Category: Fire Season

So Cal Lightning Reports

Lots of downstrikes all morning long in SD County out to Joshua Tree and other areas. For our area, NOAA has this to say:

AS OF 9:30 AM PDT THURSDAY…FORECAST HIGHLIGHT FOR THE DAY WILL BE A NOTED COOLING TREND FOR MOST LOCATIONS. WEATHER ITEM OF INTEREST THAT WE WILL BE WATCHING CLOSELY IS ONGOING CONVECTION OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA…AND TRACKING THE OUTSIDE CHANCE THAT CELLS MOVE TOWARDS MONTEREY/SAN BENITO COUNTY.

San Diego NOAA published this: The national weather service in san diego has issued a red flagwarning…which is in effect until 11 pm pdt this evening.
* frequent dry lightning likely to accompany thunderstorms
* thunderstorms: Widespread from the coasts to the deserts moving
towards the northwest
* outflow winds: Between 35 and 45 mph
* timing: Until late evening hours

Wildfire in Big Sur – 1 and Old Coast Rd.

Incident contained to less than 5 acres on Andrew Molera State Park at 2243 hours. This is as it is being reported. I have not, nor will I at this late hour, confirm if it is on AMSP, El Sur Ranch, or Old Coast Rd. I am too hot and too tired to care. it is contained, and that is all I care about.

Incident is being called “Coast Fire” as with the earlier one. Should be Coast 2, based on prior namings. Per a reliable source, Kimball, CalFire will duplicate USFS will not.

Trey is right, it is called Old Coast Rd. I merely repeated what LPF and CALFIRE were saying without thinking. I am tired, still working, and hot as hell. 88 degrees at 11 pm.

WildCAD reported:
09/28/2010 21:03 LPF-3072 (New) Wildfire Hwy 1 and Coast Ridge Road.

LPF also has units onscene at Hwy 1 and Coast Ridge Rd.

Incident: 0647 Type: Report of Fire Location: SR1 AT ANDREW MOLERA ThomasBrothers: 1262 7B info as of: 9/28/2010 10:05:31 PM
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
10:05PM ANOTHER RP REPORTING FIRE N/W OF VENTANA RIDGE RD ** ATT TO XFER TO CDF AND CALL DISC (NA ON CB) ** PER CDF WILL BE THE SAME FIRE
9:34PM 27-S7 L/L ROLL 1ST DBLD UP GRAVEYARD UNIT
9:25PM NO TRAFF EXCEPT FIRE EQUIP
9:25PM FIRE COMM REQ CHP TO SHUTDOWN COAST RIDGE RD @ SR1
9:06PM ANOTHER RP REPORTING THE FIRE // XFER TO CDF // SED THEY HAVE MULT CALLS // RP DISC
8:59PM XFER TO CDF-MONT

False Alarm at Garrapatta

Reports of fire at Garrapatta (excuse me, but I can never remember which consonants are doubled in this word) brought a full response, but initial AA could find nothing from Carmel all the way down to Big Sur, so response was cancelled. I am reporting this to help avoid confusion if you heard the sirens about 1/2 hour ago.

September 27, 2008 – the beginnings of a fire

Two years ago tonight, I wrote the following:

“At 10 pm tonight, I had a report from Betty Withrow of a fire on the Mill Creek drainage area. Early reports are sketchy, and may not be accurate. One report is that it is at the 6 mile marker of N-F Rd. Another report is that it is closer to Apple Camp. Yet another report has it on both sides of the road. about 20-25 acres. USFS Fire Engines are on scene, per my local sources. Follow the chronology of reports below:

Alicia Lutz just came through on her way home, so we know Peter, Merritt, and Katie will be notified. Serge is on his way down from Monterey and will be coming through. Also my gates are open, and my Jeep out of the way. Kerri is on her way, also. Rocky and Geri know about the fire.

I can see the glow, but no flames.

11:15 report from keith harlan: “just got a call from warren and he reports that 30 min. ago the battalion chief was reporting 15 acres for the “Chalk Peak Fire” backing down Mill Creek Drainage and east from the ridge road.”

11:25 report from Big Sur, sirens going by in Valley.
11:25 report from Betty, “reports are that there are planes and dozers on the way.” (In the morning.)

12:00 – drove to front gate, quite a glow from that perspective. Going to be a long night.

12:30 am – This from Geri: “it is on So coast rdge between apple camp and chalk peak both sides of road can be seen from our house.”

12:45 am- Keith reports that he & Mary on their way up to help Rocky & Geri, Monte on his way from Paso.

1:00 am – Serge came through on his way to his mom’s and has two friends coming up to help tomorrow. Gotta love the way the South Coast mobilizes to help one another. I certainly do.

1:15 am- Kerri came through on her way to help Rocky & Geri.

1:45 am- Keith & Mary came through. I also just checked the glow from the perspective of my front gate, and it seems to have lessened. I’ll see what the morrow brings.

2:00 am- hopefully this is the last person to come through until dawn, so I can grab a couple hours before I begin a long day.

I will continue to add information as reports come in. For those of you not quite familiar with the area, Kimball has posted two topo maps on his website, Coast Communication, linked in my blogroll to the right.”
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And then it took off, taking over my life for several weeks.

And today? Today yielded record-breaking temperatures in many parts of the state, including one of 127 degrees in the back country behind Salmon Creek. See the post below for more details on today’s heat wave. But amazingly, no fires. One long time firefighter says he has noticed this phenomena in the past, and feels that it is too hot for people, and they stay home, rather than go out into the wilderness.

