Chimney Fire #2, 8/16/16-8/17/16

8/17/16 –

6:00 pm – It is now up 8000 acres and 25% containment. It jumped Chimney Rock RD. And firefighters have fallen back to a safe zone. Meanwhile, the Blue Cut is up to 65,000 acres, from 30,000 at 7 am this morning. Remapping has put that at considerably less, but still … Holy Moley

8:30 am – Here is John Chesnut’s IR map of the Chimney Fire, note it crossed Carrol Canyon:

7:30 am – I am not all here this am, and too many fires to catch up on  while I have my morning coffee … Blue Cut is up to 30,000 and it hasn’t even been 24 hours, yet.

Chimney Fire Incident Information from Cal Fire:
Last Updated: August 17, 2016 7:30 am
Administrative Unit: CAL FIRE San Luis Obispo Unit
County: San Luis Obispo County
Location: Running Deer Rd & Chimney Rock Rd south of Lake Nacimiento
Acres Burned – Containment: 7,300 acres – 25% contained
Structures Threatened: 232
Structures Destroyed: 40 destroyed, 6 damaged
Evacuations: Mandatory: The Communities of Running Deer Ranch, Tri-County, Cal Shasta, Rancho de Lago, and South Shore Village
Road Closures: At the intersection of Chimney Rock Road and Running Deer Road.
Cause: Under Investigation

3:00 pm – My attention is divided right now, by more than these two fires. I am keeping a close eye on the Blue Cut Fire in El Cajon that has closed the I15 freeway and the 138, and possibly others. I have family there – aunt and uncle in their 80’s and he has serious health issues. If you need more than I am posting, I suggest Twitter, and search for #ChimneyFire. I will come back and check in in a couple hours.

1:30 pm – Re the Chimney Fire, with an update from a resident of upper San Simeon Creek Road, on the east side of the ridge: “Went up this morning to pickup more animals and will hopefully go again this afternoon when the smoke clears to help a neighbor. All three residents right near me and including me have evacuated, but we are going back and forth to retrieve things. It was too smoky to see how close the fire has gotten, but the next door neighbor could hear the flames last night so he skedaddled. Rocky Butte and the communication tower is about 2.5 miles NW from our 3 properties.”

11:45 am – This is the Chimney Fire Camp at Mid-State Fairgrounds in Paso Robles, photo by Ray Martorano:

9:30 am – Here is another IR map that provides  a different perspective, but in the one done by John Chestnut, one can see the proximity to the ocean at top left. Here, one can see the proximity to Rocky Butte, which is behind Hearst Castle. The white spot is the Lime Kiln quarry. The fire will have to go through Carroll Canyon, up the slope to Rocky Lookout, and then it is down San Simeon Creek Canyon, per one familiar with the area. Mine is limited in this area.

6:50 IR map by John Chesnut

The blue line above is the fire perimeter line from yesterday, Monday.

6:30 am – still gathering information, but as of last night, the fire was 5300 acres and 10% contained. It is heading west, toward Hearst Castle. I started this 2nd thread as the first one was getting buried among all the other posts. As of 6:40 am, Cal Fire PIO indicates this fire is now 6400 acres and still only 10% contained. At my place, the winds are calm, the sky is overcast, and the temps are, so far, cooler.

Here is a perimeter