The Willow Fire was a wildfire that burned in the

Ventana Wilderness The Ventana Wilderness of Los Padres National Forest is a federally designated wilderness area located in the Santa Lucia Range along the Central Coast of California. This wilderness was established in 1969 when the Ventana Wilderness Act redesig ...

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Montere ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

as part of the 2021 California wildfire season. The fire started on June 17, 2021, burned , and was fully contained on July 12, 2021.

Events

June

The Willow Fire was first reported at around 8:00 pm PT on June 17, 2021.

Cause

The cause of the fire is under investigation and is currently unknown.

Containment

On July 12, 2021, the Willow Fire reached 100% containment.

Impact

Closures and Evacuations

The Willow Fire forced evacuations in the areas around Tassajara Road and Arroyo Seco Road in the

of the

Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Mo ...

. Various campgrounds, including the China Camp Campground and Arroyo Seco Campground, were forced to close. The fire threatened the

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center The Tassajara Zen Mountain Center is the oldest Japanese Buddhist Sōtō Zen monastery in the United States. It is on the border of the Ventana Wilderness and within the Los Padres National Forest, southeast of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. T ...

, a

buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monastery located deep in the mountains along the Big Sur coast. Although much of the monastery was evacuated, a number of trained firefighters from the monastery known as "fire monks" stayed behind to help defend the monastery from the fire. The fire monks cleared brush around the monastery and ran a sprinkler system they called "Dharma rain," while also coordinating with local authorities.

References

2021 California wildfires June 2021 events in the United States Wildfires in Monterey County, California {{California-stub