Sent to me by Tom Deyerle. He lives directly across the canyon and above the Long House, so he got an incredible view of the entire fire from start to finish. Thanks, Tom for sharing!
Here is a second one Tom took, one of the last.
Tag: fire
Garrapatos Vegetation Fire
11:00 pm – this report just in around an hour ago from Bette Nelson. The house that burned was the Long House. It was occupied by the homeowner, Susie Barnett, and her renter Jeff and his 3 dogs at the time of the fire. Bette is reporting that the latest she heard was that it was probably started by a downed power line, not a transformer.
Also see the comment posted at 11 pm by Scott Bogen below, who is a volunteer Mid-Coast Fire Brigade member, who has first-hand knowledge of this fire and tells what he knows. Thanks Bette and Scott for bringing us all up-to-date.
Our prayers go out to Susie and Jeff and hope they can find interim housing and that Susie can rebuild.
4:30 pm – report is that the fire is out. One hour and 15 minutes – great job Mid-Coast Fire Brigade and Cal Fire!! Congratulations on a good save. I am very sorry for the family that lost their home, however. It was reported to me that it was from a transformer that landed on their porch. I certainly hope PG&E will be helping them rebuild!
4:00 – reports that a propane tank exploded, and that Mid-Coast and/or Cal-Fire are asking the CHP to assist in road closures. Unclear which roads at this time. Vegetation is reported at approximately 1/2 acre.
3:40: UPDATE: IT IS GARRAPATOS. See this comment:
Kate, The fire is in a house above us at the end of Garrapatos Rd off of Palo Colorado. They think it was from a downed transformer. Midcoast fire & Cal fire are on site. We can see the flames & smoke from our house which down in the canyon near the creek.
Bette Nelson.
Also reported structure fully engulfed and a second structure threatened.
3:18 pm – Structure involved. No further details. This is a call-out on the CB, so I have not confirmed information, yet.
If this is the real McCoy, winds will play a major role, as it is howling in Big Sur proper, as well as up here.
Catching up is hard to do, and I have announcements, reports, photos, up the whazzo to post.
Wildbird Fire Photos
All photos by Wally Barnick. And if this works, photo contest finalists will go up tonight!
While I am finally able to successfully post photos, it is taking for-ever, which is why, Wally, I only posted 2 of the 4 you sent.
And here is one of what it looked like the next day, by Dan Danbom
Esalen Fire Aftermath
Here are photos taken by Bryan Scott in Maintenance of the results of the fire. Thank you for sharing, Bryan!
Fire at Esalen’s South Coast Center
Last night (Sunday 10/9), a fire took most of the upper residences at the South Coast Center at Esalen. Mike Gilson so kindly sent me a number of photos, that just as soon as I can get them downloaded, I will post here.
I am recovering from the Jade Festival today. No voice, most body parts hurt. (Am I getting old, or what?) so won’t be doing much of anything but recovering.
Ponderosa Plume from Cone Peak
Mike Anderson of Morro Bay sent me this one. What a view, huh?? Camped up at Cone Peak, at the look-out, and shot this one on Sunday morning just before 7 am. Beautiful. Thanks, Mike!!
And this one, coming down the Cone Peak Rd. a little after noon on Sunday.
I love when we can see different perspectives of these events.
Ponderosa Fire, 8/2/09
8:30 pm – reports are that Ponderosa has reached 500 acres. Sam Jones is 600 and moving north across containment lines. Here is a last look at the Ponderosa fire tonight. This photo is not as spectacular as the plumes from earlier, but what it shows is fire in an east west Canyon, moving in both directions. This canyon is north of the McKern Rd. firebreak, which I drove on today. It is wide, and it is clear, so it would be hard for the fire to cross that. And if this canyon fire does move west, as it appears, it will run into the footprint of the Chalk Fire.
You can see the smoke all the way down the canyon, behind the trees and the bushes. It actually goes even further west, but that is not visible in the photograph. This is shot looking north north-east, so west would be off the left side.
News release just came in at 2:56 pm. See USFS page to the right for the entire missive.
2:00 pm update:Jim Smith’s Type II Incident team will be in command. You can find information about the team here: http://ccimt7.imtcenter.net/main/index.aspx
Spoke with District Ranger Tune and the press release is being prepared. At this point they are calling it 200 plus. She said when the team comes in at 1700 (Smith’s Type II IT) then it is her understanding that the Ponderosa will be put up on inciweb. I would imagine that might not happen until tomorrow morning.
WildlandFire posted this: “Per Southops: Ponderosa CA-LPF-2563, The fire has burned 250 acres with a potential to triple in size. Ponderosa and Nacimiento Campgrounds have been evacuated. The Nacimiento-Ferguson Road has been closed. Smith’s Type II Incident Management Team has been assigned to the fire.”
More photos from late this morning to follow here:
This was was taken at 11:04 am, and clearly shows the McKern Rd. firebreak.
These people snuck through before the signs were posted on Highway One, but were turned around. This is the intersection of South Coast Ridge Rd. and Nacimiento.
This photograph shows the burn from the Chalk Fire, with the Madrone regrowth and the Ponderosa Fire in the background.
You tired of these plumes, yet? I have a couple more showing the progression of the north flank, then I am finished until this evening, when I will go shoot some more photos.
Here’s the last one this afternoon, showing the progression of the north flank.
When I know more, I will post more.
