Antelope Fire – San Benito Co.

4 pm update — IC reports fire is now 150-175 acres. Strike team of type 3 engines requested, along w/ addl hand crews for today & tomorrow.

3:30 pm — Wildland Fire, Griswold Gun Range area, South of Panoche Road. Copter at scene, 75 acres, moderate rate of spread, light flashy fuels, steep terrain. Potential for 200 acres. This is roughly 1/2 between I-5 and Airline Highway on Panoche Road.
Update: BC enroute requesting additional dozers, crews and 3 water tenders.

9/1/19 Wildfires

UPDATE #2: 4:14PM 9-1-19 VEGETATION FIRE #JolonFire (#Lockwood, Monterey Co) – IC reports forward progress stopped.
https://twitter.com/CAFireScanner/status/1168284677829844992 [ca fire scanner on twitter]

3:30 pm – Okay, seems to be one fire called Jolon at Jolon/New Pleyto in Lockwood. Tankers 74 and 75 out of Paso on that one with immediate structure threats. The one on Los Coches is burning toward Arroyo Seco and/or Gonzalez, it is not clear. That one is calling for evacuations, and the scanner reported 3 firefighters injured, but this one may be 2 actual fires, close together, again, not that clear, yet. Threatening 337 structures at this point. MCSO reports on this later one: “Deputies are on scene of a vegetation fire in the area of Thorne Road and Arroyo Seco Road in Greenfield. Evacuations are being conducted on Cedar Ave.” Also MCSO reported multiple firefighters airlifted out due to burns.

There are three going, one at Jolon and Bradley in Lockwood, One in Greenfield that has burned 3 FF near Los Coches calling for any available, and a third near Jolon and Chadwick, reporting the back side of the mountain is on fire. All per the CHP website, info from scanner, and also SLU is sending engines to the one in Lockwood.

Bill Monning Under the Persimmon Tree at HML

Friends,
I had the honor of being interviewed by Magnus Toren  at the Henry Miller Library last Sunday as part of the “Under the Persimmon Tree” series. I provide the link to the HML where you can find the Under the Persimmon Tree section and click on to the interview.  We discussed a wide range of history including UFW, IPPNW, Global Majority, family, Big Sur , etc 
If you suffer from insomnia, this will help you get to sleep!
Thank you, Magnus and you will find some other interesting interviews as part of the series. 
www.henrymiller.org  or google Henry Miller Library
Salud, Paz, Justicia
Bill

While not a Persimmon Tree, I can envision a story teller assembling a crowd here to tell some of the stories of Monterey Peninsula.

Firewood Sales Idea from Big Sur Lodge

Jeanette Kenworthy, GM of Big Sur Lodge, sent this to me, and I think this is a terrific idea. Hopefully all local businesses who sell firewood could do the same thing.

Tourist Tuesday, 8/27/19 — Emergency Response hampered by tourist traffic at Bixby Bridge

Today, I am going to forego my planned post on the “Invisible Costs of Tourism” to talk about a very real cost that many of us have been warning about for some time — that is traffic jams at Bixby and the impact on emergency response times. These costs are not monetary, they are to life and limb. I admit, I am biased. I lost my leg in an auto accident, and nearly lost my life. I am VERY aware that in emergency responses, time is a critical factor.

Medical Emergency on Highway One hampered by tourist traffic jam and road construction at Bixby Bridge.

There was a head-on collision at Big Creek yesterday, with several people injured, one critically. The CHP dispatcher wrote this:

12:07 PM8[24] A27-014 HEAVY TRAFF AT BIXBY / DOWN TO 1 LN / REQ 1141 BE ADVSD

Fortunately, Big Sur Fire is south of Bixby. Thankfully, Chief Matt Harris, and his supportive volunteer board is cross-training ALL volunteers not only for fire fighting, but for cliff-rescue as well as EMTs. They needed both for this incident, as is often the case. These are the men and women we count on, who are also there for our tourists. Please consider a donation to: http://Bigsurfire.org It is a completely voluntary organization dependent on donations and grants.

For the critical patient, our military neighbor, Fort Hunter Liggett, sent a medical helicopter. He was not able to land at Big Creek due to fog, so he landed at the Hermitage. Big Sur Fire, MCSO, AMR met him there and transferred the patient from the ambulance to the helicopter. Good job all, and I probably speak for the entire coast when I wish the patient a speedy and full recovery.

I would just like to note that all of these people involved are professionals, only one of which is not paid. Marcus Foster, and Big Sur Fire, I hold you in great regard. Thank you.

I should add, that in addition to the traffic problems at Bixby, there is currently road construction going on in the area which exacerbates the problem.

Photos by Brendon Shave:

Marcus Foster of Big Sur Fire

Two cars went off Big Creek Bridge

I originally erroneously reported Bixby Bridge, as that is line 4, but it appears it is actually Big Creek.

What we all feared has finally happened. One patient in critical condition.

Incident: 00163 Type: Trfc Collision-1141 Enrt Location: 59080 Sr1 Loc Desc: SR1 AND BIG CREEK Lat/Lon: 36.067317 -121.595201 

Detail Information
12:52 PM16[40] [Notification] [CHP]-PER S2, INQ W/ UNIT IF WE ARE GOING TO NEED AN EVIDENCE TOW [Shared]
12:50 PM15[39] [Rotation Request Comment] 1039 CALIFORNIA 424-8615
12:49 PM14[38] PER MTRY COM, STARTING A HELI FOR 1 CRITICAL PATIENT / FIRE 97
12:41 PM13[33] 1039 27-L2, VIA LL
12:39 PM12[31] A27-014 VEHS LANEDED ON ANOTHER RD, ACCESSIBLE
12:39 PM11[30] A27-014 REQ 2 1185 FBS
12:38 PM10[29] A27-014 2 VEH 1181 AT THIS TIME / STILL ASSESSING
12:07 PM9[25] 1039 MONTCOM / LINE 24
12:07 PM8[24] A27-014 HEAVY TRAFF AT BIXBY / DOWN TO 1 LN / REQ 1141 BE ADVSD
12:03 PM7[22] [Notification] [CHP]-[17] SV WENT INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC TO PASS VEHS AND HIT HEAD ON W/ THE NISS [Shared]
12:02 PM6[18] THE NISS WAS FORCED OF THE ROAD THROUGH A GATE AND OVER THE CLIFF INTO A DITCH
12:01 PM5[17] SV WENT INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC TO PASS VEHS AND HIT HEAD ON W/ THE NISS
11:58 AM4[5] 14 FRM BIXBY BRIDGE
11:57 AM3[10] [Appended, 11:59:38] [2] TWO VEHS WENT OFF BRIDGE
11:57 AM2[9] [Appended, 11:59:38] [1] NEAR BIG CREEK BRIDGE
11:56 AM1[4] ONE VEH LANDED ON A CLIFF, OTHER ONE LANDED ON A ROAD NR THE BOTTOM OF CLIFF
Unit Information