My name is Mike Allen,  I’m writing this on behalf of my brother Casey Allen.  Casey is a fire captain for the National Forest Service stationed at Pacific Valley just down the coast from you in Big Sur.   On Tuesday, September 8, Casey was critically injured while defending the Nacimiento fire station during the ‘Dolan Fire’ incident.  He and over a dozen other firefighters were overcome by the fire and they sustained a range of injuries – Casey was the only one critically injured. He was airlifted to a burn center in Fresno, California where he is undergoing treatment and recovering. Fortunately, he’s stable, and slowly recuperating but will require multiple surgeries. I’m reaching out to the Big Sur Community to see if there is anything you can do to recognize the efforts of Casey and his fellow firefighters who once again responded selflessly when Big Sur was threatened. As you can imagine, we’re looking to lift his spirits any way we can as he faces a long recovery. .

Donations may be sent to:https://www.cfmco.org/impact/weston-call-fund-for-big-sur/

Your donations will go to the Community Association of Big Sur (CABS) and be sent to the fire fighters.

If you would like to send cards they may be sent to the Nacimiento/Pacific Valley FF c/o Monterey Ranger District 406 So. Mildred St. King City, CA. 93930.

September 30, 2020

Media Contact: Jonathan Groveman (707) 562-8995 
jonathan.groveman@usda.gov

Public Inquiry Line: (707) 562-9113

Forest Service Revises Closure Orders and Fire Restrictions in California

VALLEJO, Calif. – The USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region has revised closure orders and fire prohibitions in California. These decisions will continue to be evaluated daily.

The revisions include:

1. Easing fire restrictions – Propane and gas stove use is now permitted on developed recreation sites on National Forests in California. Developed recreation sites are defined as areas which have been improved or developed for recreation such as campgrounds and day use sites.

2. Forest Closures – Six Rivers and Klamath National Forests are no longer part of the regional closure orders but may have local restrictions. Check the websites, social media accounts, or call those respective forests for specific information on what may be opening.

Seven National Forests (NF) in California remain closed: Angeles NF, Cleveland NF, Los Padres NF, Inyo NF, San Bernardino NF, Sequoia NF, and Sierra NF. This decision will continue to be reviewed daily, taking fire and weather conditions into account.

Eleven National Forests may be open to varying degrees. Visitors should contact the following National Forests for more information on their status: Eldorado NF, Klamath NF, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Lassen NF, Mendocino NF, Modoc NF, Plumas NF, Shasta-Trinity NF, Six Rivers NF, Stanislaus NF, and Tahoe NF. For additional questions, please contact your local National Forest.

“We understand how important access to national forests is to our visitors,” said Randy Moore, Regional Forester for the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region.  “As we evaluate fire and weather conditions on a daily basis, we will continue to make adjustments to ensure safe visitation. Our aim continues to prevent any new fires on the landscape.”

If you do intend to visit a National Forest that is open to visitors, we continue to recommend that you not travel long distances to recreate. If you or anyone in your household is feeling sick, please remain at home and plan your trip for another time.  All visitors should practice self-sufficiency during your visits to national forests. Recreating responsibly will help ensure that expanded access to recreational facilities, services, and opportunities continues. Responsible recreation practices should be maintained at all times, including:

• Maintaining at least six feet distancing from others

• Do not gather in groups and please follow the latest guidance from officials

• Communicate with others as you pass. Alert trail users of your presence and step aside to let others pass

• Pack out your trash and leave with everything you bring in and use.

• All services may not be available, so please plan accordingly.

The Forest Service manages 18 National Forests in the Pacific Southwest Region, which encompasses over 20 million acres across California, and assists State and Private forest landowners in California, Hawaii and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands. National forests supply 50 percent of the water in California and form the watershed of most major aqueducts and more than 2,400 reservoirs throughout the state. For more information, visit www.fs.usda.gov/R5.

Photo by Geri Baird. She says it is wizard gulch. There are no houses or other resources in that area, except for natural ones.

I know. I am done, so done with the fire, but it doesn’t want to be done with me. Last night’s plume visible from apparently just about everywhere came from a “green island” well inside the containment lines, and not a threat to any structures or similar resources, per the USFS IMT 15 PIO. Of course, always a threat to the critters’s resources — homes and habitats. I am told this was between Nacimiento Campground and the little bridge per a local witness. Hard to tell in the dark. (Photo by Geri Baird)

And from John Chestnut this am: “

The VIIRS satellite shows the heat location of the source of the smoke column visible in recent days.
I mapped these satellite heat returns on to the Veg IR (Sentinel) satellite map.    The smoke is in an “island” of unburned tree canopy,  surrounded by fully burned fire zone.
The Veg IR Sentinel observation, is also of interest because of the other areas of low intensity (ground) fire as opposed to destructive crown fire that it shows.”

Additional from John Chesnut: “Rectangle is my hand drawn boundary of the VIIRS satellite detections (began yesterday morning).   The little ellipse is a second VIIRS detection from yesterday afternoon (not repeated this morning).
Attached is the source for the VIIRS detections overlaid on the Google Earth image.   I felt using the IR image (with the obvious red burned area and green residual canopy coverage was useful in explaining the fire zone and the green “islands”).”