Apparently the fire is moving that direction and the decision to close it for firefighter and public safety was made sometime just before 4. This is a hard closure even to residents trying to get home. My understanding is it is being manned on both sides. Confirmed with resident and USFS.
Here is John Chesnut’s heat map for tonight, and it shows no hot spots near Nacimiento Road. It looks like they may be staging. They are using a military cop at the border with the base, and he is not letting anyone through. One guard told a local that they were staging and bringing up large vehicles tomorrow.
Helicopters: 8 Water Tenders: 31 Total Personnel: 1,019
Current Situation:
Today the fire was very active on the north side, picking up around 10 AM. Crews worked hard to maintain the northern fire perimeter along McWay Ridge despite the active fire behavior. There is a spot along this Ridge where the fire escaped the perimeter by a few meters and firefighters are working to clean up that area and pull the fire back.
In the southeast, firefighters are assessing how to best engage the fire around Cone Peak. If the fire behavior is low and slow, then crews can engage directly along the fireline and potentially cut it off before Cone Peak. If fire behavior is active and aggressive, then firefighters will pull back create a new line to the southeast of Cone Peak. (Dennis Burns in his evening update said that it had reached the top of Cone Peak, and John Chesnuts map on the next post about the hard closure confirms that.)
The east side of the fire progressed and continues to grow as crews prioritize the north and the south sides of the fire to protect local communities in the north and south. The west side of the fire along Highway 1 is the next highest priority. Long stretches of the fire east of the highway have been contained, but some sections are persisting to smolder, burn, and deploy rolling material over the highway. Crews will be patrolling Highway 1 overnight to prevent the fire from crossing via rolling material or by burning down drainages and underpasses.
Overnight the fire is expected to be active until early in the morning, slowing down before dawn, and then picking back up as the marine layer lifts around 10 AM.
There is a new road closure at Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, which is closed to all traffic (public and residential) from Highway 1 to the Fort Hunter Liggett base boundary line 16 miles inland. This closure includes the intersection with South Coast Ridge Road at Nacimiento-Fergusson Road summit. All other road closures remain in place.
The fire continues to pose a risk to multiple businesses, parks, recreational sites, and communication infrastructure as well as the communities of Hermitage and Lucia in the south, and Partington Ridge in the north. Among natural resources threatened are the Ventana Wilderness, coastal watershed, and habitat for threatened and endangered species, including the California condor.
Fire activity in the western United States has caused a high demand for fire personnel and equipment. The nation is at the highest level, Preparedness Level 5 (PL5). In PL5 over 80% of the nation’s incident management teams and wildland firefighting personnel are committed to incidents. Currently, there are 82 large uncontained fires nationwide. Fires have burned over 3.8 million acres with over 1.1 million acres burned in California alone. Resource orders are being prioritized to fires across the west. Acreage reported here is an estimate and will be updated when IR images are available.
10:20 am — just got off the phone with Michael Lindsbery. The just got 2 hot shot crews who will be starting line on that northwest section to keep fire in McWay and away from Partington. The IC expects it will take 2-3 days. Still looking for a place to put in the line for the south east corner.
The soft closure on the south by Ragged Point will be moved up to Willow Creek Road (Los Burros Rd on maps). Local residents, propane, and those with hotel reservations (Gorda?) will be allowed passage.
John Lindsey weather report for the next few days indicates: “moderate to fresh (13 to 24 mph) northwesterly winds develop this afternoon. Gentle to moderate (8 to 18 mph) northwesterly winds on Saturday into Monday will allow the marine layer to become more persistent along the coastline.”
Here we are at day 11 of this fire, but at least we are down to the one. Here is a look at it this am, before we get to the maps and the daily briefings, which will come in a bit later.
And here are John Chesnut’s excellent MODIS maps:
I like this new southern perspective, too. My POV.
Fuels Involved: Chaparral, Brush, Timber understory Size: 23,365* Location: Hwy 1(MM32.20) N of Limekiln State Park, 10 miles S of Big Sur Containment: 20% Injuries: 0
Resources:
Hand Crews: 14
Engines: 74
Dozers: 10
Helicopters: 8
Water Tenders: 25
Total Personnel: 902
*No IR flight was completed last night due to demands from other fires.
Overnight the fire was active in the north, but crews worked to keep the fire contained, prioritizing the protection of local communities and infrastructure. Firefighters patrolled Highway 1 and kept the fire from spreading to the west side of the road. In the south, near Hermitage, crews were able to get a direct line along the fire, attacking it aggressively.
Crews continue to prioritize the north and the south sides of the fire to protect the communities of Partington Ridge, Hermitage, and Lucia. The west side of the fire along Highway 1 is the next highest priority as smoldering and rolling material continue to threaten large sections of the highway.
Today, Hot Shot crews will be working from the top and bottom of McWay Ridge to secure the line to the north. The McWay Ridge is the primary control line for the northern area of the fire.
In the southeast, where fire southeasterly spread forced the abandonment of the planned line to Cone Peak, firefighters will be scouting the area for suitable trails or roads to re-engage. The point protection of structures in Hermitage will also be a focus.
Smoke will be visible, especially in the afternoon as the fog lifts. Fire activity will also increase as the marine layer lifts towards the afternoon. Road closures remain in place.
The fire continues to pose a risk to multiple businesses, parks, recreational sites, and communication infrastructure as well as the communities of Hermitage and Lucia in the south, and Partington Ridge in the north. Among natural resources threatened are the Ventana Wilderness, coastal watershed, and habitat for threatened and endangered species, including the California condor.
Fire activity in the western United States has caused a high demand for fire personnel and equipment. The nation is at the highest level, Preparedness Level 5 (PL5). In PL5 over 80% of the nation’s incident management teams and wildland firefighting personnel are committed to incidents. Currently, there are 82 large uncontained fires nationwide. Fires have burned over 2 million acres with over 1.1 million acres burned in California alone. Resource orders are being prioritized to fires across California and the west. Acreage reported here is an estimate and will be updated when IR images are available.
