Soberanes Fire, Day 13, 8/3/16 – Local Reports

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• thank you Kate!

• Thanks for this. I live close by and will go there. It is especially smokey today. I live by the Carmel River and Palo Corona ranch, and grew up, up the road. My boyfriend and I truly care about protecting all of our land, and we've found ourselves asking this last month, who doesn't put out their fire embers? We often ask, who throws their cigarettes and trash out the window? Who doesn't recycle? I recounted being behind two grown women (in their 40's-50's) on the Carmel River bridge, throwing out orange peels of the passenger side window of their BMW station wagon, out onto the bridge. I recounted picking up trash at the River State beach two weeks ago. There was a stuffed trash can full of recyclables. Next to it, there were two, over flowing plastic trash bags that seagulls had gotten into, and baby diapers were spilling out of it. The recycle bin and the other trash can there had plenty of room. I removed all of the glass corona bottles, beer cans, and plastic water bottles, and put them in the recycle bin. I cleaned up what trash I could. My boyfriend, who's a biologist for the department of fish and wildlife, spoke to a young man who was poaching fish out of the lagoon. He told him that fishing season is closed, to protect the steelhead. The boy said, 'everyone does it' and 'I go up the river' (an even worse spot than the lagoon), and he kept on fishing. My boyfriend called the rangers, and by the time they came, the boy had left. It is juveniles, and adults that do this. I realize that we can only do our part, by using our voice, and taking action. I'm wondering if all state parks can follow what Palo Corona is doing. You have to go to their website, or call, and obtain a permit to hike there. I think it has come to this for all of our area. How else can we protect it. How can we implement this? I also find my boyfriend noting the glacial pace at which the state parks move. I wonder how we can help to pick up that pace?

• URGENT ; ATT cell phone service out on Tassajara area.

• ART cell back on. Guess we are entering the twilight zone.

• Any idea how to reconcile these IR maps, which seem to show a lot of renewed burning just north of Palo Colorado, with Xasuan's MODIS maps, which show no new flare-ups there in the past six days? Are they measuring different things?

• You cannot reconcile the satellite-based images with those made from the aircraft-mounted instrument. They are each making measurements of infrared temperature, yes, but at different spatial scales (not perfect point measurements) and at different times, using different types of instruments. If you carefully read the caveats at the beginning of Xasauan's map section, it describes some of the limitations of the satellite data. There are also limitations to the aircraft data, but those can be offset somewhat by the added benefit of the pilot's personal observations. So take each map for what it is-- an estimated overview. In one case, it's data from a single pass or "merged" together from multiple overpasses of an orbiting satellite (passes separated by several hours); in the other, it's data merged from multiple flight passes overhead by an instrument on an aircraft (over however many minutes/hours it takes to fly repeatedly over the active fire area). While one would expect to see similarities if the two maps are relatively close together in time, it's also not at all surprising that there could be significant differences observed based on other factors. I hope this information is helpful.

  • Excellent explanation, SilvrCloud. Thank you so much!!

• As far as measuring different things, yes.

  Be sure to read Important Caveats here (satellite detection): https://xasauantoday.com/2016/07/29/soberanes-fire-week-two/

  And

  Infrared capabilities here: http://wildfiretoday.com/2010/06/27/firewatch-cobra-helicopter/

  The embedded youtube video shows infrared sensors in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smaco36NAkM#t=81

  Although the Cobra Helicopter may be using infrared on this fire, the current map infrared is provided by a Citation Jet as shown here:
  http://wildfiretoday.com/2013/04/12/forest-service-receives-new-airborne-sensor-from-nasa/

• Kate, thanks for referring us to the Dormody's Facebook page - great info and tons of photos - (Carmel Valley - San Clemente Ranch)

  - here is quote from 7 am today August 3, and also link so others can find this great resource:

  "Yesterday was quite a day...from inspecting the damage to the Ponciano from the previous day's backfires to watching an intense amount of backfire lit in the afternoon off multiple ridges to better protect the cabin area. With only one minor slop over and one close encounter with a rattlesnake all in all it was a fantasticly successful day! The new firebreak through the waterfall area held and now they have just one more section to finish around the old San Clemente Dam and we will be out of the woods with this one!"

  https://www.facebook.com/San-Clemente-Rancho-131183436912216/

• Grapevine has it that Cachagua area got a 1 acre spitfire from the back burn, Not sure where and when exactly and if it was put out.

• Hi Kate,
  I've read that firefighters are dealing with a lot of poison oak. (No surprise there.) I wanted to share that an excellent homeopathic medication is Hyland's Poison Ivy & Oak, available at Cornucopia and Rite-Aid. This has been a *huge* help to me and to my friends when we've contracted it. I'm hoping if I post this info here, it will filter through to those who need it.
  Thank you!