The map above shows Gifford’s evacuation area in red and the approximate fire perimeter as a black line. Shown as a gray tone is the perimeter of last month’s Madre Fire, previously the biggest fire of the year; it burned 80,779 acres in the Carrizo Plain area, just east of Gifford.

The new orders were for an area near the west edge of Gifford, burning since last week in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

The Gifford Fire in central California has expanded to become one of the state's largest active wildfires, burning over 72,000 acres and prompting widespread evacuation orders. Newsweek contacted Cal Fire for comment via email outside of standard working hours on Tuesday.