Carmel Highlands, California - July 26, 2016

1. Firefighters watch fire on the mountain

2. Flames burning trees and brush

3. Firefighters on watch

4. SOUNDBITE (English) David Seibert, Carmel Valley resident:

"It's pretty devastating. It's got residents on pins and needles to be honest with you. It's over 20,000 acres and it's still going. And it may go for another few weeks. We don't know. There's a lot of uncertainty."

5. Helicopter water tanker in flight

6. Bulldozer and fire engine drive on charred mountain

7. Firefighter walks through burned field of brush

Salinas, California - July 26, 2017

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Cordova, California fire captain

"We're in five-year drought conditions, and vegetation is very dry. Even though we've had rain this past year, it's still not enough to recover from that drought."

Carmel Highlands, California - July 26, 2016

9. Charred bushes with smoke rising behind

10. Fire engine driving through burned landscape

11. Helicopter flies overhead

12. Homes next to rocky coast

13. Jim Newby walks on beach with granddaughter

14. Carmel River state beach sign

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Newby, tourist:

"We wanted to see more of the ocean. We didn't see a whole lot of it unfortunately, and it's a beautiful, beautiful stretch. Like I said, we had travelled it several times before and we wanted to show our grandchildren. They were coming all the way over from Germany, so it was a little disappointing."

Salinas, California - July 26, 2017

16. Gary Helming and other officials give fire update

17. Map showing fire zone

18. SOUNDBITE (English) Gary Helming, US Forest Service fire management officer:

"If the state parks are open, we're going to have an influx of people trying to come in and recreate in those areas. Even though we're having some luck with the fire we still have a fire that's growing exponentially daily. So for public safety and ease of us to do our job, it's just a way for us to control the situation as far as the number of people in the area."

19. Pan of fire trucks at fire base camp

20. Caravan of fire trucks drive by

California's signature parks along the Big Sur coastline that draw thousands of daily visitors were closed on Tuesday as one of the state's two major wildfires threatened the scenic region at the height of the summer tourism season.

The Big Sur fire threatened a long stretch of pristine, forested mountains hugging the coast and sent smoke billowing over the famed Pacific Coast Highway, which remained open with few if any flames visible to motorists but a risk that the blaze could reach beloved campgrounds, lodges and redwoods near the shore.

The park shutdowns came as a fire that started Friday just north of Big Sur grew Tuesday to 36 square miles (93 square kilometres) but was just 10 percent contained. Twenty homes have burned in the zone, residents of 300 more were ordered to evacuate and more than 2,000 firefighters were trying to douse the blaze.