8:00 pm – and to end my evening postings, here are some just-taken photos of the drop on Mt. Manuel summit by Ed Van Weijan

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7:30 pm –

View from Osborne Ridge above Stonepine in Carmel Valley by Shadd Madsen

View from Tularcitos by Emily Miller

5:22 pm – report from Rolf Ridge on Sky Ranch/Cachagua

A slow start to the day gray and still. Action picked up a lot in the afternoon. Light sea breeze marine layer about 2500 feet. Smoke not bad at Sky Ranch.

A planned burn is happening this afternoon from the road into Los Padres Dam – Nason Rd – up the ridge to the right (north). Then the fire line cuts back away from Cachagua rd, up a long valley towards san clemente, white rock, etc. to the northwest.

So it follows the ridge to the right from downtown Cachagua, then at the top of that ridge (flagpole up there) it cuts back and away from the ridgeline and towards what someone said is the san carlos preserve airstrip, where the second plume is, up that valley. That looks like a planned burn too, higher up where the line down here extends off that way.

Off in the far distance is a 3rd plume, too far away to figure out – but 3 plumes!

It really started burning well around 4 pm. It looks to be perfectly executed and totally in control. There is a lot of smoke going south to southwest, at least in the first 2500 feet of atmosphere.

—
Rolf J. Ridge

Photos of the burn out operation:

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5:15 – here is the back burn at Soberanes Park being conducted right now. The smaller fires are the spot fires, and the rest is just the fire, “doing its thing.” And yes, the Highway is still open. Please don’t shoot the messenger! Sent by a friend.

5:00 – crews coming in to establish a fire break in or near Hitchcock Canyon, photos by Joanne May:

 

4:30 pm – backburn north of Syndicate Camp by Mary Martin:

3:30 pm – hearing reports from a local that the CHP is advising that a back burn from the Highway at the Soberanes State Park, the place where it all began, will be initiated soon.

Also, scanner report of a dozer who stumbled upon a pot farm just now being attacked by the growers. H70 circling overhead, and 3 quads on way up. I hope they are caught. Watch your local news for further, as I won’t cover this crap in the midst of bigger things, as long as the operator is okay. If he is not … I’ll be back fuming.

3:00 pm – from county communications:
For folks who need their parcel number, here is how you can find your number online. The Assessor’s Office is backlogged helping folks.
Maia

If you are affected by the Soberanes Fire and need your parcel number, you can find it on the Monterey County Assessor’s Office webiste at http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/government/departments-a-h/assessor/assessor-county-clerk-recorder.

Click ‘On Line Services’ then Search and Return Map Pages. Use the ‘Property Search’ function to get your parcel number.
12:15 pm – dozers have arrived at Joanne May’s Ranch near Garland Park to put in a fire break. All clapping down there.

11:44 – from the Deli:

 

11:14 – whoa, shit! Huge plume toward Cachagua Way (I think), hopefully a back burn, and a smaller plume toward the coast.

10:51 am – Slide show of fire and prep at White Rock, photos sent by Joe Pagnella

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10:00 am – COMMUNITY MEETING TONIGHT IN CV

8:00 am – Official Fact sheet lists over 40K acres and 18% burned, no increase in structures lost. Otherwise pretty much the same as last nights posted below.

Also an update: From Bruce Dormody, Rancho San Clemente at 7:16 am: Last night they started a back fire from the Airfield…it was too windy in the wrong direction so they put it right out. This morning they have restarted it, and it looks to be preforming nicely. Their goal is burn 60 to 100’ off the inside and bolster the dozer and hand lines. They have roughly 100 folks up there to watch over everything, so at this moment I feel pretty good…but to give you some idea, they have 5 miles of line to back fire just for our rancho…this will go on for the next few days. The fog is in in the cabin area and temperatures have cooled…but it is extremely smoky. They have cut power to the Ponciano (the break runs under the power lines) and the truck traffic is comically crazy…just imagine 40 big trucks going up to the Bass Lake…then 20 minutes later heading back to the pool, only to turn around an hour later and head back up…so it’s hard to get around anywhere. Thanks again for your kind words…the heavy work is just about done for us (still applying gel retardant to some of our buildings) so now it’s really just watching over everything. Bruce >

7:20 am – Adding info people have sent me, often through PM on FB from all over the fire area:

From last night, as I was getting ready to call it a day:

From Joanne May:

“Hi Kate – Update……I gave fire crews a tour of my ranch today and showed them where to connect into Garland. Tomorrow, dozers will be creating a secondary line of defense from Garland, across my ranch, hand crews will work down and up the canyon, making their way to Cachagua. The fire fighters are amazing and working so hard to help us. And, we are helping one another. Just thought you would want a progress report from Snively’s Ridge in Carmel Valley. Tired. Hope this makes sense.”

from Mike Selig:

“For those that need help from the Monterey County Assessor’s Office regarding parcel numbers – folks who may not have a specific address – you can call the Assessors Office Monday. Staff there to help are Emma Rayas and Marcello Ramirez.
If you need deeds, documents, certificates, contact Alicia Sotelo.”

