The flight from Los Angeles to San Jose started fairly well along the coast and over the Pacific. A huge fog bank lay just off the land extending for miles to the north. Eventually we headed inland flying over mountainous areas. I saw no direct flames from fires but there were definite signs of smoke rising from localized areas. Some photos I took while over the Santa Cruz mountains prior to landing contain plumes of smoke, but no flames.
From San Jose airport I took the AirBus down to Monterey and again, saw no signs of fire nor fire fighting equipment moving along Hwy 101 or Hwy 1. Several years ago during some massive out-breaks of fires when I lived in the Monterey area I drove down to Big Sur to visit friends living above River Inn. There was a steady stream of in- and out-of-State fire equipment as well as a huge contingency of men and equipment near Point Sur lighthouse including a vast array of helicopters.
What I did see at the new Safeway in the Carmel Crossroads shopping area was a large plywood board on which were several notices concerning the Big Sur fire and the East Basin Complex, as they called it. The first two mornings of getting bagels and OJ from the store I told myself I’d photograph the display but forgot both times, leaving my camera in the car. The first morning there was a nice heavy fog with lots of water being deposited from it. No rain, but cool and moist. The third morning, Saturday, July 26, I did take pics. Not spending a lot of time of reading the notices I went on about my business. Not until I returned to Houston did I take the time to read them all. However, the letter from the agency to the people of Carmel Valley I did read and while driving down to the Carmel Highlands, noticed as before, all the signs by the mailboxes and gates thanking the fire fighters for their great efforts.
I decided to add the shots of the board and notices to this blog and have added the text as you might not be able to read it from the photos. Here is an address for the most up-to-date information. It leads to a lot of different places: Big Sur Fire information.
In front of the Carmel Valley Crossroads shopping center’s new Safeway.
Map outlining the various locations of fire fighting facilities and available water for helicopters.
This info sheet from the Monterey Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest, Dated Saturday, July 26, 2008, 7:00 AM: Fire Stats:
Acres burned: 162,818
Acreage increase (last 12 hours): 0
Fireline to build: 0 miles
Date started: 6/21/08
Percent contained: 79%
Expected containment: 7/30/2008
Structures threatened: 677
Structures destroyed: 26 residences, 32 other Resources:
Crews: 25
Engines: 74
Helicopters: 9
Dozers: 17
Total Personnel Assigned: 1,124
Suppression cost to date: $74.7 million
Unified Command: USFE, CAL FIRE, and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office
There is a lot more information about this huge fire area. Please see the link to it above.
Here is the text of the letter from the fire fighting agency
To the Community 0f Carmel Valley
Friday, July 18,2008
Dear Friends:
California Interagency Incident Management Team 1 would like you to know how grateful we are to you for your support, your votes of confidence and you patience during our assigned tour of duty on the Basin Complex.
We very much appreciate the support of your community. Your families and friends gave us plenty of evidence in the form of terrific posters for the firefighters to read as they traveled to and from the fire line each day.
It is a true compliment to your kind and compassionate character as a group that so many of you went far beyond the posted signs along your streets. The generous and creative outpouring of so many delicious baked goods and other items, from socks to flashing yo-yos, from books to dominoes, was just plain wonderful.
But you didn’t stop there. At the community meetings, each of our information officers and our management leaders came away with stories of personally delivered messages of encouragement to us. Every person, every time.
So please accept our short note of thanks to you for making us feel welcome, for making each of us feel appreciated and most of all for making us feel like part of your community.
We shall go to our home units with fond memories, thanks to you.
Sincerely,
Jerry McGowan
Incident Commander
California Interagency Incident Management Team 1
This page tells the people what will happen after the fire is contained. It spells out all the things that will be done to the land, both public and private during restoration. It is quite complex and includes replacement of fences and gates and damages done by equipment.
The people of Big Sur, as in most close-knit communities, begin rebuilding even before the event is fully over. The fire was contained 100% on July 28. This Big Sur Rising happening for raising funds for the Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade and Relief Fund happened on July 26. Lots of local bands and musicians played for all those who drove down to Big Sur to give support.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 2:00 PM and is filed under General News/Commentary.
