No Tourist Tuesday, today…VOTE!
Author: bigsurkate
Appointed appellate counsel for indigent defendants (retired.) I have lived in Big Sur since 1984, first on the north coast, and on the South Coast since 1989.
Wildfire across from Gorda Mtn.
UPDATE- under control in less than an hour.Engine 17 was still there this am.
6:33 pm – small fire, Martha and crews on the way. Were calling for mandatory evac, but may cancel that. Will see. Listening to scanner, now. Looks like they got it.
6:30 pm – Wildfire across the highway, No wind, which is good. I’ll update when I know more.
Global Warming Is Destabilizing Mountain Slopes, Creating Landslide Risks
That was the craziest weekend I can remember us having as a community in a very long time. Fire, crazies, sirens at 4 am, drug crazy confrontations, accidents, and a suicide. Seemed like it would never end. Here is to a saner week ahead.
This is not something most of us want to hear, but it is definitely something we need to pay attention to. I happened across an article with the above title through Weather West (Daniel Swain) whom I follow. Here are a few excerpts:
”A team of scientists monitoring the Swiss peaks above Andermatt say they’ve detected some warming as deep as 300 feet into the rocks. In a few places, some giant rock slabs have moved more than 4 feet in a year, a possible warning sign of a large collapse.”
“Water is the key ingredient,” said Austrian hydrologist Thomas Thaler, who studies threats to mountain communities.
“For us it’s very important to know if climate change has an impact on rainfall, because that has the most influence on landslides and debris flows,” he said. “Climate change will increase the magnitude, not only the frequency, of these events.”
While most of this article deals with the very northernmost mountainous regions, like Norway and Iceland, Switzerland is also mentioned extensively. There are lessons for us to learn here about our landslides and how we prepare. As all of us here know, the challenge is to control the water that permeates these hills and has to come out somewhere. How and where we control this water is crucial. That will bring us back to Gray Slip later this week and more recent photos.
For the rest of this article, see: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26092018/climate-change-mountains-landslide-hazard-thawing-permafrost-rockfall-extreme-weather-glaciers-global-warming
You might even find you want to subscribe to insideclimatenews after reading this article.
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Rincon Fire – CZU
Received this from Cal Fire Santa Cruz Co (CZU) today. This closed Highway 9 last night, when I started following it, and it is still closed today.
Ranch Fire – SLO Co.
From friend on way to town, north, 2 fire engines and 1 ambulance heading south. This is what I have found. I have had all the fire news I can handle for one weekend, I think.
CHP reports it as south of Higuera. USFS is sending resources including a helicopter.
From Cal Fire SLU – Engines enroute to a vegetation fire Hwy 101 and Johnson Ranch. 2 acres of grass 1 structure threatened. #RanchFire.
Photo Sunday, 11/4/18
Last night, Brendon came upon an unattended campfire. He video taped his encounter. I was not able to upload the entire 3 minute video, so I did some stills. While he was pouring the first of 3 gallons of water on the fire, the people came out of the woods. He educated these people who said they were from SF. They were about a mile or so from my house. Good job, kiddo!
Forest Resilience Investment to reduce wildfire risks.
By Todd Gartner (World Resources Institute), Nathalie Woolworth (Blue Forest Conservation), and Adam Connaker (Rockefeller Foundation)
The Yuba Water Agency (YWA) provides water, flood control and hydropower for communities in Northern California, and serves as a supplementary source for cities and farms across California in dry years through its water transfer program.
For the agency and everyone they serve, wildfires are bad news. In addition to endangering YWA’s workers and customers, sediment from a wildfire could clog the agency’s reservoir, damaging its infrastructure and increasing operating costs.
Wildfires are increasing in number, scale and intensity throughout California. Massive fires erupted recently to the west in Mendocino and to the southeast in Yosemite. YWA can’t help but wonder if their watershed is next.
Across the country, concerned groups ranging from utilities to transportation departments to water-dependent companies are wondering what they can do to reduce wildfire risk in fire-prone areas. These entities may soon look to Yuba to learn about a pioneering approach to financing risk reduction: This week, project developer Blue Forest Conservation (BFC) and World Resources Institute cemented funding for a $4.6 million forest restoration project through the first-ever Forest Resilience Bond (FRB).
