Update: The Highway Patrol closed Highway 152 in both directions
Saturday night around 7 p.m. after the Pacheco Fire jumped over the
road.
The California Highway Patrol closed Highway 152 in both directions Saturday night around 7 p.m. after the Pacheco Fire jumped over the road.
Officers turned around angry travelers just after the Casa de Fruta turnoff, repeatedly telling drivers that they didn’t know when the road would open.
Many travelers chose to pull over beside the road to see if they could wait for it to open.
“We could see the smoke when we left but we didn’t know it was this bad,” said Matt Williams, who was returning home to Merced after a day in Monterey. “It would take us four hours to go around, so we will wait here for a couple hours and see what happens.”
Flames could be seen several hundred yards away from the turn-around point on the left side of the road.
“There is ash everywhere,” an officer said.
