report from Nor Cal – “[W]e are right in the middle of it at the Butte Co/Yuba Co. line, near Pike Co. Lookout. (Lat 39.4747; Long 121.2023) only a few drops of rain with the first round here, but lots of lightning and thunder.”
This same storm brings the possibility of thunder and lightning tomorrow to our area.
Also, first fire of season in LPNF, down by Highway 166. It is only 10 acres, contained on three sides, by pre-positioned USFS FF. Nice!
UPDATE: both local incidents contained. Tres Pinos final acreage was 400. On another note, Springs was up to 28,000 acres, PCH still closed, and a VLAT, the DC-10 is on tap for Saturday.
1:15 pm – Tres Pinos has jumped the road, now 100 acres and making a run.
1:00 pm – BEU is requesting diversion of aircraft from the Bradley incident to the Tres Pinos incident at Highway 25 where a 5 acres brushfire with a rapid ROS is threatening homes. BEU is the call sign for Monterey/San Benito Cal Fire.
12:30 pm – KION just tweeted of spot fires at the SLO/Monterey county line, and Cal Fire tweeted of diversion of resources from Springs Fire to SLO. Monterey Strike Team and a unit from Ft Hunter Leggett have responded to 20 small fires along Highway 101. Speculation is that it was probably someone pulling a trailer, dragging a chain.
7:00 am – this Springs fire has now grown to 10,000 acres. There is another fire of similar size, the Panther fire up in Northern California. It started on May 1, but is not threatening any homes, so is getting a lot less media attention.
5:00 am – Overnight, this fire exploded to over 8,000 acres. PCH is closed at the LA/Ventura Co. Line. It has reached the great blue fire break and is traveling laterally. Over 1000 personnel are fighting this fire, and mandatory evacuations are in place in several areas. The wall of fire video taken during the night and shown on CBS’s National News was astounding. As XT asks, has a fire of this magnitude ever happened this early in the season before? Very spooky.
1 pm – Ventura Fire Captain on CBS 2 puts the acreage above 6500 and rapidly growing.
10 am – update Springs fire up to 2000 acres. Mandatory evacuations in place for a number of areas.
The Panther Fire started yesterday in Butte County up north and has grown to 1600 acres with 0% containment; the Summit Fire near Banning has burned 3,000 acres and is 35% contained. This morning, a fire started in Camarillo near the Ventura Freeway. It is at 100 acres now at 9 am, with a rapid rate of spread. So Cal is said to be in fire conditions normally found in August. Fire season is definitely upon us. Heads up, everyone!
This is the Springs fire in Camarillo.
You might notice, I have changed out the weather links for fire season links. It may be early, as there is the possibility of rain coming, but considering a Red Flag warning was issued for today in the east Bay hills, and Cal Fire is reporting 600 wildfires so far this season, when 200 is normal, I thought we should all be paying attention. Last time I checked the weather, it was reported that there was the possibility of thunder for the upcoming storm, and if one remembers, the Basin Fire was started on 6/21/08 by lightning.
It isn’t too early to put this on your to-do list. I actually started today. Two wonderful men who helped last year, are here again this weekend, helping to make my place safer for me, my critters, and the firefighters who will come, if needed.
This year, a burn permit is required, for getting rid of those burn piles, and I have a few. One can apply for this permit online, or stop by the station house to pick one up. Once that is done, one still needs to call to find out whether it is a permissive burn day, or not, and then notify the BSFVB of the burn, as well as your neighbors, so that everyone is aware.
Our lack of real rain so far this season has heightened the danger we all face. It has been 5 years since we had a significant fire. Make sure you are prepared. Have a plan in place to stay or flee. Have a plan for your critters and important papers, photos, etc. One plan, is to make sure your home is prepared to withstand whatever comes your way.
I’ll have more on this in the upcoming weeks, but for now … START PLANNING!
