Midnight – nothing being reported, significant or otherwise, so I’ll be signing off until morning. Blessings, bigsurkate

11:00 pm – no significant events being reported, so maybe the USFS will have a handle on it by the morning and we will all wake up to it being “old news.”

10:00 pm – I received a call from the new District Ranger, Sherry Tune, whom I just met yesterday, to give me a “heads-up” about this fire. It may have grown a little since initial reporting, but it is difficult to tell at night. She will be issuing a press release tomorrow morning, probably not until around 10 am. She will fax me a copy, which I will post here. She hasn’t been assigned a PIO, yet. She is brand-new, and only about 2 weeks into the job. It is her intention to keep locals fully informed. As a side note, I like her and others who have met her like her as well. It is a helluva welcome to the neighborhood, and she is literally being tested by fire.

9:30 pm – It began around 8:15 pm this evening, August 1st. It is approximately 4-6 acres, with a slow rate of spread. Two USFS Engines are on it right now. Ponderosa Campground, for those unfamiliar with the area, is several miles down from the summit, east on Nacimiento Rd. in the flats, by the river before one enters Ft. Hunter-Leggett.

Check back in in a couple of hours. I’ll try to report one more time, somewhere between 11 and midnight. Phone will be working all night. If necessary, I will start the gennie and stay online on and off throughout the evening.