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What Are the Causes of a Big Sur Fire?

The stretch of wilderness on California's central coast called Big Sur extends from Monterey to San Luis Obispo. The dramatic coastline forests cover mountains that are generally too steep to inhabit. Every year brings another dry season and the possibility of fire. Forest fires in Big Sur are a fact of nature and part of its life cycle. The spark that begins a fire often comes from natural processes, but sometimes it doesn't.

Fire Season
- The redwoods, oaks and other indigenous species of trees receive ample rain during a normal Big Sur winter, but the rains cease and the sun becomes hotter from April until December. The trees become very dry by late July, and during the months of August, September and October they are the most vulnerable to burning. Fires are more likely to spread during drought years when the trees are particularly dry, especially if swept by strong winds coming in from the Pacific Ocean. Brush, leaves and dead branches burn first, exploding into flames in the midst of a spreading wildfire.
Lightning
- One of the biggest fires in the Big Sur region in recent years, the Basin Complex Fire of 2008, was actually a series of smaller fires started by lightning. A thunderstorm moved into the region on July 21, 2008 and within a matter of a few minutes, dry lightning started three separate fires that eventually merged and ultimately burned over 160,000 acres. It was a drought year in California, and on the same day, lightning started 600 more fires across the state. Three days later, 25,000 lightning strikes had started 2,750 fires in one of the worst fire seasons on record.
Human Error
- Campfires are usually prohibited in Big Sur during fire season, but in 2008, the year of the Basin Complex Fire, an earlier wildfire had been started by an out-of-control campfire. When conditions are dry, even a burning cigarette carelessly thrown away can have disastrous consequences. In 2007, a car crashed over a cliff near Nepenthe in Big Sur and the resulting fire burned 20 acres before it was extinguished. The flames reached as high as 100 feet and trees ignited like matches, according to fire fighters who were on the scene.
Other Causes
- The causes of some fires go undiscovered, and the possibilities always include arson or human negligence. However, animals can sometimes play a role. The Green Fire that burned 75 acres near the Little Sur River and Old Coast Road in 2010 was started by a bull. The animal was scratching its horns on a power pole on El Sur Ranch and eventually pushed the pole over. The lines arced, and the sparks started the fire. Electrical discharge from any power source is a hazard during fire season, and electrical sparks may have caused more than one fire in the region.

Nature