Gifford Fire Becomes Largest this Year in California in

Hannah Poukish

The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)

(TNS)

A massive wildfire burning in eastern San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties is now California’s largest wildfire of the year, according to Cal Fire.

As of Tuesday, Aug. 5, the Gifford Fire had scorched more than 82,000 acres, triggering evacuations and closing a key stretch of Highway 166, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

Smoke from the Gifford Fire could be seen from space.

How does the Gifford Fire compare to California’s biggest wildfire so far in 2025? And what are the factors behind the devastating blaze?

Here’s what to know: Where is the Gifford Fire in California?

The Gifford Fire sprung from multiple blazes northeast of Santa Maria along Highway 166 on the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 1, according to InciWeb.

The fire grew nearly 20,000 acres in just 24 hours, with 10,000 of those acres growing since around 4 p.m. Monday, according to previous Tribune reporting.

Since Friday afternoon, Highway 166 has been closed between Highway 101 and the southern junction of Highway 33, according to the California Department of Transportation.

As of 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, the Gifford Fire had grown to 82,567 acres and was 7% contained, according to InciWeb.

At least three people had been injured in the Gifford Fire.

The fire was burning on both sides of Highway 166 from Aliso Creek and Cuyama Highway to the Carrizo Plain National Monument near the Gifford Trailhead, about 30 miles east of Santa Maria.

The Gifford Fire charred thousands of acres just west of the scar of the Madre Fire, which burned more than 80,000 acres of the Carrizo Plain in SLO County in July, Cal FIre said.

Together, the two major blazes have burned more than 163,000 acres in the rugged eastern corners of SLO and Santa Barbara counties, according to Cal Fire’s 2025 incident archive. Current Southern California wildfires This map shows wildfires that have been updated within the past 7 days from the Integrated Reporting of Wildland-Fire Information (IRWIN) and the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). The larger the circle, the larger the wildfire by acres. Data is from the US Department of the Interior, Office of Wildland Fire, IRWIN, NIFC, NASA, NOAA and ESRI. Open Steve Wilson [email protected] How large was the Madre Fire in SLO County?

As of Tuesday, the Madre Fire is California’s second-largest wildfire of 2025, according to Cal Fire.

The Madre Fire sparked near Highway 166 around 1 p.m. on July 2. Within 24 hours, the fire had burned into the wildland area north of the highway, quickly reaching the Carrizo Plain. The mammoth wildfire burned for 24 days, torching a total of 80,779 acres in eastern San Luis Obispo County before it was fully contained on July 26.

One structure was damaged, one structure was destroyed and two firefighters were injured in the fire, according to Cal Fire.

The Madre Fre was fueled by hot, dry winds and tall grass and heavy brush, experts said.

The main carrier of the fire was “grass and chapparal with an oak hardwood overstory,” according to a Cal Fire incident report.

The area had little previous fire history, the report said, and fire fuels were “positioned on steep nearly inaccessible terrain with limited access points for ground resources.”

Firefighters were only able to control the major blaze due to wildfire prevention steps taken earlier this year.

According to a Cal Fire report, a prescribed burn conducted in February helped firefighters contain the Madre Fire.

“When the fire reached an area previously treated with prescribed fire, its intensity dramatically decreased, allowing bulldozers and fire engines to gain control and halt the flames,” Cal Fire said. Why is the Gifford Fire getting bigger?

The Gifford Fire is proving difficult to contain because of where it’s burning, according to Capt. Scott Safechuck, the public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

As the blaze moves north, “It’s just getting into big drainages, steep terrain, and it’s really inaccessible to get to on both sides of the fire where it’s at currently,” Safechuck said. “It becomes a real challenge just to get our firefighters in there on foot ... and the steep terrain and the amount of fuel that’s back there is just conducive to keep burning.”

Hot and dry weather conditions forecast through Thursday, Aug. 7, “combined with extremely dry, critically receptive fuels, are expected to facilitate rapid and sustained fire growth,” according to an InciWeb report.

Fire activity was expected to increase in all areas of the blaze through Thursday morning, the report said. How did hot, dry weather affect Central Coast wildfires?

Three contributing factors have led to California’s two worst wildfires of the year so far: dry weather, dry fuel and the narrow corridor of Highway 166, Safechuck said.

He said that critically low moisture levels paired with high temperatures caused brush in the path of the Gifford and Madre fires to burn quickly and spit out embers that allowed the fires to continue expanding.

“Flanking both sides of the highway, you have our tall annual grasses that under windy conditions just carries the fire forward with low humidity and low fuel moisture content in the vegetation,” Safechuck said.

The majority of the two blazes were also burning in inaccessible areas with steep, rugged terrain that made firefighting efforts challenging, Safechuck added.

The cause of both fires is still under investigation as of Tuesday, Aug. 5, according to Cal Fire. What are California largest wildfires in 2025?

As of Tuesday morning, these were California’s 10 biggest wildfires of 2025 based on acreage burned, according to Cal Fire’s 2025 incident archive. * 1. Gifford Fire in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties — 82,567 acres * 2. Madre Fire in San Luis Obispo County — 80,779 acres * 3. Mexico Assist Fire in San Diego County — 26,000 acres * 4. Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County — 23,448 acres * 5. Orleans Complex in Del Norte and Siskiyou counties — 21,828 acres * 6. Green Fire in Shasta County — 19,022 acres * 7. Eaton Fire in Los Angeles County — 14,021 acres * 8. Hughes Fire in Los Angeles County — 10,425 acres * 9. Border 2 Fire in San Diego County — 6,625 acres * 10. Dogs Fire in Kern County — 4,407 acres