Day: August 2, 2019

Highway One overnight Closures at Ragged Point for 4 weeks starting 8/12

Today’s Date:  Friday, August 2, 2019

District:            05–Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa 

                         Cruz Counties

Contact:          Jim Shivers or Colin Jones

Phone:             (805) 549-3237 or (805) 549-3189

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HIGHWAY 1 VIADUCT PROJECT IN RAGGED POINT TO RESULT IN FULL OVERNIGHT CLOSURES

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY – Highway 1 will be closed from north of the San Carpoforo Creek Bridge to south of the Ragged Point Inn beginning Monday, August 12 during the overnight hours from 9 pm until 5 am. 

These overnight full highway closures will continue each week, Sunday night through Friday morning from 9 pm until 5 am to allow for the construction of the foundation of the viaduct. This work is anticipated to last up to four weeks. Emergency vehicles will maintain access during these overnight closures.

Motorists will also encounter one-way reversing traffic control within the project limits on Monday, August 12 from 5 am until 4 pm and from 6 am until 4 pm on Fridays.

These highway closures and traffic control is part of an emergency project to construct a viaduct and retaining wall on Highway 1 near Ragged Point.  

A temporary traffic signal is scheduled to be activated in late August or early September allowing traffic to proceed in each direction 24/7 until project completion.  Electronic message boards will alert the public.

The contractor for this $4.1 million project is Souza Engineering of San Luis Obispo, CA.  It’s scheduled to be complete by Spring of 2020.

Caltrans reminds motorists to move over and slow down when driving through highway construction zones.

For traffic updates on other state highways in San Luis Obispo County, travelers may contact Caltrans District 5 Public Affairs at 805-549-3318 or can visit the District 5 website at: http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/road_information.htm   

Mill Fire, Day 4, 8/2/19

Incident evening update, only changes are: no fix wing aircraft on fire, and containment has increased to 25%, acreage has not increased. Otherwise, all is going well.

The Mill Fire was reported at 5:36 a.m. on July 30, 2019 on Mill Creek, north west of the Ventana Wilderness off of Nacimiento Ferguson Road. As of this morning, 280 acres have burned with 20% containment. The fire is burning in chaparral, timber and tall grass. It is burning in steep and rugged terrain. Currently, there is no threat to communities, structures or to the public. Access into the area via roads and trails has been closed off.

There are currently 630 resources assigned to the fire, including:

Crews – 23
Engines – 26
Type 1 Helicopters – 3
Type 2 Helicopters – 2
Lead planes – 2
Fixed Wing – 1

Incident Information

Basic Information

Current as of8/2/2019, 11:07:51 AM
Incident TypeWildfire
Date of OriginTuesday July 30th, 2019 approx. 05:30 AM
LocationNorthwest of Ventana Wilderness off of Nacimiento Ferguson Road
Incident CommanderAnthony Zavalla
Incident DescriptionWildland Fire
Coordinates36.009 latitude, -121.467 longitude 

Current Situation

Total Personnel630
Size280 Acres
Percent of Perimeter Contained20%
Estimated Containment DateMonday August 05th, 2019 approx. 11:00 PM
Fuels InvolvedChaparral, timber and tall grass
Significant EventsFire behavior declined after midnight. Activity on the line decreased. Good recovery.

Outlook

Planned ActionsIncrease containment and keep the fire from crossing Nacimiento Ferguson Road to the south into the Ventana Wilderness and from getting into Mill and Kirk Creek drainages and north of Cone Peak.

Current Weather

Weather ConcernsTypical weather patterns along the Big Sur Coast line is to have a marine layer between 1000 to 1500 feet. Land above that elevation has no humidity recovery or influence from the marine layer, which increases fire behavior. High pressure continues to establish today with expected increase in temperatures and decrease of relative humidities.

Good Morning! Great day in the neighborhood, no smoke visible. Quiet start to the day, good night’s sleep, and some great aerials to upload (thanks to Chip Laugharn, USFS). An absolutely amazing stop to this fire in impossible terrain. The interagency cooperation between USFS, FHL, Big Sur Fire, and Cal Fire BEU was a big success. Huge thanks to all those in the field, in the air, and in the support positions, you all did an incredible job. I’ll post the incident report when it comes in this morning. In the mean time, enjoy the view! I also need to give a huge shout out to VWA volunteers for staffing the trailhead to keep people out of the back country and to the MCSO SAR volunteers for evacuating everyone in the back country. It really took a village to handle this one.

Photo credit for the five aerials below to Nic Elmquist. Fire Behavior Analysts- former Hotshot and Chief Officer from Los Padres National Forest. (Thanks, Chip)