NEWS RELEASE

Los Padres National Forest
For Immediate Release
Contact: Andrew Madsen (805) 895-0841
Twitter: @LosPadresNF

West Cuesta Ridge Road Temporarily Closed on Los Padres

GOLETA, CA, October 28, 2015…Los Padres National Forest officials announced that West Cuesta Ridge Road (a.k.a. TV Tower Road) will be temporarily closed to motorized vehicles until road repairs are completed. Forest Order 15-12 is effective from November 1, 2015, through October 31, 2016, unless rescinded earlier upon completion of road repairs.

The order prohibits public motor vehicle use on West Cuesta Ridge Road (Forest Road No. 29S28). The road begins at the junction of U.S. Highway 101 at Cuesta Grade Summit and West Cuesta Ridge Road, and continues 7.1 miles northwest to Tassajara Peak.

Non-motorized recreation access, such as hiking and mountain biking, is unaffected by the order. Private residents and communication site lease holders will be allowed motorized access to their homes or business sites.

The closure order for public motorized vehicle use is needed until repairs to the road are completed and the area is safe for vehicle use. Forest officials are working with communication site lease holders to conduct environmental planning and a road repair plan to reestablish safe motorized access along this popular road in San Luis Obispo County.

“We are taking the necessary steps to responsibly develop road repair options for safe motorized access into this important area for both recreation and natural resources,” said Santa Lucia District Ranger Nathan Rezeau. “We greatly appreciate our community’s patience and understanding as we work through the repair process as quickly as possible.”

The road closure order and map of the closure area can be found on the Los Padres website at http://fs.usda.gov/lpnf. Forest visitors are encouraged to contact the Santa Lucia Ranger District at (805) 925-9538 for more detailed information about this area and for the latest conditions.

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***HWY 1 TRAFFIC ADVISORY***
October 21, beginning at 9:00am from Sycamore Canyon to 1/4 mile south of Lucia, California Highway Patrol will be escorting three modular home haulers down Highway 1. Trucks may be in caravan formation or escorted separately. Please use caution as these trucks will be very slow moving and will be unescorted from Carmel to Big Sur.

Must be going to the Hermitage. I know they are replacing three of their retreat units. I postponed my town trip yesterday due to the Ride2Recovery bicycle event. Glad I decided on south tomorrow! Next week, north, so PLEASE highway goddess, no events.

As of 7:30 am, power outages in Carmel, some of CV, the Highlands, PG, Monterey, Del Rey Oaks, Seaside, who knows where else. 55,000 people are without power. PG&E are working to find the source, per one source. Another says a huge explosion at the Moss Landing power plant is the source. PG&E says they are investigating. The outage is from Moss Landing to the Highlands, and to Salinas on the other side, according to PG&E website mentioned below by Lisa K in the comments below. The outage is expected to last until noon.

Monterey County to Test Emergency Notification System
If you get a phone call, text message or email from Monterey County’s emergency notification system on Thursday, October 15th, don’t panic. This is one message you’ll be happy to receive.

The County will hold its annual community test of the Alert Monterey County system on October 15th, the same day as the Great Shake Out earthquake drill.

The Alert Monterey County system is used to notify the public of important public safety information such as natural disasters, evacuations, wide-area power blackouts, urgent law enforcement operations, and missing persons or kidnapped children. Landline phones are called automatically, but if you have a cell phone, you won’t receive messages unless you have registered your phone in the Alert System.

Registration is quick and easy online, and it allows you to select how you want to receive emergency messages and what areas of the county you wish to receive notifications about. Prior to last year’s notification test, more than 600 residents registered cell phones to receive notifications.

“We are always looking to reach those who just haven’t signed up yet or are new to the area particularly with the specter of winter storms on the horizon,” says Monterey County Emergency Services Manager Sherrie Collins. “Emergency notifications via cell phones are a highly successful way to disseminate critical information to area residents during emergencies. Testing the system ensures that it will be ready when we need it.”

The Alert test will take place on Thursday, October 15th between Noon and 12:30 p.m., after the Great Shake Out drill, which takes place at 10:15 a.m. If this were a real emergency, county residents would duck, cover and hold, then receive critical disaster information.

It is important to note that you will only receive a message if you have registered for Alert Monterey County prior to October 15th. For more information on Alert Monterey County, check out the FAQs and other emergency information on the Monterey County Office of Emergency Services webpages.

What to expect

A short message identifying itself as a test of the Monterey County Emergency Notification System, delivered via the method that you designated upon sign up (call, text, email, or VOIP) on Thursday, October 15th. Your caller ID will read 831-796-1908. Add this number to your contacts to identify future emergency messages from Alert MontereyCounty.

As of 9:00 am, the fire is 300 acres with no containment. I’ll post the press release as soon as I receive it.

10:00 pm – Press Release and photos of fire were just released by Cal Fire

Monterey County/San Benito Cal Fire continue to fight a wildfire late this afternoon at Limekiln and Cienega, near Hollister. Downed power lines across the road are making it difficult to access.The smoke column was visible all the way down to Chualar. It was evidencing a dangerous rate of spread before nightfall. A VLAT, very large air tanker, was on scene and was to make a drop on the head of the fire before nightfall. One unconfirmed report had the fire at 500 acres before nightfall.

This one will bear some watching in the morning.

3:30 pm –

Recent Incidents (Prepared 10/12/2015 15:36)

Date Inc # Name Type Location WebComment Resources IC Fuels Acres Lat/Lon
10/12/2015 15:09 LPF-3274
PNJ4EJ 1502 COTTON HELI527LPF
Detail Information
3:27 PM 6 [9] B9-008B NOT AFFECTING RDWY / GOING INTO FIELDS / RDWY CLR
3:16 PM 5 [8] B9-008B ON WEST SIDE / LIGHT FIRE RIGHT NOW / GRAZED AREA
3:15 PM 4 [7] B9-008B 97 W/ CAL FIRE / BY OLIVE FARM
3:06 PM 3 [6] PER CAL FIRE NEAR COTTONWOOD PASS
3:05 PM 2 [2] 1039 CALFIRE
3:04 PM 1 [1] GRASS FIRE

ill be looking for further and updating if necessary.

There are 5 tankers out of Paso working it, so I would imagine this one will be under control in no time.
Recent Incidents (Prepared 10/10/2015 14:10)

Date Inc # Name Type Location WebComment Resources IC Fuels Acres Lat/Lon
10/10/2015 13:20 LPF-3238
New Wildfire argyle rd, Lockwood . BC11LPF CRW3LPF E16LPF 4X4 E319LPF . . . 36.041 x 121.152

due to a cut line in Greenfield, all landlines, cell phones, and Internet going through AT&T is down in Big Sur isolating this community, 1000 people, even further. Satellite internet and satellite phones are not affected, but emergency call boxes along the highway are. A command post has been established. The BSVFB is on satellite phone, as are other emergency services. AT&T is indicating 12-24 hours to get service restored.

The South Coast landlines come from the south, all internet is by satellite, and we don’t have AT & T service down here, so generally rely on Verizon. Will update when such released. CBs and drums anyone?