temperatures are forecast to reach 90 to 100 degrees starting this Thursday, and humidity is expected to drop to the mid-teens. 

Don Fregulia, the section chief for California Interagency Incident Management Team 5, said in a briefing on Tuesday they are using airplanes, helicopters and bulldozers to stop the march of the fire in extremely rugged terrain. 

“We’re using all the tools in the tool box,” Fregulia said. 

There are 872 structures threatened by the blaze, and firefighters are setting up a base camp near Santa Margarita to be closer to where the fire is burning.

New evacuation warnings were issued on Tuesday for areas south of the fire. Full information about evacuation orders and warnings can be found on Santa Barbara County’s webpage.

On Monday, the South Coast Air Quality Management District issued an advisory for areas of Southern California including Riverside as smoke from the Gifford Fire and other fires impact the air quality. 

The fire is burning close to the scar of the Madre Fire, which blazed through 80,000 acres last month. That fire was declared fully contained on July 26.