Evacuation advisory issued for part of Las Palmas as River Fire grows overnight; Toro Park closed to the public.

The River Fire that began with a lightning strike around 3am on Sunday morning, Aug. 16, has grown to 2,800 acres in the foothills about five miles south of Salinas. It is burning between River Road to its east, and the top of San Benancio Canyon to its southwest. 

The fire grew particularly fast on Sunday evening, quadrupling in size from 500 acres to 2,000 acres between about 5:30pm and 8pm. Overnight, it expanded by another 800 acres, and as of 6am Monday morning, Cal Fire reports the fire is at 2,800 acres and remains 10-percent contained. 

Cal Fire reports 1,500 structures are threatened from the fire. Evacuations have been ordered for people living in the following neighborhoods off River Road: Pine Canyon Road, Parker Road, Laurel Lane and Trimble Hill Lane. 

Evacuation advisories are in effect for Mt. Toro Access Road and San Benancio Road from Troy Lane to Corral de Tierra Road, including Corral de Cielo Road, Lucie Lane and Covie Lane, as well as Indian Springs Road.

County officials expanded the evacuation advisory on Monday morning to Las Palmas II, located off Highway 68. These advisories are meant to help residents prepare for possible evacuation orders. 

There are 520 personnel on the scene, eight air tankers and nine bulldozers. Four firefighters have suffered heat-related injuries as they battled the blaze through a heatwave. 

Fire officials has set up an incident command post at Toro Park on Highway 68; the park is currently closed to the public. 

River Road from Highway 68 to Chualar River Road, a popular route for people to connect to Highway 101, is closed to nonessential travel. Corral de Tierra and San Benancio roads are closed to nonresidents at Highway 68 and beyond. 

The fire is burning roughly between the dead-end roads of those two communities—San Benancio on the west and Pine Canyon on the east.