The FRB is an innovative financing tool that raises private capital to fund interventions such as forest restoration that reduce the chances of fire. Investors provide capital to fund project implementation. Stakeholders that benefit from restoration—smaller fires mean lower costs—reimburse the investors over time.
To read the rest of this article, go here: https://www.blueforestconservation.com/bfcthoughts/2018/11/1/announcing-frb-yuba-pilot-project
Fire near Ventana, 11/2/12
Next morning update: It was at the Coastlands, upper driveway, NOT across the highway as I report below. Way too close for comfort.
UPDATE; Martha Karstens just called a friend in the Coastlands (across the highway from the fire) and said they got it!!! Woohoo!!! Our Brigade rocks! Now, 2 aspirins and the bed that called to me an hour ago.
UPDATE: 10:15 PM, A LOCAL WALKED UP TO THE HIGHWAY AND REPORTS THAT IT LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE ON TOP OF IT AND THE LOCAL IS NOT AS PANICKED AS HE WAS.
UPDATE; CLOSIING HIGHWAY:
| 9:44 PM | 12 | [44] SO REQ CHP RESPOND TO ASST W/ HIGHWAY CLOSURE | |||||
Incident: 00445 Type: Report of Fire Location: Sr1 / Ventana Loc Desc: VENTANA INN , MM 44.9 Lat/Lon: 36.233742 -121.767075
| Detail Information | |||||||
| 9:33 PM | 10 | [37] MANDATORY EVACUATION FOR COAST – FIRE AT TOP OF HILL – PER SCANNER | |||||
| 9:30 PM | 9 | [34] [Notification] [CHP]-PER MTRY COM, SO AND FIRE ENRT 48280 SR1 – JNO OF THIS 1020 / BIG SUR SO IN AREA /1ST DRIVEWAY TO THE RIGHT AFTER YOU PASSED THE POST RANCH / TREES ON FIRES / POSS SPREADING TO STRUCTURES / MEDIC 24 ALSO POSS C/FIRE INVLD [Shared] | |||||
| 9:30 PM | 8 | [33] PER SCANNER – VEH ON FIRE AND TREES ON FIRE SO FAR | |||||
| 9:27 PM | 7 | [31] [Appended, 21:27:28] [6] RP LIVES AND WORKS THERE // BELIEVES ITS THE HOUSES THAT ARE ON FIRE | |||||
| 9:22 PM | 6 | [23] FIRE 200 YARDS FROM HOUSES | |||||
| 9:22 PM | 5 | [14] RP ON COAST RIDGE RD | |||||
| 9:21 PM | 4 | [11] TRANS TO CDF MTRY | |||||
| 9:17 PM | 3 | [19] [Appended, 21:22:25] [3] PER SLNS COM THEY HAVE FIRE REPORTED AT 48280 SR1 | |||||
| 9:16 PM | 2 | [18] [Appended, 21:22:25] [2] STRUCTURE FIRE | |||||
| 9:16 PM | 1 | [17] [Appended, 21:22:25] [1] RP CAN SEE FIRE FROM BIG SUR | |||||
Monterey County Connect
Monterey County has a new app available to download to your iPhone (don’t know re android) or iPad. It was announced at the BSMAAC meeting, and thanks to Anni Agren, I now have that app on my phone. Just search for Monterey County Connect. It is free. (Note, there is a place to report graffiti, as well as a place for road information and events.) Can’t wait to use it!
Cal Trans Anticipating Weather Events
“When significant storms are forecasted by NOAA, we will be sending a 48-hour traffic advisory to our Hwy. 1 group to be ready just in case the roadway needs to close due to an expected significant storm—this will allow prep work, stocking supplies, making plans, etc. At the 24-hour mark, we’ll send a traffic advisory either confirming or cancelling the full closure. This 48/24 hour notices apply only to Paul’s Slide and Mud Creek—each closure treated separately (two separate closures, one may open, the other may not, depending on assessment). We have Geotech, Maintenance and Construction lined up to inspect/clean up the following morning. There will be gates (being installed as we speak) both at Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide that will be locked, no padlocks. These gates will not be manned. No one, including Emergency Services or our own employees will be allowed to go through until a proper assessment can be made, any cleanup necessary done and the roadway safe to travel again.” (I requested this from Susana Cruz after the BSMAAC announcement by Sarah. A more formal public announcement will be made next week.) Thank you, Susana!