Month: August 2009

8/7/09 Updates on local conditions

Ponderosa Fire 100% contained as of 7 am. Roads were all still closed as of 9 pm last night, including Plaskett, but that does not stop people. I counted 8 separate campsites, some with 4-5 cars in them. And that’s just on Plaskett. I called the USFS law enforcement.

Hunting season opens tomorrow morning, so I am sure it will be crazy tonight and tomorrow. I always dread these opening season days. The worse of being human comes out in most people — the blood lust, the inconsiderateness, the stupidity of the alcoholic stupor, to name just three.

Added from Cal-Fire from Friday, 8/7/09: “Ponderosa CA-LPF-2563 Fire remains at 458 acres, and is 100% contained. Large de-mobilization that started yesterday will continue through this morning. Fire activity is minimal with some smoldering fuels within the containment lines. Mop-up is continuing as is patrolling in all divisions.”

Summer Celebration



Summer Celebration, originally uploaded by wind_dancer.

No, this is not in Big Sur (thank god!). I was in Anaheim for work, last night, and tried my hand at fireworks for the very first time! Lots of fun!! I even got a few decent shots.

Ponderosa Update, 8/5/09

As of approximately 7:30 pm, inciweb had this to say about the Ponderosa Fire:

The Ponderosa Fire started on Saturay, August 1st at approximately 7:45 in the evening. The fire is located in the Ventana Wilderness in very steep, rugged terrain. The cause is still under investigation. Approximately 458 acres have burned and 69 percent of the fire is contained. The fire is being aggressively fought by fire crews constructing line on the fire’s edge where possible and going indirect with the use of dozers outside of the wilderness boundaries. Also assisting handcrews is the use of helicopters and air tankers dropping both retardant and water. No structors are threatened at this time. At the present time, there is no containment date.

Basic Information
Incident Type Wildfire
Cause Under Investigation
Date of Origin Saturday August 01st, 2009 aprox 07:45 PM
Location Monterey Ranger District, Ventana Wilderness
Incident Commander James E. Smith
Current Situation
Total Personnel 730
Size 458 acres
Percent Contained 69%
Estimated Containment Date Sunday August 09th, 2009 aprox 06:00 PM
Fuels Involved
Oak woodlands and Chaparral
Fire Behavior
Minimal activity with isolated pockets of heat.
Significant Events
Significant increase in containment was achieved today due to exceptional effort by ground and air resources. Crews continued to widen and strengthen lines throughout the fire with good success. Suppression cost to date is $2,100,000.00. There have only been 3 minor injuries to date with firefighters returning to duty.
Outlook
Planned Actions
Tonight crews will continue to improve the lines on the southern to eastern sections of the fire. Crews and fire personnel will continue to mop-up and patrol existing lines in the northern and western sections of the fire.
Growth Potential
Medium
Terrain Difficulty
Extreme
Remarks
CCIIMT-7, Jim Smith’s type 2 team has assumed command as of 0600 on 8/3/2009. Today, August 4, 2009, the incidet went into unified command with Fort Hunter Liggett. Highway 1 is open. Nacimiento-Ferguson Road is open from Highway 1 to the junction with the South Coast Ridge Road only to residents. The South Ridge Road is closed at the junction with Nacimiento Ferguson Road. Nacimiento Ferguson Road is closed from the junction with the South Coast Ridge to Ft. Hunter Liggett.
Current Weather
Wind Conditions 8 mph W
Temperature 50 degrees
Humidity 60%

Ponderosa Ops today, 8/5/09

6:45 am – USFS E16 is reporting on wildlandfire today, as of 7 pm last night: “continued mop up on divison A and continued burning out nacimiento road division B today.”

Be safe, everyone!

Ponderosa Plume from Cone Peak

Mike Anderson of Morro Bay sent me this one. What a view, huh?? Camped up at Cone Peak, at the look-out, and shot this one on Sunday morning just before 7 am. Beautiful. Thanks, Mike!!
PICT0661_2

And this one, coming down the Cone Peak Rd. a little after noon on Sunday.
PICT0679

I love when we can see different perspectives of these events.

8/4/09: Ponderosa Fire, Day 4 – Sam Jones, Day 3

Per Cal Fire the Sam Jones incident was been fully contained at 1400 hours today. Total acreage 3,468. (August 4th, Day 3) Great Job Everyone!!