6:30 am – I look out at that gorgeous view, see virtually no smoke, and definitely no plumes, and momentarily can wake to the hope that the nightmare is over, knowing it is not. I had the best night’s sleep thus far last night – 11-6. Sweet. A cuppa Joe to top it off this am, and I’ll be ready to slay the dragon again from my perch on top of the world …

Thanks to Lucas Ryan for the new, streamlined, but highly informative format for the Maps post below. I think you’ll enjoy what he has done.

Give me 1/2 an hour, and I’ll be off and running again for the day.

From Michael Troutman:

8:00 pm – I didn’t post this morning’s facts sheet, because it didn’t add anything we didn’t already know. This one has some new information that I think is worth sharing. It is two pages.

First red paragraph ORDERS; Second red paragraph WARNINGS

An hour later and that plume from the south eastern edge is almost gone, and we’ve got this one from the south western edge. A burn out operation at the Golden Stairs south of Pico Blanco, maybe??

5:15 pm – current photo from my place:

4:30 – here is a visual of the area of the mandatory evac for Tassajara and parts of Cachagua (warning to the rest of Cachagua) Thanks to Lucas Ryan:

3:30 pm – A backfiring operation in the area of the Upper Preserve was successful to create that coveted “black line” of safety.

5 ATs out of Paso are on a flight path directly over my house. Yesterday there were 8 and several of them made their last run at dusk. Go pilots!! But put your safety first, please.

3:30 pm – from the 1215 hours MODIS flight sent by Jim Kasson:

3:00 pm – Evacuation Center reopened at CMS; Those on Evacuation Warnings in Cachagua and Tassajara, pay attention for the issuance of a Mandatory, if the need arises.

1:30 pm – EVACUATION CENTER AT CMS RE-OPENS

11:00 am – South Side of Pico Blanco facing Post Summit last night. Photo by Matt Peterson or Derric Oliver

10:00 am –  Also from Cachuagua as a result of a back burn being undertaken:

From Cachagua Fire:
Cachagua Fire Chief Curry, along with Battalion Chief del Valle, are working with the Soberanes Fire Incident Management Team and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office to hereby notify all residents of the Cachagua Fire Protection District that an evacuation warning is being issued.
Residents should know that the fire is approaching the boundary of the district and firing operations will begin today or tomorrow.
Smoke and flames will likely be visible within the Cachagua Fire Protection District as part of this operation. Smoke can be detrimental to the health of the young, old, and those with breathing or heart issues.
You may have received additional information via reverse 911 or from local media sources. We want to emphasize that this is an evacuation warning.
This is NOT a mandatory evacuation order.
For more information, you can contact Chief Curry

10:00 am – From San Clemente Rancho about 2 hours ago:

“To the south, the fire made amazing progress to the east yesterday burning through both the Big Pines and LIttle Pines areas of the Ventana…several miles at least! It is now backing down Blue Rock Ridge towards us (and the Cachugua).

To the West the Fire is making its way towards us via Ponciano Ridge and the South fork of the Black Rock Creek. It is now back out of the forest on our neighbors (the Lange’s & BLM) property.

Cal Fire has laid miles of hose line on the primary firebreak that Hank & I made but we still don’t have the air support everyone would like…the winds are predicted to shift, turning the smoke, not the fire) but that might come too late to help. Going to be a long next few days.”

Also hearing Evac warnings are to be given out to Cachuagua today.

****************

10:00 am – From Richard Cordova, Cal Fire PIO this morning.

Mount Manuel backfire planned for Monday, August 1, 2016
Cal Fire is planning a backfire on the eastern slope of Mount Manuel for Monday, August 1, if conditions are good. They are completing the dozer lines and advance work on this today. The plan is to back burn this section and join it with the larger fire. The timing is dependent on the weather. It may start in the morning but it could also be delayed until any time they determine the ideal conditions. Plan accordingly

****************

7:00 am – West Side of Pico Blanco, photo by Jen Smith

Photos by the Amazing Kodiak Greenwood of Pico Blanco and plume in background. Pico Blanco in this first photo is in the lower right. The burned ridge to the right and behind Pico Blanco is Skinner Ridge. The smoke-free mountain behind Skinner Ridge is Mt. Carmel. The big plume is rising from the Danish Creek watershed and Blue Rock Ridge (overlooking Cachagua) Per our resident expert, Keith Vandervere.

Per Keith, the one above is looking from Pico Blanco down Dani Ridge (with retardant stripe) toward the confluence of the forks of the Little Sur and the ocean. The smaller plume of smoke is coming from the burn out operation at the top of Serra Grade on the Old Coast Rd.

