The Woodside Fire grew to an estimated 50 acres by 4 p.m. Thursday on the Sonoma Coast north of Timber Cove, forcing evacuations at Woodside Campground and Gerstle Cove campgrounds and closing a stretch of Highway 1.
The fire was burning on the west side of Highway 1 near the entrance to Woodside Campground at Salt Point State Park, where crews were trying to keep it from crossing the road into the heavily forested hills to the east. Several airtankers and helicopters joined ground crews in the response as the fire pushed south through heavy timber under winds out of the north.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office issued evacuation order SON-1D1 just before 4 p.m. for the area between Fort Ross and the northern end of Salt Point State Road near the coast, including Walsh Landing, Seaview and Stump Beach. It also issued evacuation warning SON-1D2 farther inland for Table Mountain, Toners Place and Goat Rock.
Those orders covered a lightly populated coastal corridor where Highway 1 is the main route in and out, and emergency dispatch traffic suggested officials were still considering whether residents in the Timber Cove area would need to be added next. The fire had an active front north of Ocean Cove, which left one immediate question hanging over the response: whether crews could hold it west of the highway before it pushed deeper into the hills or south toward Timber Cove.