9:30 am – from Inciweb:

Incident Overview

The Ponderosa Fire started on Saturay, August 1, at approximately 7:45 in the evening. The fire is located in the Ventana Wilderness in very steep, rugged terrain. The cause is still under investigation. Approximately 350 acres have burned to date. The fire is being aggressively fought by fire crews constructing line on the fire’s edge where possible and going indirect with the use of dozers outside of the wilderness boundaries. Also assisting handcrews is the use of helicopters and air tankers dropping both retardant and water. No structors are threatened at this time.
Ponderosa and Nacimiento Campgrounds are closed. Highway 1 is open. Nacimiento-Ferguson Road, as well as the Los Burros/Willow Creek Road at Highway 1 are closed to the public, however they are open to residents.

Basic Information
Incident Type Wildfire
Cause Under Investigation
Date of Origin Friday July 31st, 2009 aprox 07:45 PM
Location Monterey Ranger District, Ventana Wilderness
Incident Commander James E. Smith
Current Situation
Total Personnel 602
Size 360 acres
Percent Contained 16%
Fuels Involved
Oak woodlands and Chaparral
Fire Behavior
Moderate
Significant Events
Little fire movement occurred last evening dueto marine layer influence.
Outlook
Planned Actions
Today’s goal is to taking advantage of the opportunities to take direct suppression action wherever possible.
Growth Potential
High
Terrain Difficulty
Extreme
Remarks
CCIIMT-7, Jim Smith’s type 2 team has assuemed command as of 0600 on 8/3/2009. Evaluating Unified Command with Fort Hunter Liggett.
Current Weather
Wind Conditions 5-10 mph S
Temperature 90 degrees
Humidity 18%

6:30 am – Good morning, everyone! Checking in for updates and will post as they come in.

Sam Jones Fire, Day 2 (8/3/09)

11:00 pm update. And tonight, just before I sign off, I would like to post a photograph one of my readers sent of the Sam Jones Fire, taken between 4 and 4:30 pm this afternoon. It was taken from up behind Hearst Castle, from a place called Rocky Butte Truck Trail. Photo by Carl Brandt of Cambria. Posted here with permission.

Sam Jones Fire

Isn’t that just spectacular? Thank you so much for sharing this with us, Carl!

Here’s a thermal from CalFire:
Sam Jones Thermal

8 pm update: “Catching scanner traffic from Monterey County Com they are Sending Local Goverment Engines to the fire Code 3. Did not Catch identifiers.”

Sorry, I am running later and later, as I am working this evening, and only checking in the between times. CalFire reported: (note the diversion for a new start??)

Update: 08-03-09 1730hrs -Structures threatened. The fire is still on post. Calfire is setting up in the Bryson area just in case it gets that far. Approx 4500 acres, 55% containment. SRA threatened as fire jumped the line again.
The Sam Jones fire is burning within the confines of the U.S. Army’s Fort Hunter Liggett.
Structure Group just ordered up two Type 3 Strike Teams ASAP, BEU sending ST 9430 C to the fire code-3.
Aircraft were just diverted from this incident to a new start on Hunter-Ligget with structures threatened.

CAL FIRE Sam Jones Fire Incident Information:
Last Updated: August 3, 2009 8:00 am
Date/Time Started: August 2, 2009 4:30 pm
Administrative Unit: Army at Fort Hunter Liggett
County: Monterey County
Location: Fort Hunter Leggitt Training Area 27
Acres Burned: 4500 acres,
Containment: 55% containment

7 pm update from wildfire: ” The fire is still on post [FHL]. Calfire is setting up in the Bryson area just in case it gets that far. Approx 4500 acres, 55% containment. SRA threatened as fire jumped the line again.” Byrson Hesperia and Copperhead have been evacuated. Also there appears to be no growth on the Ponderosa today, still about 500 acres.

Here is a quick sketch of the area from the Bryson Hesperia Resort
Bryson Hesperia Resort

3:30 pm update: Information indicates that the spot, 1/2 to 1 mile in front of the Sam Jones was on the south end. Here is a link to the “raws” of temp/RH/fuel temps, etc. on FHL:

http://raws.wrh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/roman/meso_base.cgi?stn=FHLC1

3:00 pm update: Sam Jones Fire -At 1337hrs. Fire has jumped the line, 1/2 to 1 mile spot. S/T [strike team] of Calfire engines e/r [en route]. Looking into aircraft and crews. Fire has moved into SRA, [State Responsibility Area] going unified command. BEU dispatching a high dispatch to the area. Moving into Bryson / Hesperia area. (per wildlandfire) Per LPNF new fire listed at 1345 hrs, probably one and the same.

Editor’s note: WildCAD has been wildly unreliable the last couple days. Unified command is a good thing, as it will be easier to get info than it is when it is only an Army command.

