River Fire – Evacuation Order for River Road from Parker Road South to Limekiln Road7:31 PM: The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office has issued an Evacuation Order for areas West of River Road from Limekiln Road to Gonzales River Rd.
4:45 pm — River Fire – Evacuation Order for River Road from Parker Road South to Limekiln RoadThe following area has changed from an Evacuation Warning to an Evacuation Order. West of River Road from Parker Road South to Limekiln Road to include Limekiln Road.
From Daniel Swain, Weather West: “Well, this is some terrible timing: on top of continued record heat today and beyond, risk of thunderstorms with dry lightning also rising. High-res models depicting pretty widespread elevated convection central and northern California. Major fire weather threat… “
2 pm — 1/2 acre grass fire. Forward progress halted
It is reportedly 106 in Carmel Valley and there are three spotter plans on it, per reports. This is what Chp says:
Incident: 00192 Type: Report of Fire Location: Crg16 / Scarlett Rd Loc Desc: Lat/Lon: 36.523995 -121.793684
| Detail Information | ||
| 1:30 PM | 11 | [4] Incident Re-opened: FIRE COMM REQ CHP FOR 1184 /SCARLETT @ CVR [Shared] |
| 1:20 PM | 10 | [3] [CHP] has closed their incident [200814MY00175] |
| 1:13 PM | 9 | [38] [Appended, 13:37:49] [34] S8 / RDWY OPEN |
| 1:10 PM | 8 | [36] [Appended, 13:37:49] [32] [Appended, 13:10:46] [1] XFER TO FIRE |
| 12:59 PM | 7 | [27] [Appended, 13:37:49] [22] BC BLK // 27-22 CPZ / SAW FIRE ENRT F/SR1 / HIGH SCHOOL |
| 12:55 PM | 6 | [20] [Appended, 13:37:49] [15] [Appended, 12:56:20] [1] FIRE ON CVR / SCARLETT |
| 12:52 PM | 5 | [14] [Appended, 13:37:49] [9] TRANS CALFIRE |
| 12:52 PM | 4 | [13] [Appended, 13:37:49] [8] POSS TREE ON FIRE |
| 12:51 PM | 3 | [10] [Appended, 13:37:49] [6] [Appended, 12:52:06] [2] SMOKE AND FLAMES |
| 12:51 PM | 2 | [8] [Appended, 13:37:49] [3] UNKN WHATS ON FIRE |
| 12:51 PM | 1 | [6] [Appended, 13:37:49] [1] SRP SEES SMOKE |
From David Swain of Weather West:
…“I expect sustained extreme temperatures of this magnitude to produce widespread human health, wildfire, and electrical power supply impacts. Some of these impacts will undoubtedly be amplified by the ongoing pandemic. This will be an event to take quite seriously.“
For the rest of this report, see: https://weatherwest.com/archives/7427
I found myself breathing in and out more easily tonight, Sunday night, than I have in a long time. I am relaxing. My shoulders are coming down from my ears to their more natural position. The USFS closed the four most popular roads in Big Sur on the South Coast. And we breathe a breath of relief.
I live on one of those roads — the one that had 2 fires in June. COVID has changed things everywhere, and here is no exception. There are those who are angry. They feel entitled to camp and party and off-road in what was once a pristine area of Big Sur. Since COVID, it has been much more like downtown LA or SF — before the COVID. I understand humanity has thinned out in these metropolitan areas. I think they all came here.
The road closure is for safety and road preservation. Three of the four roads have been destroyed by more traffic than the roads were designed to support, and by people trying to drive on a 4×4 road in a two-wheeled drive car. The roads can’t take that. They dig holes, trying to get unstuck. They block the roads for emergency vehicles and residents trying to get to work or just to town for supplies.
What this news story linked below does not talk about is the silent disco with hundreds of people present on one ridge, with no toilet facilities and no trash facilities held on Prewitt only two weeks earlier. This one blocked roads to residences and to places where illegal campfires are created on the weekend.
Our Fire Captain, Marcus Foster, and the USFS Public Information Officer. Andrew Marsden, explain the problems well in this news story. The two overdoses on Prewitt Ridge this past Saturday night demonstrated so clearly how dangerous it is for both residents and visitors as well as to Big Sur herself.
http://ksbw.com/article/roads-closed-in-big-sur-to-reduce-illegal-camping/33557350?src=app
And in the good news department, I got this this morning in response to my email to the USFS:
“We will be amending the order from a “road closure” to an “area closure” to assist with enforcement. We’re also in the process of purchasing gates that can be installed on each of the four roads.”
