Big Sur-On Monday, An illegal camp fire was started by a traveler hiking along the Pacific Coast Highway. Michael Manneback of Cape Coral,Florida was illegally camping in the Partington Canyon area in Big Sur when he started a warming fire. The fire then caught sections of dry needles and grass on fire. Several maintenance workers with California State Parks saw the smoke in the canyon, called it in and took action battling the blaze with shovels. A local resident from Partington Ridge also saw the vegetation fire and drove down to assist. The Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade and U.S.Forest Service firefighters arrived to contained the blaze to a 100 foot by 100 foot section. State Park Rangers and Sheriff deputies worked together to locate Manneback. Manneback was arrested by the Monterey County Sheriffs Office and transported to the Monterey County Jail where charges are pending. Cal-fire assisted with the fire investigation. The Sheriff’s office would like to extend a huge thanks to the quick action taken by the state park maintenance crew and Partington resident. They risked their lives by placing themselves in danger to suppress the spread of the fire. This bought time for local fire agencies to arrive and fully extinguish the vegetation fire. This section of the Los Padres National Forest had not burned during the Soberanes Fire so there was still a lot of fuel. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office would like to advise the public that camp fires of any kind are not permitted outside Designated campfire use areas.

6:15 am – Here are the evacuations and road closures in the area:

5:30 am – Woke at 5 am to reports of a fire on Bear Creek Rd. that started small and was up to 100 ac. by 5 am. Evacuations of Boulder Creek were taking place. I will keep an eye on this today and keep you posted.

NWS even mentioned it at 5 am – “Smoke from a newly developing wildfire in the Santa Cruz Mountains this morning may reduce slant-wise and horizontal visibilities southward to the Monterey Peninsula terminals today…”

All,

Shortly after 09:00 this morning the Fire Brigade was paged out for a vegetation fire in Partington Cove. State Parks maintenance had seen it and reported it. They started to fight the fire with their hand tools the best they could. Brigade Captain Jon Knight was on scene very quickly with one more FF and gave an excellent size up, about a 100′ x 100′ area burning on the East side of the highway about a 1/4 mile up the canyon. All the homes up on Partington were in the cross hairs once again. We started SO in case any evacuations were needed.

As the other Brigade members arrived on scene they did an excellent job controlling the fire, and deploying a pump in the river for a continuous water supply. They were able to stop the spread in short order avoiding what could have been a devastating result had it spread up the hillside to the homes above.

This was again an example of the initial response by the Fire Brigade making a difference! We had an excellent response, with over a dozen Brigade members and 3 engines on scene and 2 water tenders cancelled enroute. USFS E17 and B12 also arrived on scene and several hours later we turned the fire area over to them. They were going to stay in the area until this evening and then come back again tomorrow to make sure there were no flare ups.

This fire was started by an illegal campfire, 2 nights ago we were paged out for 2 other campfires, one of which was cited. It is unbelievable to me why with half the state on fire anyone would think it was a good idea to have any fire.

A good job well done by all!!

Martha Karstens,
BSVFB Fire Chief

 

BSVFD called out to a spot fire in Partington Canyon. It is being extinguished, 100 by 100 spot, probable illegal camp fire, possible suspect on foot southbound near JP burns walking in Black clothing. Be on the look out and report to MCSO.

It is very windy up here, not sure about in Partington Canyon. Rain expected Thursday night (Thursday afternoon for the Sonoma Fires) and it can’t get here too soon – about 1/10 – 1/4 of an inch. Probably more up here in the higher elevations

Starting at 11 pm tonight.

Photo by Mike Morales from his house in East Garrison this am, shorting after 9 am when the prescribed burn started:

 

Photos by Nestor Marin from Gen Jim Moore Rd:

Just a reminder, I’ve already received queries. This morning. Photo by Sandy O’Keefe Bellamy.

Structure Fire, Pebble Beach CSD (Monterey County)
Pebble Beach, CA – At 11:56 a.m. on Tuesday, October 3, 2017, Pebble Beach Community Services District(CSD)/CAL FIRE was dispatched to a structure fire at The Lodge at Pebble Beach, 1500 Cypress Drive, in Pebble Beach (Monterey County). Personnel responding to the reported fire included (4) Battalion Chiefs, (6) Engines, (1) Truck, (1) Medic Squad, and (1) Fire Investigator for approximately (37) Firefighters at scene.

Upon arrival, fire crews found a large commercial building, approximately 20,000 square feet in size. From the outside of the structure, crews could see smoke coming from the second floor of the building. Upon entry into the garage, crews found heavy smoke conditions. During a primary search, crews found the fire was in the chimney ducting, resulting in charring in the duct space from the basement to the roof. Firefighters were able to minimize the spread of the fire with an aggressive initial attack, knocking down the fire and containing it to the ducting. The fire occurred at 11:56 am. There were no injuries as a result of the fire. CAL FIRE estimates the fire caused $150,000 dollars in damages.

Who: Pebble Beach CSD/CAL FIRE
What: Structure Fire
When: October 3, 2017, 11:56 a.m.; contained at 12:03 p.m.; controlled at 12:19 p.m. Where: The Lodge at Pebble Beach, 1500 Cypress Drive, Pebble Beach (Monterey County)