Question about the fires near Big Sur?

Question

I've been hearing about these wildfires going on in Cali right now, the last thing i heard was that there was one fire about a mile away from big sur and they had to close down parts of PCH1 to fight it

i've only been to Cali once on vacation, but i went to just about every park in that area, i've never been to a more beautiful place in my life, it was indescribable

i just wanna know if anyone has any idea how bad the damage is? i plan on going back and i really wanna visit that area again, hopefully its not too bad

Answer 1

Fire location: One mile south of Big Sur, Los Padres National Forest

Date/time started: June 21, 2008 / 12:56 pm Total acres burned: approximately 26,763

Percent contained: 3% Fire line to be constructed: unknown

Expected containment: not determined Expected control: not determined

Suppression costs to date: $1,964,700 Structures damaged/destroyed: 16 residences, 2 out-buildings

Cause: Lightning Structures threatened: 575

Staffing:

Engines Crews Dozers Air Tankers Helicopters Total Personnel

54 24 9 7 3 743

Terrain/vegetation/difficulties: Steep rocky terrain; heavy fuels—chaparral, grass, trees; limited access; drought conditions; dry gusty winds.

Current situation: The Gallery Fire and the Basin Fire have burned together, therefore a single acreage and percentage of containment will be used in future updates. The fire continued to burn actively at the higher elevations today, exhibiting extreme fire behavior. It continues to move south into the South Fork of the Big Sur River drainage, and north towards Manuel Peak and is also moving E/NE into Pine Valley and southwest into the South Fork of the Big Sur River. The fire continues to back down towards portions of Highway 1. Structure protection engines remain in place along Partington Ridge, the North Coast Ridge Road and Highway 1. Crews continue to hold the fire east of Highway 1 and south of the community of Big Sur.

Evacuations: Evacuations remain in place in the Partington Ridge area. Should further evacuations be required the Red Cross is prepared to open an evacuation center in Carmel. The SPCA for Monterey County will operate an emergency animal evacuation shelter for household pets (dogs, cats, etc.) adjacent to any American Red Cross evacuation site. Please contact the SPCA first at 831-373-2631 or at 831-646-5534 (after hours) for information on evacuating horses and livestock.

Closures and road status: Highway 1 is closed between Esalen on the south and the Ventana Inn on the north. Esalen can be accessed from the south. Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is closed. Escorted convoys continue through the closure area for residents only and are subject to change based upon fire activity. Several businesses along Highway 1 in the fire area are closed. All national forest lands north of Nacimiento-Ferguson Road are closed to public access.

Agencies: U.S. Forest Service, CAL FIRE, Big Sur Volunteer Fire Department, California State Parks, California Highway Patrol, CalTrans, Monterey County and other agencies.

Incident Management: Unified Command with Mike Dietrich (California Interagency Incident Management Team 5); Chief Frank Pinny (Big Sur Volunteer Fire Department); and Monterey County Sheriff. The incident command post is located at Andrew Molera State Park.

http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/PR_OES/PR_f...

You should the information you asked about at that link. Most fire related sites are down right do to over loading. We have close to one thousand fires actively burning here in California. Most were caused by lightning.

Because of the dry conditions, I would expect most of Los Padres National Forset to closed at least until November. So I would suggest check out the status of where you planning are going. Keep in mind that our fire session runs until November normally.

I hope this helps.