Lockheed-Santa Cruz Fire & La Brea Fire Updates 8/13/08

9:00 pm – Monterey County Strike Team Deployment Update;

Monterey County Type 1 Strike Team 2175A -STL CH5202 North County Fire, Engines – North County Fire, Salinas City Fire, Marina Fire, Salinas Rural Fire, Presido Of Monterey Fire – Deployed 8/12 @ 2357 Hrs.

Monterey County / Santa Clara County Type 1 OES Strike Team 2804A – STL CH5500 Salinas Rural Fire, Engines – OES312 Carmel Valley Fire , OES326 Salinas Rural Fire, OES356 North County Fire , OES289 Santa Clara County, OES327 UTF – Deployed 8/13 @ 0320 Hrs – Waiting on Region 2 to advise on fill for 5th Engine….

Monterey County Type 3 Strike Team 2176C – STL CH6406 Monterey Fire, Engines – Salinas City Fire, Seaside Fire, Monterey Fire, Soledad Fire, Fort Hunter Liggett – Deployed 8/13 @ 1514 Hrs.

Monterey County committed to another Type 1 Strike Team, if needed….
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Andrew Smith, who lives by the private airport in Bonny Doon sent me 5 photos taken around 5 pm this evening from the airport. CalFire is using the airport, and they told him the fire was about 4 miles from there. I am still attempting to download them all, but one came through, so I’ll post that one here:

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8:00 pm updates – Tonight, the smoke is so bad. I can smell it, I can see it. I am reliving last summer’s fires. I cannot see any of the ridges to the north or south of me. The following photos show why. These were taken tonight at 7:20 pm from Natural Bridges State Park, looking over the bay to Monterey. Photos by Stan Russell of Santa Cruz.

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6:00 pm Fire updates: Both the La Brea and the Lockheed Fires were quite busy all afternoon. Mandatory evacuations for both fires, serious spread, and many, many resources joined the two fights.

Here is the fire perimeter map for Lockheed:

Here’s the evacuation map for Lockheed:

Here is the latest (7 pm) of La Brea Fire:

Current Situation
Total Personnel 1,859
Size 48,457 acres
Percent Contained 10%
Fuels Involved
Primarily Chaparral with with areas of grass and timber.
Fire Behavior
The fire became active late morning with wind driven runs down interior ridges. In the Cuyama Valley and along the southwest side, the fire made large uphill runs resulting in the large smoke plums seen from the surrounding areas.
Significant Events
Crews continue to hold and mop up along along the north portion of the Treplett fuel break by Miranda Pine. Structure protection has been implemented along Foothill Road in Cottonwood Canyon and Pine Canyon. Fire continues to burn south down Horse canyon towards the Sisquoc River. Evacuation orders were issued for all of Tespusquet Canyon, Colson Canyon, including the Blazing Saddlesanyon Community and all of Ruiz Canyon. The evacuation order is still in effect for the 14 threatened residences on Foothill Road and the 7 residences on the Buckhorne Ridge. An evacuation warning was issued via reverse 911 to the 104 residences in Cottonwood Canyon. Forest Service closure order no. 09-13-5100-10 is in effect for areas in and around the fire.
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1:00 pm La Brea Fire Update:

From Inciweb updates;

Effective at 12:00 p.m., Thursday, August 13, 2009, a mandatory Evacuation Order was issued by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office for the following area due to fire activity of the La Brea Fire:

ALL of Tepusquet Canyon, from Santa Maria Mesa Road to Highway 166
ALL of Colson Canyon, including the Blazing Saddles community
ALL of Ruiz Canyon

The canyon roads are being closed to the public to allow for the evacuations.

Fire and Sheriff Officials estimate the new evacuation orders include about 150 homes and ranches.

Now 40,470 Acres @ 10%

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1803/
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Noon update, Lockheed Fire:

* 2,300+ acres, 0% contained
* Fire jumped Molina Creek triggering mandatory evacuation of Bonny Doon area affecting 500-1,000 homes
* CAL FIRE ICT #9 (Hutchinson) has assumed command
Fire activity is increasing. Columns are becoming more vertical and are a dark brown and some are black.

ABC channel 7 streaming live http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/livenow?id=6962675
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10:00 am – here are some shots sent to me by readers. One was taken w/i the hour from East Santa Cruz, Live Oak area, by Jon Libby. I cannot get that one to load. This one, is by Martin McGuire taken from Highway 9 lookout, near Skyline at dawn:

You can see the smoke just visible over the ridge.

Here is the one from Jon Libby:

9:30 am –
more tv coverage, click here

Santa Cruz Fire update:

2,300 ACRES 0 Percent contained

– 250 residences threatened

-Movement: south east direction

-Threats: timber, powerlines, Davenport, Bonny Doon

-Needs: engine, dozers, crews, overhead

-Control Problems: ACCESS TO THE FIRE, RESOURCES ARE DRAWN DOWN IN THE AREA, WORKING IN A STEEP AREA WITH POOR ACCESS.

-Fuels: 6 Dormant Brush, Hardwood Slash
TIMBER AND HEAVY BRUSH
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7:30 am -Lockheed/Big Creek – resources being called in from all over the state for the Lockheed/Big Creek Fire. It is getting all the attention, currently.

La Brea inciweb report moments ago:
personnel 1,441
Size 36,108 acres
Percent Contained 10%

6:30 am – Getting a lot of private email regarding smoke in Big Sur. As far as I know, and trust me, I’ve checked, we are experiencing the drift from the Santa Cruz Fire, the Lockheed or Big Creek Fire. (it’s having an identity crisis) It was horrific last night, and continues to be. Bonny Doon is threatened. Last Chance is being evacuated. No update on acreage, but by 1 am, when I went to bed, it had grown exponentially from 40 acres at 8:30 pm to over 2000 acres by 1 am.

Here is the modis map of the area:

Here is live feed of the Santa Cruz Fire (click here)

Pine Valley on the La Brea Fire was evacuated last night around midnight. Also don’t have acreage on this one, yet. Will be checking both and reporting, as I am able.