Big Sur California Forest Fires
 

The Gallery Fire in Big Sur has burned 2000 acres and is 0% contained. It's located 2-3 miles south of Big Sur in the Los Padres Forest. The fire is moving northward. Highway 1 remains closed between the Ventana Inn on the north to the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to the south.
This is horrible news for the wilderness of Big Sur. I know my wife and I are planning to return to Big Sur this October. I sure hope they can contain this fire so it won't destroy such a beautiful coastline :(

The link shows the current conditions and areas closed for the Gallery and Indians Forest Fires in Los Padres National Forest.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/lospadres/conditions/

Dear God, your backyard is on fire!

I would assume Nepenthe would be closed as Hwy 1 is closed.

Ugh, horrible. My gf and I have plans for Big Sur this summer.

Welcome to California!

Curious

I just called Nepenthe and was told that they will be closed until Hwy 1 is reopened. He told me that Nepenthe as of right now is safe from the fire.

I'm not sure if thats smoke or fog in Nepenthe's web cam.

http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/

My wife and I are staying to the Post Ranch Inn in October. I just got off the phone with them as I was concerned about the fires in the area.
The women I spoke at Post Ranch told me that the fire is heading east away from the ranch. The fire fighters are hoping this fire will connect with the larger Indian fire and burn itself out.
You can click on my above link to see the locations of the fires. She did say that the Gallery fire which is the closest to them is burning out of control.

We have fog and smoke in Carmel, today. The weather is so strange. Blame Bush.

By the way, here's an excellent website with webcam shots: http://www.kusp.org/fire/sur.html

Thanks Tess

You're welcome. I just talked to someone who lives in BS. She said that their car is loaded up, their business is boxed up and they're waiting to hear whether or not they have to evacuate. She said she was miserable, last night, while trying to sleep...burning nose, coughing, it's terrible. It's very windy, today, too.

I just hope the Gallery fire moves east away from the coast. This would give it a better chance of burning itself out while converging with the larger Indians fire.

I just read that the Big Sur fire which is now called Basin is expected to merge with the larger Gallery fire to the south and east of Big Sur as early as this evening.

The Basin fire in the Ventana Wilderness area is unstaffed. Structure protection engines were in place along Partington Ridge, the North Coast Ridge Road and Highway 1.
Local fire crews are holding the fire east of Highway 1 and south of the community of Big Sur.

You can see the smoke coming over the ridge in the Nepenthe web cam.
http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/images/weather-cam.html

They said on the news that there are over 100 fires burning and some are not staffed since they do not pose a threat at this point.

It is going to be a long summer for our firefighters...let's say a prayer for them.

Here is a local news clip from Big Sur and Nepenthe.

http://www.ksbw.com/video/16701728/index.html

It sounds like this summer will be bad for California fires, and our prayers are with the firefighters and residents there.

In less than 3 weeks we have plans for a San Francisco/Carmel/Big Sur trip down Hwy. 1 (ultimately arriving in Pasadena a week later to fly out of Burbank). Does anyone have a report on the current conditions? It's probably too early to tell if we should change parts of our plans (I wouldn't even know what to change them to), but I am concerned. Thanks for your responses!

tam1065 :

We live in Santa Cruz County - north end of Monterey Bay - our county has already had three bad fires in June with a number of homes and livestock lost.

Today there is some smoke in the air here from the fires near Big Sur, and it is my understanding that Highway One is closed south of Monterey.

It's been very scary - we live in the redwood forest in Santa Cruz Mountains and have moved all our photo albums and other irreplacable items to a friend's home in San Jose. We have cat carriers next to the front door, and a plan in place in the event of a fire close to our home. There is but one long two-lane road in and out of our populated valley, so we know it will likely not be possible to evacuate if there is a fast-moving fire.

If the fires are not out by the time you arrive (or if there are new ones) you will probably have to head east to Hwy 101 from Monterey/Carmel and then you can loop back to the coast further south past Big Sur and continue to Pasadena.

Tam, if your trip is three weeks away, you'll probably be fine. If you have reservations with an inn in the southern part of Big Sur, you might want to contact them next week, depending on how the fires go, and see what's up. I know that as of today, Deetjen's and Ventana are both still fully evacuated, as they're on the east side of Highway One. Many restaurants have closed, the state parks are all closed to all except firefighters and Highway One is still closed between Ventana and Esalen. But some places are open.

