A wildfire that started late Sunday night is currently burning through hundreds of acres of the Los Padres National Forest as it heads towards the coastline in Big Sur near California's picturesque Highway 1. As of Monday afternoon, the fire had destroyed 15 homes and smoke could be seen as far north as Monterey.

The fire reportedly began around midnight last night near Pfeiffer Ridge Road, just south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, possibly on the Buzzards Roost hiking trail and quickly spread to 500 acres overnight due to some of the driest conditions in years. More than 200 firefighters, four air tankers and four firefighting helicopters were called in to fight the blaze Monday morning.

No injuries have been reported and there so far the fire is zero percent contained. At least 50 people have been evacuated and one of the homes destroyed this morning reportedly belonged to Big Sur fire Chief Martha Karsten.

Highway 1 is still open to traffic as of Monday afternoon.

Update: NBC Bay Area has some aerial footage from the area this afternoon:

[KTVU]
[Monterey Co. Weekly]
[KSBW]