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You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Big Sur Fire 2008
The Big Sur Fire 2008
The flight from Los Angeles to San Jose started fairly well along the coast and over the Pacific. A huge fog bank lay just off the land extending for miles to the north. Eventually we headed inland flying over mountainous areas. I saw no direct flames from fires but there were definite signs of smoke rising from localized areas. Some photos I took while over the Santa Cruz mountains prior to landing contain plumes of smoke, but no flames.
From San Jose airport I took the AirBus down to Monterey and again, saw no signs of fire nor fire fighting equipment moving along Hwy 101 or Hwy 1. Several years ago during some massive out-breaks of fires when I lived in the Monterey area I drove down to Big Sur to visit friends living above River Inn. There was a steady stream of in- and out-of-State fire equipment as well as a huge contingency of men and equipment near Point Sur lighthouse including a vast array of helicopters.
What I did see at the new Safeway in the Carmel Crossroads shopping area was a large plywood board on which were several notices concerning the Big Sur fire and the East Basin Complex, as they called it. The first two mornings of getting bagels and OJ from the store I told myself I’d photograph the display but forgot both times, leaving my camera in the car. The first morning there was a nice heavy fog with lots of water being deposited from it. No rain, but cool and moist. The third morning, Saturday, July 26, I did take pics. Not spending a lot of time of reading the notices I went on about my business. Not until I returned to Houston did I take the time to read them all. However, the letter from the agency to the people of Carmel Valley I did read and while driving down to the Carmel Highlands, noticed as before, all the signs by the mailboxes and gates thanking the fire fighters for their great efforts.
I decided to add the shots of the board and notices to this blog and have added the text as you might not be able to read it from the photos. Here is an address for the most up-to-date information. It leads to a lot of different places: Big Sur Fire information.
In front of the Carmel Valley Crossroads shopping center’s new Safeway.
Map outlining the various locations of fire fighting facilities and available water for helicopters.
This info sheet from the Monterey Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest, Dated Saturday, July 26, 2008, 7:00 AM:
Fire Stats:
Acres burned: 162,818
Acreage increase (last 12 hours): 0
Fireline to build: 0 miles
Date started: 6/21/08
Percent contained: 79%
Expected containment: 7/30/2008
Structures threatened: 677
Structures destroyed: 26 residences, 32 other
Resources:
Crews: 25
Engines: 74
Helicopters: 9
Dozers: 17
Total Personnel Assigned: 1,124
Suppression cost to date: $74.7 million
Unified Command: USFE, CAL FIRE, and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office
There is a lot more information about this huge fire area. Please see the link to it above.
Here is the text of the letter from the fire fighting agency
To the Community 0f Carmel Valley
Friday, July 18,2008
Dear Friends:
California Interagency Incident Management Team 1 would like you to know how grateful we are to you for your support, your votes of confidence and you patience during our assigned tour of duty on the Basin Complex.
We very much appreciate the support of your community. Your families and friends gave us plenty of evidence in the form of terrific posters for the firefighters to read as they traveled to and from the fire line each day.
It is a true compliment to your kind and compassionate character as a group that so many of you went far beyond the posted signs along your streets. The generous and creative outpouring of so many delicious baked goods and other items, from socks to flashing yo-yos, from books to dominoes, was just plain wonderful.
But you didn’t stop there. At the community meetings, each of our information officers and our management leaders came away with stories of personally delivered messages of encouragement to us. Every person, every time.
So please accept our short note of thanks to you for making us feel welcome, for making each of us feel appreciated and most of all for making us feel like part of your community.
We shall go to our home units with fond memories, thanks to you.
Sincerely,
Jerry McGowan
Incident Commander
California Interagency Incident Management Team 1
This page tells the people what will happen after the fire is contained. It spells out all the things that will be done to the land, both public and private during restoration. It is quite complex and includes replacement of fences and gates and damages done by equipment.
The people of Big Sur, as in most close-knit communities, begin rebuilding even before the event is fully over. The fire was contained 100% on July 28. This Big Sur Rising happening for raising funds for the Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade and Relief Fund happened on July 26. Lots of local bands and musicians played for all those who drove down to Big Sur to give support.
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 2:00 PM and is filed under General News/Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.