Officials prepare for the River Fire and Carmel Fire to merge.

The River Fire and Carmel Fire have been creeping closer and closer together, and officials are coming up with a plan for when they meet. 

"Our goal is to contain them before that happens, but it's looking like it's going to happen," says April Newman, a public information officer with Cal Fire. 

Officials ordered a new evacuation for all homes from Highway 68 in the north to Chualar River Road in the south, for everyone west of the Salinas River and closed River Road to all traffic on Thursday evening. That evacuation and road closure was lifted on Friday morning, though people are still advised to avoid driving River Road unnecessarily to allow for first responders. 

As of today, Aug. 21, the River Fire is 39,464 acres and 9-percent contained. More than 3,000 structures are threatened and at least 10 have been destroyed. 

Wind pushed the fire south toward Carmel Valley Road last night, and a spot fire with west winds threatened structures on the northern side of the fire, toward Highway 68.

The Carmel Fire is 4,732 acres and 0-percent contained, with 462 structures threatened and 28 destroyed, according to Cal Fire. Down-canyon winds brought the fire down from the ridges into the valley. 

There are 782 personnel assigned to the Carmel Fire today, up from 106 on Thursday morning. There are 937 personnel on the River Friday, up from 696.

The River Fire also encroached toward the incident command center in Toro Park, causing a partial evacuation there. Employees that were not deemed safety employees, meaning they didn't have fire line experience, were asked to leave. 

The fire there was brought under control and operations are up and running as normal today.