Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux issued evacuation orders on Wednesday as the Coffee Pot Fire continued to grow on Wednesday.
Boudreaux’s orders came after the blaze grew by nearly 25 percent in size.
The big picture: The evacuation orders are for the area north of S. Fork Dr., east of Skyline Dr., south of Skyline Dr. and west of the national park boundary.
- The order is mandatory, meaning that Boudreaux is requesting all residents and visitors to the area to leave before the fire spreads even more.
Driving the news: CAL FIRE reported that the blaze increased by 874 acres, slowly heading toward the South Fork of the Kaweah River at the Scratch Creek Junction.
- Low intensity fire backed into the Salt Creek Grove of the giant sequoias in the northeast part of the region.
Go deeper: As of Wednesday afternoon, CAL FIRE reported that the Coffee Pot Fire had reached over 4,500 acres in size with zero percent containment.
- There are over 1,300 firefighters on hand to work on containing the fire.
- CAL FIRE has also assigned 14 helicopters, 44 engines, 10 dozers, 10 water tenders and 36 crews to the fire.
- There have been two confirmed fire personnel and civilian injuries from the blaze.
