Oceano Fire Creates Hassle For Tourists And Local Businesses

Within 15 minutes of arriving on scene, Cal Fire and Five Cities Fire were able to quickly put out a brush fire that crews say burned a quarter of an acre of land.

Cal Fire says the firebroke out Thursday at 11:30 a.m. in the Oceano Dunes State Recreation Area. They told KCOY 12’s Central Coast News reporter Cory James that strong windsdid make it difficult for crews to put out the flames.

Connie Cantrell works at Arnie’s ATV Rentals on Pier Avenue near where the brush fire started. She says a similar firehappened close to the shop last year, but they were closed.

Cantrell expressed she is not happy about losing money, since this one happened duringpeak hours of operation where “people can not get down my road to get to me or they are stuck in line down Pier Avenue.”

Jay Morton is one of those people who got stuck and says he had just finished riding ATVs with his son when the fire erupted.

Morton described having to wait in the parking lot to leave because of road closures as not “super inconvenient because they have to do their job.”

Cal fire is currently conducting an investigation to determine the cause of the fire and says that there were no injuries.