The second is of Moon’s property. Looks to me like most of the structures are still in the green and probably survived. Moon’s road is visible at the bottom. The summit of Serra Grade is on the right. From this photo I’m not sure if this burning is really part of the deliberate burn out or not.

6:00 am – Dawn has finally arrived and I can visually see what is happening. No plumes, smoke is clear – fog socking in most of the coast, but doesn’t look to be very high. I have had an hour to check in, catch up on mail, and the like, and now ready for coffee. It really is a nice day to sit and watch the sunrise from this amazing perch and enjoy a brief respite of calm before the frenetic day of fire reporting begins. Remember to take a moment for yourself, take a nap, if you can. They can do wonders to rejuvenate you. Current IR Topo map puts fire at 38.007 acres. Lucas is busy putting together our maps for us.

11:45 pm – and it is almost tomorrow, and I am headed off to bed for hopefully a solid 6 hours. G’nite, all.

This is a picture taken this/Saturday evening at 8:30 PM of the fire. The picture is taken facing west from the Hennickson’s Ridge firebreak. The long, low, dark mountain in the foreground on the left half of the image is Elephant Mountain.

You may post it on your blog.

Image copyright Eric Hulteen 2016

Eric

From Aletha Parker in CV:

9:30 pm – Dani Ridge from Ed VanWeijen on Clear Ridge:

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Mt. Manuel retardant drops just occurring. BTW, I have 8 tankers out of Paso that have been flying over my house all afternoon. Love to hear that sound.

Okay, the first overview shot is by Mike Gilson, Apple Pie Ridge is in the lower right, the two close ups are by Ed VanWeijen, all taken from Clear Ridge:

Photos from Mescal Ridge taken earlier:

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6:00 pm – 2 photos of Pico, first by Eduardo Eizner from Clear Ridge moments ago, the second by Bigsurkate from my ridge:

Photos from Ventana this afternoon:

5:30 pm – First, a shout out to Chris Chris Lorenc for bringing the issue of media access to everyone’s attention. I just got off the phone with Cal Fire Capt. Cordova and explained the situation. He was not aware of the private road status of Rocky Creek, Long Ridge and Green Ridge. Trespasses on private property are actionable,

I told him there were MANY, MANY private roads in Big Sur, Cachugua, Tassajara and the like. He promised to work with the MCSO to identify these roads and post them with NO MEDIA access signs.

We made a difference today, and it started with Chris Lorenc and became a ground swell of all of us banding together to make sure to right a wrong. We did good! Thank you all.

5:oo pm – South Side of Pico Blanco, Photo taken by Mike Gilson from Clear Ridge.

1:30 pm – Photo of taken from Mescal Ridge by Partington Chump about 1-2 hours ago, or 11:30-12;30.

If you want to see a almost 360, go to his FB page.

COMMUNITY MEETING TONIGHT AT CHS AT 6 PM

11:25 am – huge plume developing from Pico Blanco area.

10:54 am – flames top Pico Blanco. Here is a photo from Jen Smith from top of Clear Ridge:

10:00 am – interesting news article on Yahoo news that states:

“The blaze is estimated to have a final size of 170,000 acres (265 square miles), according to California Interagency Incident Management Team 1, which is comprised of federal, state and local authorities. The cost of fighting the fire is now at about $6 million a day, it said on its Twitter feed.”

The link to this article is Here

8:00 am – this is the letter I just sent to all the powers that be for which I have email addresses, including the USFS Forest Supervisor. I hope it helps:

“Do you you have any idea how much pain you are causing by escorting photo journalists onto people’s property to photograph the devastation without the consent of the owners? There are so many homeowners who are absolutely outraged to see their homes destruction – FOR THE FIRST TIME – spread far and wide through huffington post, KSBW, and perhaps others, I don’t know about.This really is about as insensitive and irresponsible as it can get. The home owners are not allowed access, but the media is? I don’t know if this can be rectified, but it can be stopped. So stop it, NOW.”

bigsurkate

6:00 am – Good morning everyone! Managed another 6 hours of solid sleep, so should be a good day. Lots going on today with the addition of a second full-service fire camp at Rancho Canado for an additional 2500 fire fighters. A smaller camp to serve up to 500 is being established at Pfeiffer SP. The fire camps are for firefighters and support staff ONLY. They’ve asked the public not to come onto the camp. Also, no donations needed for the camp, so please do not bring. Setting up car camping and meals at the Calvary Church on Highway 68 for evacuees starting at noon today. Also, Tillie Gort’s is offering free dinners each night to evacuees.

Lucas Ryan is busy setting up the IR Maps, etc. page for me this morning which will include the IR topo map. Thanks, Lucas, for a lifting a huge weight off my shoulders.

Lastly, for this early morning post, XT has posted some great overflight photos he took yesterday, here: Xasauan Today if you can’t get the link to work, just goggle Xasauan today and you will find it. Oh, and a working link to his site is on the right side bar under LPNF Links. Scroll …