Heat Wave Continues

5:00 pm – It is 100 degrees here at the moment. Have no idea what the hottest temps were. I drove down to Cambria to escape the heat, or so I thought. There was no escaping. But I did notice an interesting phenomena. In the areas of Highway One that are pretty much at ocean level (ok, maybe 100 ft. or so) like Villa Creek, Shale Point, Willow Creek. It was relatively cool – you know like in the high 80s. But areas at higher elevation, and particularly if the road is weaving inland, such as at Salmon Creek and Redwood Gulch, it was a furnace. I mean a furnace.

Today is the hottest day on record in Los Angeles, where records go back to 1877. weather news

here are some temps and relative humidity for Monterey County inland areas:
Bradley T 107 RH 10 Arroyo Seco 109 RH 8 Pinnacles 111 RH 5

But look at some of these SoCal temps! Calienté!!
Malibu Canyon at 114:
Downey at 110: f
Corona at 114:
Oceanside north at 115:
Long Beach north at 109:
Hottest location? Monrovia, CA at 121.

But look at the Central Coast!! 121 in Hollister, and 127 back behind Salmon Creek somewhere. My heavens!

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Earlier predictions were that this would be the hottest day of the heat wave. Friends on the Coast and in the Valley have been noting the exceptional heat, also, and last night’s weather report said it was 107 in both LA and Paso Robles, so it is hot throughout most of the state. One report extends this out until Thursday. It is making up for the summer we never had.

For the last several mornings I have awakened to quite a bit of wind. So fire danger is significant.

Stay cool (cold showers help) and take care. It is an iced cappuccino for me this morning. Too hot for coffee.

Bodega Wildfire

6:45 pm – Shaky containment. S/T forming up for this evening, but bigsurkate is taking the evening off. If you have something to report that is local, please call rather than email. Check in on all in the morning.

Highway One closed this afternoon at Bay Hill Rd. due to a wildfire. The winds have shifted, and the fire is being pushed toward Bodega Bay. Law Enforcement has been asked to prepare for a possible evacuation. Per IC fire is around 75 acres with 0% containment will go extended. Highway One is closed from the Bodega Highway to Harbour Way.

Everyone, PLEASE be very careful and very aware. RH is getting into the single digits with little recovery overnight. Fuels are already exceedingly dry, and this weather event is affecting most of the State of California.

The Smell of Smoke

2:30 am – I finally got my answer from a SLO county FF: “Started approx 1600 and was contained at about 1900 acres. FHL had assistance from Cal Fire and LPF.” I clarified this and it was 1900 acres with containment at 2100 hours.

It is 10 pm. I have been sitting here, thinking I smelled smoke, but not strong. Still, the smell of smoke is always a concern. So, a few minutes ago, I received an email from a member of the BSVFB indicating they came back from Lake San Antonio late today. There is a fire a ways south and east of me, but the drift was noted on Nasty-Fergy on their way home. I haven’t found any information available about this fire.

Nice to know my smeller is working, and I haven’t lost my mind or at least one of my senses!

Is this the one?
09/24/2010 16:47 LPF-3008 (New) Wildfire Gabilan Road

Wildfire Salmon Creek

2:00 pm – have heard nothing further on Salmon Creek at this point. Temperature is 95 up here. What a change from the last few days!

09/24/2010 12:55 LPF-3007 (New) Wildfire HWY 1 MM2 @ Salmon Creek

Page out indicated an abandoned campfire, so hopefully, this will be picked up early. I will continue to keep an eye and ear out on this today, as needed.

Bear Trap Fire – Ft. Hunter Leggitt

5:30 pm – nothing further, which is good news.

3:45 pm – Now 200 AC and still spotting but they are reporting that they are making progress.

3:20 pm – Bear Trap road x Sam Jones inside the base, 100 AC, ROS, spotting, both flanks are running on ground crews, having erratic winds on fire. BEU sent full wildland response

3:00 pm – Still trying to get details, but I can see the smoke from here off the back side of the ridge. A friend in Paso said a couple of planes took off a short while ago, and this is being reported:
as of now LPF sending: Div-1; BC-11; Monterey hotshots; Eng: 15, and 19
BEU (CALFIRE) just sent BC, Dozer, Engine’s # ?, C406, onto the fort to assist FHL with a fire in the Bear trap loop area from BC 4613 on scene 10-15 acres spotting across the road.

Dispatch is reporting erratic winds in the area. Lockwood reports very smoky on the valley side.

09/12/2010 14:02 LPF-2881 BEARTRAP Wildfire Fort Hunter Liggit

San Bruno Fire

Around 6 pm this evening, a natural gas main, 24″ pipe exploded, causing a crater 30′ x 25′ x 15′ deep. Many homes and vegetation are on fire. 53 homes destroyed, 120 damaged so far, at 10:30 pm. All medical staff have been called back to duty in Daly City. Injuries and casualties are expected to mount throughout the evening. Most Bay Area stations are providing live feed, and from what I can tell, it is pretty horrific. Firefighters are being called in from throughout neighboring areas, and the planning for tomorrow is already being discussed. I won’t be covering this one, other than to mention it here, but suggest you follow the local stations for that area for additional information about this fire. Our hearts and prayers go out to our neighbors to the north.

For more information on this incident, you can follow the LA Times blog here.