5:30 pm – HT 793 now back on base and available for the next fires, which tells me this one is in wrap up mode. Whew.
5 pm – a friend just told me HT793 was committed to a wildfire in Arroyo Seco. I found this on WildCAD-LPF:
08/24/2017 16:35 LPF-2499
New Wildfire 46360 ARROYO SECO RD . DIV1LPF E15LPF 4X4 E319LPF . . .
First off, let me thank and congratulate the USFS and the MCSO. There were NO campers late Saturday morning in ANY turnout on Nacimiento Road. We saw only this one tent, well off the road, and the corresponding car in a small dirt turn out. Rock Knocker thinks it was within the 300 ft. Limit, but I’m not so sure.
Before we got to this point, there was a truck pulling a travel trailer that stopped in the middle of Nacimiento Rd. Just befor the Ranger Station on the east side of Nacimiento. He was fixing his chain, his lights, his trailer brakes or something. To his credit, he did stop by a turn out that allowed others to get by – barely on his read end, but all but large trucks could get by.
And then, up Plaskett – a large group camping at Turkey Flats who were putting out a campfire at 11:50 am. We stopped and told them of the $5000 fine, and they laughed and continued drinking their beer. Note the shovel in the guy’s hands.
And the open beer cans on the log
And the case of beer for later
Rock Knocker got photos of all the license plate numbers, since they were on his side.
I called PV Station and sent emails to my USFS neighbors. They will be having another campfire tonight unless they are stopped and cited, which I am hoping they will be.
Los Padres Prohibits Camping Along Nacimiento-Fergusson Road
GOLETA, Calif., August 11, 2017– Los Padres National Forest officials today announced that dispersed camping along the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road (Forest Road No. 22S01) on the Monterey Ranger District is prohibited under a new Forest Order. This prohibition is effective immediately, and will be strictly enforced due to public health and safety concerns.
This Forest Order will remain in effect through August 10, 2018, and violations of the Order are punishable by a fine of $5,000 and/or six months in jail.
The recent closures on State Highway 1 due to storm-related slides, along with the failure of the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge, have led to concentrated public camping use along Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. The volume of dispersed, roadside camping along the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road has significantly increased to the point where the public are placing tents and recreational vehicles in pull-outs designed for vehicles to allow oncoming traffic to safely pass. Visitors will often use their vehicles to protect their sites at night, which partially obstructs the roadway, causing traffic and camping conflicts and related public safety concerns.
The Forest Order extends along the right-of-way of Nacimiento-Fergusson Road from State Highway 1 west to mile post 10.3. Dispersed camping is prohibited within a 300-foot buffer that extends from the road’s center line.
Visitors are reminded that Los Padres is currently in Level III fire restrictions, under which recreational target shooting and dispersed campfires outside of established campgrounds are not permitted.
For more information, please contact the Monterey District Office at (831) 385-5434.
Fire stopped at 82 acres. Mop up to continue for several hours.
6:40 pm – all Paso’s 4 tankers are now committed to this fire.
6:20 pm – It is a BEU Cal-Fire fire: Southern BEU, Cross Country Rd / Vineyard Canyon. 40 acres RROS (Rapid Rate of Spread) this is NE of the San Miguel area, or east of King City. SLU has also sent resources, including a couple tankers and a number of engines, etc.
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.
(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 started by an illegal campfire, but by target shooting.
The paperwork has been completed to ban dispersed camping along Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd. It is currently out of the district for review before it comes back for signature. We won’t know for sure how long it will be banned until the order comes back into the district. It is not in effect until signed, but it is a very good step.
