Tag: Wildfire

Argyle Fire

This started yesterday afternoon, but I was otherwise involved – although for the life of me, I can’t remember how. This is the update from this morning:

Last Updated: August 28, 2011 8:25 am
Date/Time Started: August 27, 2011 1:51 pm
Administrative Unit: CAL FIRE San Benito-Monterey Unit
County: Monterey County
Location: Argyle Rd. and Jolon Rd., Lockwood
Acres Burned: 200 acres
Containment 200 acres – 65% contained
Cause: Under Investigation
Cooperating Agencies: CAL FIRE, South Monterey County Fire, Fort Hunter Liggett Fire, Monterey County Sheriffs Office, CHP, Department of Correction and Rehabilitation
Total Fire Personnel: 377
Engines: 46 (36 CAL FIRE)
Fire crews: 11 CAL FIRE
Airtankers: 3 CAL FIRE
Helicopters: 2 CAL FIRE
Dozers: 9 CAL FIRE
Water tenders: 4
Conditions: Homes in the fire area still remain under an evacuation warning, this will change based on fire activity, 60KV lines are also less than a 1/2 mile from the Eastern edge of the fire.

Fillmore- Moorpark Fire

Here is the map of the Guiberson Fire from about 3 am from GeoMac. Triple digit temperatures, low RH recovery, and mild to moderate Santa Ana winds continue to drive this fire, which is currently about 8500 acres and 10% contained. Reports indicated 1000 homes and a number of commercial buildings are under evacuation. Moorpark College, as well as several other schools in the area are closed today.
fillmore fire

Fire near Fillmore & Moorpark, Ventura Co.

10:30 pm – latest reports put this fire at 8500 acres and growing. Strike teams being sent from all over the state, including from Monterey.

6:00 pm – Per Ventura Co. FD PIO Bill Nash at 1610 hours~”6000 acres….0% containment”

3:00 pm – the Ventura County fire is called “Guiberson.” Cal-Fire reports: “. . . now at 2300+ acres. 0% 200 homes evacuated. 300+ FF’s on scene.”

1:30 pm – 300 plus acres. Being reported live on ktla as well as the link below. Cal-Fire team 10 activated it looks like. Lots of long range spotting going on, due to winds of 30 mph, gusting to 52 mph.

Officials with the Ventura County Fire Department say over 300 acres of dry brush have already burned and the blaze is moving in a south, southwest direction. There are an estimated 200 homes or ranches in the area and evacuations have been ordered.

The area south of Fillmore, north of Broadway Road and east of Grimes Canyon are under evacuation order, according to Frank O’Hanlon of the Ventura County Sheriff’s department. O’Hanlon says ranchers in the area should leave as “quickly as possible.”

The wind is carrying embers and starting spot fires about one mile out from the fire, said Bill Nash, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department.

“The fire is moving quickly toward Moorpark,” Nash said. “It’s growing very quickly.”

12:30 pm

CBS local live feed

Wildlandfire is reporting 200 acres, but others report the visuals look much larger. it crested the ridge and is heading toward Moorpark.

Wiley Ridge RAWS shows Temp: 94.0° F Winds: 31 mph from NE Gusts: to 54 mph RH: 4% Fuel temp: 98.0° F

Nearest RAWS: here

11:45am Breaking News from KEYT Fillmore Fire
A fire that broke out this morning around 10:30 is continuing to burn near East Guiberson Road and Calumet Canyon Road over the hill toward Moorpark.

There are 8 air tankers and 4 firefighting helicopters currently battling the blaze, along with 46 firefighting engines.

Some of the resources that were working the Station Fire were reportedly diverted to help battle this blaze.

At last check it was two acres…but flames are visable…and there is a great deal of smoke seen throughout much of the area between Fillmore and Moorpark.

KEY News Bureau Chief Tracy Lehr is at the scene…and tells us that is extremely windy.

No homes are threatened at this point…however, the Fire Department is setting up structure protection on the Moorpark side of the fire.

The temperature in the very dry, windy area is currently 98 degrees.

