Highway 1 through Big Sur reopened Saturday afternoon as firefighters gained ground on the massive Timber Fire after more than two weeks of flames.
Cal Fire Operations Section Chief Mike Wink announced the reopening at a briefing, confirming that public access would resume for the first time since the fire ignited just over two weeks ago. Hotels, restaurants and other businesses had already begun reopening Thursday and Friday, with more expected to follow Saturday as officials eased restrictions in areas where the threat to homes and businesses had largely passed.
“The road will be open later this afternoon. There will be the public in there later this afternoon; that’s something new that hasn’t happened since the fire started just over two weeks ago,” Wink said at the briefing.
Authorities allowed increased access along Highway 1 through some of Big Sur’s most popular areas, although a section of the winding coastal highway between Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park was expected to remain closed for several more days. The Timber Fire had scorched more than 7,500 acres in Monterey County since it started near Timber Top, above Highway 1 and just south of iconic spots like the Nepenthe Restaurant and the Henry Miller Library.
“We are trending in the right direction,” Cal Fire Battalion Chief Josh Silveira told Mercury News. “Everybody here is working really hard. It’s a slow and steady mentality. We’ll take that any day of the week.”
The progress came as the Timber Fire remained just 29% contained, according to a state tracker. Containment lines near Highway 1 had been holding as crews concentrated efforts along the iconic roadway and used aircraft to attack the fire with water and retardant. The fire, however, continued to push northeast into the Los Padres National Forest, away from the coast and highway and into rough terrain that could make firefighting more difficult. Overnight intelligence flights confirmed two new areas of increased fire activity on the eastern side of the blaze.
Still, Wink said crews had been able to keep the fire’s intensity down as it approached the Big Sur River.
“We have low-intensity fire that’s slowing backing down to the Big Sur River,” Wink said. “We’re keeping that intensity low and getting it down to the water’s edge.”
The recovery also brought power back to parts of Big Sur. PG&E crews replaced burned electrical poles and wires Friday after some locations went without electricity for 13 days. Earlier in the week, emergency officials lifted evacuation orders in three of the five areas that had been under them. An American Red Cross emergency evacuation shelter opened Monday at Carmel Middle School for residents displaced by the fire, with the SPCA for Monterey County co-locating to provide support for evacuees with pets.
In the viral moment that set off the region’s crisis, the Timber Fire erupted in early August 2026 near Timber Top, quickly forcing closures of the world-famous coastal highway and evacuation orders across five areas of Big Sur. The blaze became the third-largest wildfire to burn anywhere in California this year, yet it caused a strikingly small amount of structural damage: zero buildings burned. There were also no reported injuries or fatalities. Firefighters faced some of California’s most rugged slopes, covered with chaparral, poison oak, ticks, and expensive real estate accessed by precarious driveways, as they worked to hold the fire east of Highway 1, north of McWay Canyon, west of the Big Sur River, and south of Big Sur.
Crews focused on keeping the fire boxed in as it pushed eastward into wilderness areas with no meaningful trail network or vehicle access to key tactical ridges, making line construction extremely difficult. The current operational plan aimed to prevent further spread beyond the expanded containment boundaries, though officials acknowledged that the control box would likely keep growing due to challenging terrain and lack of water sources on the ridgetops.
Temporary Activation Sites were operating at Big Sur Station from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM daily through Thursday, providing resources and information to residents still navigating evacuation orders.
Crews will continue concentrating efforts along Highway 1 and using aircraft to attack the fire as it burns northeast into the Los Padres National Forest.