And this is just one example of why campfires are illegal during the fire season, when vegetation becomes a tinder box.

09/06/2010 16:07 LPF-2811 Botchers Gap Wildfire Botchers Gap Escaped Campfire, 25 X 50

Fortunately, the fire crews were able to get to and put this one out very fast, before it grew. However, in other locations, it may take an hour to get an engine on site, and by then, that 25×50 escaped campfire could be acres and acres, and much more difficult to put out.

Typically, once there is a ban on campfires, it is not lifted until after the first rains. Fortunately, the summer tourist season is over. Unfortunately nice weather will bring campers out for another couple months, before the first rains come. We all take the ban on campfires very seriously here in Big Sur.

Okay, I am joking about which number this is. I haven’t kept track.

09/05/2010 19:55 LPF-2794 (New) Wildfire Sand Dollar Day Use

What are people thinking? I know what they are thinking. Because, I know how they get to my blog, and right now people are googling to find out what the fine is for an illegal campfire. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but that seems to indicate whoever these people are, they are doing a cost effective analysis. You decide.

The fine is $5000 and/or 6 months in jail. And, you WILL get caught, as fire is visible FOREVER at night, and all of us who live here will call it in. And we have a couple of USFS cops who love to get in people’s faces, and at least one of them will probably search you, your vehicle, your tents, etc. Probably not legally, but whatcha going to do?

Do you have any idea how visible fires are at night – for MILES. Time to go out and check!

4:10 pm – LPF reports: “Forward spread of the fire has been stopped. No aircraft required at this time.”
CHP reports:
4:10PM 35-40MINS DURING FOR RD CLOSURE
3:48PM 1039 MTY COMM, RD CLOSED TO ALL TRAFF
3:47PM NO ESTIMATED TIME FOR CLOSURE/OPENING
3:47PM COAST RD WILL BE CLOSED

At an earlier point CALFIRE was asking for closures of both Highway One and Coast Rd, but I doubt that is still in effect.

4:00 pm – closest shot. Last report (45 mins ago) was 3 acres, moderate rate of spread. All photos below are by Debbie Reed. In my haste, I forgot the captions on most of them!

3:45 Closer shots:

I believe this is the shot where you can see the helicopter.

3:30 pm – Fire is currently 3 acres in size, with a moderate rate of spread. Burning in Redwoods and other veg.

I don’t know what dispatch is naming this one, could be Molera, but for now, I’m calling it the Sur Fire

3:15 a friend coming home from town noted the fire. She says it is in between the El Sur Ranch and Andrew Molera. She indicates CAL-FIRE has responded, and that she just saw a helicopter and one plane working the fire. She has photos she is sending to me, and as soon as I get them, I will post them here.

At 2:39, WildCAD LPF reported a new fire:

09/04/2010 14:39 LPF-2756 (New) Wildfire Hwy 1, mm 51 near Andrew Molera

e.

It started yesterday, and the smoke was bothering a friend in town. This morning a smoke alert was put out for the Big Sur region. So …

That smoke you see is probably the controlled burn at Ft. Ord, but given the triple digits temps in the mountains of Big Sur this weekend, and given that is is the last hurrah of summer – Labor Day weekend, report any other smoke you may see.

And another one this afternoon:

08/30/2010 14:01 LPF-2706 (New) Wildfire South Coast Ridge Rd/ 2mi south of Nacimento Ferguson Rd

And it is because people think the laws don’t apply to them. (See comment here.)

I have been following the fire out at Lake Nacimiento this afternoon, but it only got up to 17 acres, destroyed one mobile home, and was out by this afternoon. One FF injured due to heat exhaustion.

I also have been following a number of SoCal fires, particularly the Post near Lebec (off Highway 5 near the Grapevine), but as it is not in my reporting area (I cover Big Sur, Los Padres, SLO, and Santa Cruz) I haven’t been blogging about it.

SoCal lightning strikes have started a number of fires this afternoon, but the air attack guys and gals are all over them, so things are going pretty well for California, wildfire season wise.

8:00 pm UPDATE – it is always a lot harder to get information on fires being ICd by USFS than it is on CALFIRE fires. Much less information available, and the USFS hasn’t updated inciweb in 10 hours. HOWEVER my sources say that resources seem to be being released, no smoke is visible in areas where it was yesterday, and all indications are that the FFs seem to be getting a handle on this one.

10:00 am – USFS modified the expected containment time to 6 pm, but still on Tuesday, the 24th.

9:30 am – this is now a USFS show, and updates are provided via inciweb, link provided to the right. This morning, LPF issued the following:

Incident Type Wildfire
Cause Under Investigation
Date of Origin Saturday August 21st, 2010 approx. 12:34 PM
Location Hwy 58 at Santa Margarita
Incident Commander Dana D’andrea (usfs)
Current Situation
Total Personnel 355
Size 1,263 acres
Percent Contained 5%
Estimated Containment Date Tuesday August 24th, 2010 approx. 12:00 AM
Fuels Involved
6 Dormant Brush, Hardwood Slash Grass/Brush/Oaks
Fire Behavior
Multiple spot fires with rapid rate of spread.
Significant Events
Incident is merging from state to federal command.
Outlook
Planned Actions
Aggressive fire suppression tactics to include direct line construction.
Growth Potential
High.
Terrain Difficulty
Extreme.