Gloria Fire, 8/28/09

8;00 pm update: (I just got home so most of these are from the last couple hours)
at 6 pm – CalFire just updated
6,000 acres – 15% contained
1 residence destroyed

This was posted at 7 pm, from a guy w/ Benito/Monterey CalFire: “The fire spotted over the line in NE corner around 1400PDT and made large run toward the South. This was about1 hour after AT 911 [ed-DC-10] made a drop. At that time they released them from fire back to Victorville. They had to reorder the VLAT [very large air tanker] later on. It made 3rd drop of the day around 1700PDT returning after reloading at McCulen AB. for 4th drop of day Watching VLAT drop 3 times showed how well this weapon works when it has room. All of the drops I saw seemed to go for ever.”

And for the view from on Top o’ the World — lots of smoke to the east, both down toward Bryson, and up toward Gloria. No significant plumes just before sunset.
Triple digit temps, and single digit RHs expected to continue through the weekend.

11:00 am update: California Professional Firefighters Association is reporting: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Monterey Counties in response to a new flurry of wildland fires dotting the coastal counties.

Some 1,500 residents of Rancho Palos Verdes were forced out of their million dollar homes by a stubborn blaze, and a new Monterey Co. fire near Soledad has burned more than 5,000 acres.” (original report of 8K was a typo in original quote.)

These three shots were taken between 7:30 am and 8:00 am. Here’s the smoke from the Gloria Fire from my front deck:
DSC_0600

Here’s the smoke from the Gloria Fire from out back:
DSC_0611

Finally, the smoke from the Bryson Fire shot through the skeletons of last year’s Chalk Fire:
DSC_0605

9:00 am update – went out and took a look, not much to see. Smoke, but no plumes. And on the top of the Santa Lucia’s I can see the smoke from the Bryson, which is still burning to the south and the smoke from the Gloria burning to the north. Quite a perspective. I do have some shots, but not together — distance too great. What a view, though! Photos to follow.

NOTE: NOAA issued red flag warning for Pinnacles, area of Gloria Fire, Santa Lucias, and Los Padres National Forest. Warning in effect until noon today.

7:00 am – There is a lot of smoke out there. A quick check for info, then I’m off to the back to take photos. I can see the plumes from here, amid the trees, but want to get better shots.

I checked with Cheryl, and while she thinks the fire got to the edge of the ranch (it is 21K acres), nothing threatening her, but it is headed toward both Soledad, which is under threat today, and Pinnacles.

It is 5000 acres and 0-15% contained, depending on the source of information. 30-40 homes are threatened. It doubled overnight. Today is supposed to be hotter and drier, too.

La Brea Wildfire (E. of Santa Maria)

Inciweb for this incident;
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1803/

Editorial Comment: Inciweb reported at 7 pm the fire was 10K acres, which equates to 15 sq. miles. Frankly, I have trouble believing that a fire that was doubling in size all morning long did not gain any acreage over a 6 hour period. Granted, these are all “estimates” but these air attack guys and gals get pretty good at estimating these fires.

08/09/2009 @1730
FLASH!….There are reports that flames can now be seen from the Spanish Ranch area of Highway 166. Crews continue to hold the fire at the Sierra Madre Ridge. Incident command is working to provide an updated acreage figure. (inciweb)

1:00 pm – Air Attack estimates the fire at 10,000 acres. Column can be seen in Bakersfield. Drift smoke here.

12:00 noon – “Per ops radio traffic, fire possibly estimated at 5000-6000 acres per AA.” on wildlandfire

11:30 am – drift smoke, but no plume visible this far away. Fire moving north. T

Approximately 9:30 this am inciweb reported:
Current Situation
Total Personnel 362
Size 2,500 acres
Fuels Involved Chaparral
Fire Behavior The fire pushed out in all directions last night and major runs as well as spotting were observed.
Significant Events No action was taken during the evening due to the lack of an anchor point, inaccessable terrain and extreme fire behavior.
Outlook
Planned Actions Establish anchor points.
Growth Potential Extreme
Terrain Difficulty Extreme
Other reports indicate this area hasn’t burned since 1966, and reports are that everyone is gearing up for the long haul.
CA-IMT #3 (Pincha-Tulley) has been assigned.