From Black Mountain Camera in SLO at 6:15 PM (below):
From Cuesta Peak Camera at 6:30PM (below):
From La Panza Peak Camera at 6:33PM (below):
5 Pm — Just broke out in the Parkhill Road area just North of Santa Margarita Lake and Pozo. In just minutes it grew to 15 acres. Structure into brush. SLU responding. Other structure threatened and this one has a DROS. (Dangerous Rate of Spread)
From wildCAD:
| 16:50 | LPF-2169 | POND | Wildfire | . | . | . | . | . | . | 35 22.824, -120 26.250 | 29S R14E Sec 23 | . |
6 pm — BranchFire making new run blowing out to the east on the left flank with a wind shift felt here at CaliforniaValley as well as a new run near the head to the south on the right flank.
A wildfire in the Soda Lake area of the California Valley went from 3 acres to 1500 acres in about two hours. Highway 58 is now closed. Ongoing structure threats and pushing into BLM land. VLAT requested.
Incident: 00363 Type: Report of Fire Location: Sr1 / Rio Rd Loc Desc: NB 1 AT RIO RD Lat/Lon: 36.539340 -121.910241 Detail Information8:11 PM6[21] [Appended, 20:11:09] [1] HOUSE ON FIRE8:09 PM5[18] [Appended, 20:09:33] [1] BLACK SMOKE SEEN BEHIND CVS8:08 PM4[12] [Appended, 20:09:30] [5] [Appended, 20:09:13] [1] TRANS TO CDF MTY8:07 PM3[11] [Appended, 20:09:30] [4] RP SEES BLK and GRY SMOKE and FLAMES8:05 PM2[3] TRANS MTY COM8:05 PM1[2] FLAMES SEEN, HUGE PLUME OF SMOKE
Here is a photo by Jason Olcese:
2:15 pm — it looks like the two tankers and AA were able to get a handle on it fast. Not contained, but not running away from them.
From chp website:
| Detail Information | ||
| 1:46 PM | 16 | [35] B28-303 CORDS HAS CLOSURE SET UP SEE CYN AND SLB DEPUTY 97// WILL KEEP ROLLING TO BLACK WALNUT TO SEE IF CHP NEEDED |
| 1:31 PM | 15 | [33] [Notification] [CHP]-CORDS LL ETA 10 [Shared] |
| 1:28 PM | 14 | [32] [Notification] [CHP]-1039 CORDS WILL RECALL W/ ETA [Shared] |
| 1:24 PM | 13 | [30] SLOSO HAS DEP 97 W/ CLOSURE NOW // REQ CHP RESP // HAVE NOT STARTED CORDS |
| 1:24 PM | 12 | [29] [Notification] [CHP]-SLOSO LL REQ HARD CLOSURE SEE CANYON AT SAN LUIS BAY UNTIL APPRX 1500 HOURS [Shared] |
| 12:35 PM | 11 | [27] ADDTL CALLER ADVING SMOKE AND FLAMES VISIBLE FRM PREFUMO CANYON |
| 12:33 PM | 10 | [25] A73 FIRE AT SEE CYN AND AIR OHEAD |
| 12:32 PM | 9 | [23] [Notification] [CHP]-ADDTL CALLER ADVING SMOKE NOW VISIBLE FRM 101 AT HIGUERA [Shared] |
| 12:30 PM | 8 | [19] [Appended, 12:31:54] [2] TRANS CAL FIRE |
| 12:30 PM | 7 | [18] [Appended, 12:31:54] [1] CAN SEE SMOKE OVER THE HILL |
| 12:28 PM | 6 | [15] [Appended, 12:28:49] [2] TRANS CAL FIRE |
| 12:28 PM | 5 | [13] ADDTL CALLER ADVING FLAMES VISIBLE FRM IRISH HILLS |
| 12:23 PM | 4 | [9] ADDTL CALLER ADVING SMOKE VISIBLE FRM 101 AT SAN LUIS BAY |
| 12:19 PM | 3 | [8] TRANS CAL FIRE |
| 12:10 PM | 2 | [2] TRANS CAL FIRE |
| 12:10 PM | 1 | [1] SMOKE SEEN ONLY |
Mineral Fire in Fresno Co now 23,000 acres & 30% contained. 4 structures now destroyed, 60 remain threatened. 1,400+ FF’s assigned to the incident. And Big Sur’s own Fire Chief, Matt Harris is part of a Charlie Strike Team that has been sent to the fire.
