The Willow Fire forced evacuations in the areas around Tassajara Road and Arroyo Seco Road in the Ventana Wilderness of the Los Padres National Forest. Various campgrounds, including the China Camp Campground and Arroyo Seco Campground, were forced to close.[2]
The fire threatened the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, a buddhist monastery located deep in the mountains along the Big Sur coast.[3] Although much of the monastery was evacuated, a number of trained firefighters from the monastery known as "fire monks" stayed behind to help defend the monastery from the fire.[4] The fire monks cleared brush around the monastery and ran a sprinkler system they called "Dharma rain," while also coordinating with local authorities.[3][4][5]