1:30 pm. These photos were taken starting at 10:50 am from various places along South Coast Ridge Rd. This first one is from 10:50 am from about 1/2 mile south of Plaskett intersection.
I took a series of shots in 2 minutes from this spot, and it is interesting to watch the progression. I’ll post 4 here.
And now, a short break in the photo show, so that I might bring some information to my readers in the 2:00 pm update above.
12:30 pm. Just got back from my field trip. Photos and more photos up shortly. Impressive plumes. Fire south of N-F Rd., and north of the McKern Rd/firebreak. Lots of air attack. 3-4 miles, maybe 5, from me. Spotters up on South Coast Ridge Rd just north of McKern. N-F Rd. closed. Sheriff on top. Locals can go west. Now, to sort and post some photos.
Meeting Reports
Wednesday night’s CWPP meeting was very productive, per the attendees. I will expand on that this weekend. Today, Friday, is the BSMAAC meeting, which I will also report on this weekend, both here, in this post.
COMMUNITY WILDFIRE PROTECTION PLAN
Turn out was decent, for the South Coast. We did have representation from Gorda Mtn., Willow Creek, Plaskett Ridge, Pacific Valley, and Alm’s Ridge. Noticeably lacking was any representation from the Lucia/Harlan/Hermitage section of the South Coast, or Big Creek, which was represented in the last meeting.
One suggestion that Steve Daus seems to be considering is splitting off the South Coast from the North Coast Plan. I did not get a feel for whether that is feasible. One question, of course, is where to divide the coast. One suggestion was N-F Rd. and southward. Of course, that leaves out our Lopez Point and Big Creek neighbors. I would think south of Dolan Ridge might be the answer, but really unsure. Betty, Katee, and I have all sent additional suggestions to Steve via email regarding the draft plan.
Other discussions included the ratings given to different areas based on population densities, ridges, roads, fuel loads (and types) as well as other considerations. Equipping our South Coast fire brigade also was discussed.
Steve also mentioned he wanted to find the previous dozer line maps from the USFS, but was not having much luck. So, I sent him the photos I had taken of the ones I had seen.
Chalk Fire
Basin Fire
Hey, Steve — what can Big Sur Locals do that USFS cannot? Supply you with dozer maps!
It is hard to summarize a two-hour meeting in just a few paragraphs, but these are the main points, from my perspective.
The Big Sur Multi-Agency Advisory Council Meeting covered much more ground and time, lasting about 3 hours. I will report on that separately this weekend.
Pacheco Fire
Coming home today, around 3 pm, we saw the Pacheco Fire. We had split from the 152 WB to the 156 WB, which was a good thing, as WB 152 was closed due to the fire.
Here is a shot of it:
Last word was air attack was canceled at 4:30 pm, but units on stand-by.
I have also been following the Knight Fire along the Stanislaus River, north of Twain Harte. (750 acres, 0% contained as of 7 pm 7/28/09.) The Monterey Hotshots were just assigned to this fire this afternoon. I am following it because I am interested, and there is a connection to Monterey County but, I will not generally be posting about it.
July 4, 2008
July 4, 2008 – I cannot find my notes, and I did not write in my journal for much of July, as I was far too busy, but I started my blog one year ago tomorrow, so some of the story about last Independence Day was reported then. I am recreating the day, based primarily on a memory with holes in it – swiss cheese holes – a moth-eaten sweater. I also have no photographs taken that day, at least that I can find. The road was closed, as previously posted.
When I first got a copy of the 409.5 memo on 7/4, I called OES (Office of Emergency Services), and they had a Commander Teter of the MCSO call me back. When I got no satisfactory explanation about the issuance of the memo, other than it was to “educate” the Big Sur community about the power the MCSO had, I was furious. The MCSO was flexing its muscles and declaring a police-state in Big Sur, and fully intended on arresting who ever got in their way.
It was a holiday. Everything was closed. What could I do? The only places open were newsrooms. Having lived and worked in Monterey County, much of that in the justice system, I knew I needed to go outside of the county. I called the LA Times newsroom and the SF Chronicle newsroom. I posted something on surfire2008.org. Before my post was removed from surfire2008, Deborah Schoch, a staff reporter from the LA Times called. After speaking with her for some time, I got her phone numbers, and said I’d pass it on to a member of the Curtis family who was not in Big Sur, and if they wanted, they could pass it on to Micah and Ross. This resulted in more phone calls, and more long conversations with Curtis family members and LA Times reporter, Eric Bailey. Only a few days later, he and Deborah Schoch published a 3-page article about the police state in Big Sur. It is still accessible at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-backfire7-2008jul07,0,3314737.story
This was the start of the battle between Big Sur Locals and the Mike Kanalakis, Sheriff of Monterey County. Kanalakis also made the mistake of taking on Cachagua in Carmel Valley. Both were big mistakes.
Thanks to Jim Kimball for archiving posts from surfire2008 and other sources, we have an excellent record of all that happened on this day last year. It was a busy day, with reports from locals coming in up and down the coast all day long. Let’s not forget what it was like to live in this police state from July 3, 2008 to July 8, 2008, when the road opened to locals and their employees, and July 11, 2008 when the road opened completely.
Go to this link, and scroll down. It is arranged as all blogs tend to be, with the older posts first, or backwards chronology. Just scroll down to July 4th and start reading. It is fascinating: