Big Sur businesses reopen as Timber Fire containment grows, Highway 1 closure shrinks
By Felix Cortez
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MONTEREY COUNTY, California (KSBW) — As an all-out aerial attack on the Timber Fire resumes and firefighters continue to make progress on containment, a road closure has been shortened, allowing more businesses to reopen. One of those restaurants, Nepenthe, welcomed back visitors Thursday. According to managers, the restaurant was losing $70,000 a day.
“When you think about a business that cannot operate, that’s hundreds and ultimately thousands of employees, depending on the number of businesses and the geographic range of impact. So even the businesses that were open were running at reduced staffing levels, so there’s a huge impact throughout the local economy and the human impact that is hard to overstate,” said Kirk Gafill, general manager of Nepenthe and president of the Big Sur Chamber of Commerce.
For many employees, it was nearly two weeks of uncertainty, wondering when they might get back to work.
“It was about 12 days no work for myself and it felt like way longer just because I love the routine and the rhythm and the dynamic and the company culture that we do have here so being without it suddenly felt like a part of myself was on pause,” said Shana England, a supervisor at the Phoenix gift shop.
“We can return to work, we can get back to our jobs and we can safely, you know, feel secure with everything going on, you know, and being back I mean, I’m just grateful,” said Skye Arle, a host at Nepenthe.
With the northern roadblock moving south of Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn, the restaurant plans to reopen Saturday for breakfast. Deetjen’s employs more than 40 people.
“It’s not just a light switch we have to bring back food we have to bring bring back all the staff, inform the people who actually evacuated from their homes, who live within the evacuation zones, we have to get them back into their houses, we have to get all the food product and everything situated we have a lot of cleanup to do,” said Matt Glazer, general manager of Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn.
Also on Thursday, Big Sur Fire announced on social media that incident command centers at CSUMB and Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park will now be consolidated at the Pfeiffer camp as the threat to structures has been minimized on the coastal side of the fire. That also means the highway could soon reopen, according to Big Sur Fire.
“You know, the neighbors help neighbors around here you know, everyone that has a part to play in this community is there to protect the land, is there to continue the tradition of looking after each other,” said Arle.
“Thankfully things are settling down now and we can get back into motion and welcome people back to Big Sur,” England added.
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