Chimney Fire evacuees take shelter at Mission San Antonio.

For the third time in its history, Mission San Antonio, the third-oldest Spanish settlement in California, is home to evacuees. 

As a result of the Chimney Fire burning in South Monterey County, which started around Lake Nacimiento Aug. 13 and has already burned 45,000 acres and 49 homes, 20 evacuees from the Byron Hesperia community near Fort Hunter Liggett are taking shelter at the mission. 

In a statement sent out on behalf of Mission San Antonio earlier today, it is said the evacuees are being housed despite the 240-year-old mission undergoing a "major seismic retrofit project."

Unlike the other two missions in the county, the Carmel and Soledad, San Antonio has several room with beds for visitors, as well as a kitchen, as the mission often hosts religious retreats. 

According to the statement, it's the third time in the mission's history it's housed evacuees. The first was when Monterey was sacked by Argentine privateer Hipólito Bouchard in 1818, and the second was in 1878, when "Native Americans and settlers were evicted at gunpoint from surrounding ranch land as a result of a controversial land claim."

As of Aug. 26, the Chimney Fire is 47-percent contained.