From Lisa Kleissner, sunset Thursday:
Garrapata Lake
Garrapata New Path
Thanks for sharing your photos with us, Lisa. Always looking for new shots of Big Sur for the Photo Sunday posts. Send up to 3 or 4 at a time by Friday night if you have any you would like to share.
2:45 pm – Red Fire is up to 500 acres, but the IC just canceled one aircraft and put others on load and hold, so sounds like they are getting the upper hand on this one. Thankful. Now, we have to watch out through tomorrow for more lightening.
12:30 pm – IC for Red incident just reported LP going to a unified command and that fire activity has increased substantially. Unified means combined with Cal Fire and LPF as there are pockets of private property along the 58 corridor. They’ve added some more aircraft to the fire….HT 793, also several tankers.
Noon: The Red incident is at 80 acres and spotting.
LPF has 6 Tankers on order for the incident. Fire is running west. This is all brush and grass country, further west from Redhill, you get into heavy tall brush.
Tanker 103, 105 from Porterville on order. The Camatta Fire has retardant around 50% of the fire, so releasing one tank to Red, who requested 6.
IC is our very own Luke Krenkle.
11:27 am – looks like a possible third(?) on Cow Calf Highway? And a fourth(?) possible at 58 and La Panza?
Also from CHP:
Incident: 00076 Type: Road/Weather Conditions Location: Us101 N / San Marcos Rd Loc Desc: US101 N AT SAN MARCOS RD Lat/Lon: 35.722038 -120.697718
Detail Information
11:21 AM 1 [1] 9-CZP1 ADVSD OF LIGHTNING IN THE AREA // CLOSE TO TOUCHING THE GROUND
11:15 – Red Fire has these resources: C31LPF BC32LPF E16LPF 4X4 E31LPF 4X4 E335LPF E337LPF E47LPF 4X4 HEL530LPF PAT18LPF Q WT16SHF WT5LPF. On Camatta: 40-50 acres moderate rate of spread in grass and brush on the camatta incident
Lead Plane came out of Fresno,
There are 2 incidents, the first is the LPF-Red hill fire. This is in the area of Highway 58 and Redhill road, La Panza area which is the cutoff from Navajo Flats Campground to the 58. The second incident is the SLU Camatta, which is further west on the 58, but not by much. Also in what would most would call the La Panza area.
11 am – Two brush fires, probably started by lightening, started around 10:30 am. The first is near Red Hill, is called the Red Fire on FRA (Federal Responsibility Area – LPNF) and is 5 acres and the second is near Shell Creek and is called the Camatta Fire on SRA and is 40 acres. More as I get it.
10:45 am – just got notice of 2 lightening strike wildfire starts off of 58. I will add details as I get them. Further, Flash Flood Watch issued for parts of SLO Co. One is near Red Hill Rd. The other near Shell Creek Rd.
…FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING…
The Flash Flood Watch continues for
* The Cuyama Valley, the San Luis Obispo County Interior Valleys,
the San Luis Obispo County Mountains, and the Santa Barbara
County Mountains.
* Through this evening
* Monsoonal moisture will bring a chance of showers and
thunderstorms to the area. Some thunderstorms may produce
intense downpours which could lead to flash flooding.
* Of particular concern for flash flooding will be locations in
and below the Whittier and Alamo burn areas.
10:15 am – I have been hearing low, distant, rumbling thunder for the last 15 mins. Hope it stays distant.
as of 3:00 AM PDT Wednesday…Radar returns overnight have indicated that showers moved from SLO County into southern Monterey County, although unlikely that we saw
measurable rainfall in our CWA. WV satellite loop clearly shows moisture streaming in from the southeast that is rotating around a strong ridge of high pressure centered over Nevada. This will lead to an increase in showers throughout the day. Latest guidance
is fairly similar from yesterday, so overall the forecast was only slightly modified. Main thinking has possible showers through Monterey and San Benito counties by later today with activity forecast to continue to move northward going into tonight and Thursday. Still looks like a slight chance for convection tomorrow for the Bay Area.
