Photo credit Karl Mondan Bay Area News Group
All national forests in California are now closed due to the current wildfires across the state.
This includes the Los Padres national forest here on the central coast.
The closure continues through Friday, September 17th.
The forest service says the decision was made for public and firefighter safety.
Officials say that by temporarily reducing the number of people in the forests, they hope to minimize the likelihood that visitors could become trapped during an emergency.
They say it will also decrease the potential for new fires to start.
The forest service saying that while the potential for large fires is not new, they are facing record level fuel and fire conditions, abnormal fire behavior, and limited resources because of the size and number of wildfires in the western United States.