08/09/2009 @0500
Morning update in progress….
The La Brea Fire, which started yesterday at 2:50 pm, continues to burn in an area of the San Rafael Wilderness that is very steep and difficult to reach on the ground.
The fire moved very rapidly yesterday and long range spotting ahead of the main body of the fire was observed. Bulldozers and crews worked to prepare an area along the Sierra Madre Road to be used as a fire break, should the fire reach there. Eight fixed wing air tankers along with five helicopters were utilized to battle the blaze from the air. Aircraft will again be used on the fire today, just as soon as the sun comes up and it is light enough to launch them from their bases.
Fire behavior is expected to increase today with the high temperature and low relative humidity that is predicted.
###

Basic Information
Incident Type Wildfire
Cause Under Investigation
Location 26 Miles east of Santa Maria
Incident Commander Jamie Copple
Current Situation
Total Personnel 362
Size 1,300 acres
Fuels Involved
Chaparral
Outlook
Growth Potential
Extreme
Terrain Difficulty
Extreme

THE FIRE WENT FROM 150 TO 1200 ACRES IN LESS THAN 3 HOURS YESTERDAY.
*******************************************************************************************
While not close to us, it is of note. Problems with access, with rapid ROS. This from Cal-Fire:

CA-LPF-La Brea Wildland Fire – Los Padres National Forest

Update: 18:00hrs – Fire now reported at 1200 acres, Texas Canyon, Palomar Hotshots enroute.
Update: 17:30hrs – Per SBC PIO Twitter: SBCFireDO536″La Brea” Inc. Veg. Fire. Los Padres Nation Forest. East of Santa Maria. 800 Acres.

Big Sur Wildfire Protection Plan

Last night’s meeting was attended by about a dozen people.

There was a presentation of the process itself, answering questions along the way. The goal is to produce a planning level document which prioritizes wildfire protection strategies, using finite resources, and protecting targeted resources.

This planning document is to be much more detailed about what is on/under/around “target areas” than the Monterey County Wildfire Protection Plan, but consistent with it, and the later will be incorporated by reference into the Monterey County General Plan.

Thirty-seven “target” areas between Andrew Molera State Park in the north, and the San Luis Obispo County line were identified. These target areas incorporate private property parcels into “blocks.”

“For this level of planning it is conditions within, and adjacent to, these ownership blocks that will be for the focus of the information analysis and prioritization procedure.

With respect to future fuels modification project the focus will be primarily on:
– Ridge tops
-Upper mid-slope positions, and;
-Roads”

The project actively solicits community input,both through public meetings and written comments. If you wish to submit written comments, you may do so to: bigsurcwpp@gmail.com or in writing to:

Big Sur Community Wildfire Protection Plan
s/c Daus Environmental Services
P.O. Box 71058
Sunnyvale, CA 94086

If you would prefer to remain anonymous, you may submit your emailed comments to me, at kwnovoa@mac.com, and I will forward them on after removing any identifying information.

If you have any thoughts you wish to share about the process, the plan, the objectives and goals, now is the time to submit them.

A follow-up meeting will be held for the South Coast on July 29th from 7-9 pm. At that meeting a tentative rough draft as to locations and content will be available.

The Big Sur Land Trust is funding and underwriting these efforts.

BSCWPP Meeting

The meeting is tonight, 7/8/09 from 7-9 pm at the South Coast Community Center. A similar meeting is scheduled for the North Coast tomorrow night.

From Joyce, she writes:

Hi,
There is a meeting here tonight at PV school and one tomorrow night at the state park. I hope that many locals will attend.
My point of view on last year’s fires:
I know that on the second day of what became known as the Basin Complex Fire, Don Case’s house and his daughter’s house burned down on Stone Ridge, along with two other homes. A mandatory evacuation had been enforced.
No one, including the Big Sur Volunteer Fire Department, was allowed up the road. Don’s son and son-in-law got around the road-block and were able to save some photos, some tools, and some of Don’s paintings, before they were ordered off the hill. Everything else burned and melted.
I know that some of our neighbors and friends defied the law and stayed to fight the fire. They saved not just their own homes, but, as a result, the rest of Big Sur. Had they not made a stand and risked arrest and incarceration, the Fire would have won.
The Chalk Fire on the southcoast had different people in charge and they respected the will of the locals and allowed them to fight for their homes.
I urge you all to attend this meeting and have a voice in the way this community responds to disaster. Protect our rights to protect our property!
Joyce