4:30 am – I woke to the smell of smoke quite early. I am assuming this is drift from the Pozo Fire. CALFIRE and others are still listing this incident as around 1500 acres. The 2500 acre report last night was a miscalculation. Around midnight last night, containment was given as 5%. I will update with more as I learn more. Now, back to bed.

CALFIRE NEWS reported two hours ago that the fire WAS 2500 acres (but unsure if this is accurate) and 10% contained. Also reporting that Jim Smith’s IMT is taking over management of this fire at 0600 hours this morning. Now, really, am going back to bed.

8:30 pm – UPDATE: I have no update on the acreage. Went back on the ridge to see if I could see a plume, and could not. Could see smoke in the general area. Did get a nice sunset shot, though, in which you can see some smoke, but it is hard to discern.

6:30 pm – UPDATE: current reports are that this fire is up to 2500 acres and large order for resources being placed and filled. 0 % containment. Campgrounds evacuated are Turkey Flat, LaPanza, and Pozo are all evacuated….6 tankers and 6 copters and a dozen plus engines with strike teams starting to show up.

This is the “head” or column of smoke visible from Paso Robles around 3:30 pm.

This was sent to me by my friend, Ray, and is used with his permission.

5:00 pm UPDATE: Resource order: Major resource order shown is ROSS: Pending:12 type 1 HC, 5 type 1HC S/T, 5 Type 3 eng S/T, 10 Doz S/T, 8 Water Tenders. some misc OH.

4:30 pm – all fire suppression units have been extended until 8 pm.

4:15 pm UPDATE: CALFIRE reports: “Pozo Fire [Update] located off Pozo Rd between Pozo and Santa Margarita (San Luis Obispo County) is now 1,500 acres.”

4 pm UPDATE: Fire is 1200 acres. Oh sh*t, here we go.

3 pm UPDATE: Latest report on conditions, 350 acres, still rapid rate of spread. Heading into the LPF, no structure threat. Also, no estimate of containment.

There is a fierce fire being fought down in SD Co. near Cajon Mtn. It started about the same time, but is up to 2K plus and has really taken off. 10 hikers had to be rescued by helicopter due to being surrounded by fire.

2 pm UPDATE: (sorry, had company stop by, so I’m late with this.) Reported:”AA just ordered two additional AT’s for a total of six.

AA report on conditions: 250 acres, multiple spotting, in grass, transitioning to the brush.”

KSBY out of SLO is reporting it is up to 300 acres.

1:30 pm, scanner just indicated IC requesting an additional three type 3 engines in addition to the previous 3 additional type 3’s. Spotting still going on – listed as rapid spotting!

From WildCAD-LPF:
Pozo Wildfire Pozo Road & Parkhill Grass fire, assist to SLU. 35 Acres, Rapid Spotting. H527,H528,H530,Crw4,E31,35,47,Doz4,BC32. In addition to the above by LPF, CAL-FIRE is sending full wildland fire response as well.

At 1 pm, WLF reported: “a fire on Parkhill Rd in the Pozo area in San Luis Obispo County. Per AA, ordering an additional two AT’s and two additional helos. SLU dispatch just dispatched another dozer as well.” WildCAD, LPF is indicating 2 LPF engines dispatched to assist.

Currently, at 1:00 pm “25 to 30 acres with spotting full Cal Fire and LPF response can see header from paso.”

UPDATE: This is what a weather guy said in response to my question: “Well, there is always a possibility of a training burn. However, we are getting the same thing in Sonoma County, the persistent marine layer and gusty onshore afternoon winds are just recirculating all the particulates trapped below the heat inversion above 2000 feet. It looks like a fire is burning somewhere, but really not. Get to a high altitude and you will see what I mean. We need a good wind event to scour out the atmosphere.”

It is simply a curiosity, NOT a danger, at this point. I haven’t been able to ascertain where and why, but there is definitely smoke drift on the horizon tonight, and it is not a slight amount, either. Smoke drift can travel long distances, as we all know, and I can see forever. Take a look. Anyone have any information on this?

There is also some smoke settling in the Willow Creek area, but nothing is being reported on WildCAD-LPF, so perhaps it is some distance away. Still, it is strange to see this much drift and not find a mention of it anywhere. Strange, that is all.

This speculation is offered on one of the sites where I posed my question about this: “Kate–glad you mentioned this… while driving down to Sac today from the foothills, it looked like smoke over the Coast Range to the west. Since there is no fire activity to speak of in the LNU or MNF, I am going to wonder out loud…Is there ANY possibility of this smoke coming across the Pacific from the fires in Russia? Any of our weather geeks want to tell me why I am full of you know what?”