Due to the changed circumstances this afternoon, around 1:45 pm, I am moving the Sam Jones updates to this post, and will continue with updates, as they become available.

Dawn on August 3, 2009 Fires

3:30 pm update: Here is a link to the “raws” of temp/RH/fuel temps, etc.

http://raws.wrh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/roman/meso_base.cgi?stn=FHLC1
11:50 Ponderosa Fire News Release posted under USFS Press Releases to the right.

11:00 am updates on Sam Jones & Ponderosa, my time. Fire time is 8:00 am. Sorry, my sources were late.

Sam Jones Fire:
Name: Sam Jones Fire
County: Monterey County
Location: Fort Hunter Leggitt Training Area 27
Administrative Unit: Army at Fort Hunter Liggett
Status/Notes: 2,500 acres – Unknown containment
Date Started: August 2, 2009 4:30 pm
Last update: August 3, 2009 8:00 am

08/03 @ 0800 (North Ops)
Ponderosa CA-LPF-2563, 350 acres, 0% containment. Central Coast Type -2 ICT (Smith) has been in briefed on the fire and has tentative transition scheduled for 0600 hour today is and team evaluating Unified Command with Fort Hunter Liggett. The fire is burning in grass and chaparral in steep inaccessible terrain in the Ventana Wilderness and may have the potential to burn 3,000 to 5,000 acres. 97 CALFIRE personnel are assigned adding to a total of 429 altogether.

9:00 am report. Sam Jones is looking pretty good. No plumes, just drift. Still plume for Ponderosa, but tremendous resources available and working it. According to one of my sources, Nacimiento Rd. is closed, but the fire hasn’t made it to the road, yet, just close. There are many, many fire resources using the road. It is in an area that did not burn during the Indians Fire. I have some photos of this morning’s drift from both fires, but no plumes.
DSC_0274
Smoke from the Sam Jones this morning, around 7:30 am.
DSC_0278
Drift from he Ponderosa this morning, around 7:45 am.

Only 5:30 am, but the dawn is beginning to show, and with it the smoke to the south east — a glow from the Sam Jones. Sometimes the atmospheric conditions from fires are so beautiful! My posts will be scattered throughout the day, as I have business to take care of, but will post as I obtain information about both the Ponderosa and the Sam Jones Fires.

Strike Teams are coming in from LA Co. FD today, as well as all the others that are already here and/or coming.

Jim Smith’s Type II IMT takes over the Ponderosa at 7 am this morning. What I like about this assignment is that Smith’s team was IMT for both the Indians Fire (June 2008) and the Chalk Fire (9-10/2009) so he knows this area quite well. Welcome, Jim!

Be safe out there!

8/2/09 Fire Wrap-up

9:00 pm – keeping up with two fires this afternoon was challenging. The Ponderosa started last evening, and the Sam Jones this afternoon. Each has their own post for today, with updates and photos as available.

To summarize, as of 6 pm this evening, Ponderosa was 500 acres, and Sam Jones was 600 acres. Sam is completely on Ft. Hunter-Liggett, and spreading north, toward Ponderosa, but still some distance away. Ponderosa is a unified command with USFS and the Army. While both may continue to spread this evening, it will hopefully be relatively quiet, as temperatures are lower than they have been, and humidity is higher. We can hope, anyway.

One concern is that there is a predicted change in the weather beginning Wednesday, with possible thunderstorms in the area, bringing the potential for lightning and erratic winds to the fire area for Wednesday and Thursday. We will all be keeping an eye out for that.

If you like photos, see the two posts below. That’s it for tonight, folks, and thanks for your support, information, and your readership. Working together, we can assure accurate, up-to-date information for Big Sur and her family of friends everywhere.

Blessings, bigsurkate

Sam Jones Fire on Ft. Hunter-Liggett

7:00 pm – just got back from scoping both this fire, and the Ponderosa, with photos, of course. Wow, the Sam Jones Fire put up some amazing smoke today. Here are a couple of the Sam Jones:

DSC_0252

DSC_0259

I have confirmed with the District Ranger that there IS a new fire east of the Ponderosa. It is being aggressively attacked at this moment. It was originally posted to WildCAD at 16:01 pm. Per visuals and thermals, this new fire is way south, and is east of Ponderosa. Plume is HUGE! Going to get photos.

I have also confirmed, with two separate reliable sources (BSVFB and USFS) that the report of a fire 16 miles south of Nepenthe was found to be NOT true. It was a fog bank, that got dark, and looked to the RP to be fire.

So, with our first real major fire of the season, it is very important to check information, probably more than once, to make sure it is accurate. We are all on edge here, folks.

I’ll post more when I know more.