Along with the showers, isolated thunderstorms are possible as the combination of mid-level moisture and heating will put stability parameters (MUCAPE, modified total totals) to favorable levels. Fire weather concerns still a main focus as there is a potential
for any of the thunderstorms to have very little associated precipitation.
Neighbor who leaves for work at the ungodly hour of 4 am saw lightening this am, but fortunately all cloud-to-cloud strikes, no downstrikes. Completely clouded over since dawn here.
As they say in firefighting … heads on a swivel today and possibly tomorrow.
BIG SUR, Calif. — Caltrans released its strategy to expedite the rebuilding and reopening of Highway 1 at the massive Mud Creek landslide, south of Big Sur.
A new road will traverse over the landslide, Caltrans announced Tuesday afternoon. “The new roadway will be realigned across the landslide and will be buttressed with a series of embankments, berms, rocks, netting, culverts and other stabilizing material,” Caltrans said.
Caltrans did not say when the construction project is expected to be complete.
“This plan is a win-win for the hard-hit Big Sur community and this pristine coastal environment,” Caltrans District 5 Director Tim Gubbins said. “Our emergency contractor continues working dawn to dusk every day.”
For additional see: Mud Creek Plans
(Sorry for the dirty windshield, but given where and how I live, this is a regular occurrence.)
Recently, Xasauan Today posted about a day with the Ventana Wilderness Alliance cleaning up the Arroyo Seco. In it he discusses campfires.
“Former Forest Service Ranger, now Ventana Wilderness Alliance Volunteer Wilderness Ranger, Steve Benoit, dismantles a fire ring. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would want a campfire in the middle of the day when it’s more than 100 degrees out, but we found people in the act of laying a fire in this ring and, in another location, an active campfire. For some people, apparently, no outdoor adventure is complete without a fire.
Steve, and his fellow VWA Volunteer Rangers are amazingly patient and effective when it comes to explaining the reasons why fires aren’t allowed to clueless visitors, but there are only so many people they can reach. Given the scope of the problem, they are, literally, voices crying in the wilderness.”
Saturday night, one of my neighbors reported to me that she saw TWO campfires after dark on the ridge. It was hot on the ridge Saturday night, so the only possible reason is the one XT postulates above…outdoor adventure. We, the locals and volunteers, are so far outnumbered by the tourists, that reaching more than a tiny fraction ourselves is unlikely.
As a result of the above, another one of my neighbors wrote to KSBW and KSBY asking that given the recent anniversary of the Soberanes Fire, would they consider doing a story on the banning of campfires in the Los Padres National Forest. I will write a few of my media contacts to see if they would be interested, as well.
This is Chelsea Belle Davey’s contribution, and I love it! It is something we ALL could do (except the few people who wash their vehicles regularly.)
We have been lucky, so far, and I am praying our luck continues until the rains begin.
The first is just north of the “Y” of 41 and 46 ….B3422, AA340, Tankers, Helo, Engs. 52, 3484,4686, 3472, 3469, 3470, 4684, WT50, D3442 an 3440, Questa crews 3 & 5 are all responding.
The second is on Pozo, just off of 58. I don’t have the responses, but it was as heavy as the first one.
Hopefully, both of these will be kept small and stopped fast.
Not really any changes. It still stands the Mud Creek is still closed with no anticipated date of opening; Paul’s Slide is still under 24/7 reverse traffic control; and the bridge is getting its girders – 15 total, 62 feet long, and 62 tons each. I think 3 were delivered last week.
Here are the CT photos:
Not started by an illegal campfire, but by target shooting.
These are not my photographs, but ones I got from Monterey Bay Aquarium. I liked them and thought you might, too.
And while we are looking at marine life, just a reminder:
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this week it would formally reopen the public comment period on a federal review of 11 marine sanctuaries and monuments, including Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, that could open the areas to oil and gas exploration.
The comment period originally ended Wednesday, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that day it would reopen from Monday through Aug. 14 after Rep. Jimmy Panetta and 19 of his colleagues in Congress asked for an extension. Comments can be made at bit.ly/2w1zcUr. A total of 68,176 comments were received so far in 30 days.
This kind of goes along with my last post. Sent to me by Martha Diehl. Contact Martha if you want to order one for YOUR driveway!