It sort of breaks my heart to know that right now Julia Pfeiffer Burns. Firefighters are there battling the fire way in the back of the park, but there's no roads going back there, so they're limited to hand crews and airplane drops. I hope they can control this area in particular, because to me JPB is the crown jewel of Big Sur. My husband and I had a wonderful stay in a house just south of there 3 weeks ago and now that magnificent area is evacuated and directly threatened. Unfortunately, fire in the Big Sur wilderness happens. I just hope they can get a handle on this one very soon.

scdreamer:

Thank you for your response. Our trip doesn't rate as very important compared to what you in the area must be living through. I truly hope and pray that all goes well with the residents first and can only imagine what you are going through. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question, and I hope the fires are contained soon.

All of Northern California is very smoky. Here is the article from the SF Chronicle with warnings especially for certain groups of people. The smokey air is sure getting to me today.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl....DTL&tsp=1

I am in the lower end of the Sacramento Valley and although our Wild Horse Fire (Napa and Solano Counties) is contained between that and all the other fires it is terrible. My heart breaks for all the fire fighters.

Hmmm, my heart breaks for all of the people & animals being threaten by the fires.

Jay Zee, so does mine.

Well my heart breaks for all the people and animals in the line of the various fires also. But thank God for our firefighters. And with the heat, the heavy firefighting outfits they have to wear, the hard work and the very very smoky air..well I am not the only one that considers them heros.

Here is the link for the current conditions of the Gallery and Basin Complex Fire that is in Big Sur.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/lospadres/conditions/

From what I can interpret, I don't think the Complex Basin will be contained anytime soon. This is the fire closest to the Hwy 1 and the coast.

LoveItaly,
You need a well deserved vacation.

Tam,
Hope you can still take your trip in 3 weeks.

Hi andrew8, yes I would sure love to get away from here but it is not possible. But I know there is worse air in other areas. I was afraid it was going to be a long hot summer with many fires as we had the driest season in recorded history. And I read more electrical storms are predicated, sigh. We need a good rain storm!

HI LI & andrew-
Smoky, hazy conditions here in
southern Sonoma County. We have the windows shut and fans on "low"
throughout the house. This is nearly the same as last Thursday when we hit 102 degrees, except the fans were on "high".

Heard on the news last night the
Gov. may ban fireworks sales -
I sure hope he does - the only green I see from my deck is vineyards - the rest is buff brown hills, everywhere - the area is a tinder box.

I know your heart breaks for Everyone impacted by these fires, LI - I say thank goodness for the firefighters, too ! It's so early in the season, it will be a major physical endurance test for all of them - I surely hope that when folks are told to evacuate that they do so. I can relate to the
"cat carriers next to the front door". You have to be pretty calm homeowner while scooping up the kitties or they will hide under beds or deep in closets just when you only have minutes to leave. Been there...

Here's a link for tam, andrew and others - you can put in the zip code
of where you will be visiting
Monterey is 93940-TTess knows of others in the area.

http://weather.cbs5.com

Wishing for a rain.

R5

Hi there Razzle. I just got home. I was thinking of you two and wondering how you were doing. I have never seen this before..some people out and about were wearing paper masks.
A tinderbox indeed. For a bit the wind came up which caused concerns but it seems calm here now. Take care and stay inside if possible. Sending you a hug!

Hi Razzle,
Hope the smoke clears up in your area soon and more importantly that no fires flare-up in your area.

LoveItaly,
Hang in there! Wishing you the best.

Hi Love & andrew
Yes, I saw masks on some folks around here today as well.
I understand they declared the air
quality as "Hazardous" in Solono,
Contra Costa, Alameda, Sonoma & Marin counties for today.

For us, the fog came in around 5 PM
so it didn't smell quite so bad.
Did you see the sun between 5-8 PM
tonight ? It was glowing a hot red-orange ! Something to see against those gray skies.

Thanks for your good wishes and the same back to you !

R5

This article posted tonight on LA Times website

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,1270531.story

Highway 1 is still closed but they interviewed some Euro-tourists who were surprised by this fact.

That's horrible news about the fire moving closer to Big Sur. The latest update from the National Park service should out be out soon.
I just read that the fires were very close to Deetjens :( I guess it's easy to tell that Big Sur has a special to me from many previous visits.

Oh, no, not Deetjen's. I couldn't bear to lose that place. Andrew, so many good times there over the years for us, too. We took scads of photos there this month and I've been putting together an album of it the last few days--how ironic. Deetjen's--hang on!!

Razzle mentioned the sun..here is a photo from the Vallejo Time Herald with a photo of the sun which yes, that is how it is looking.

http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_9698744

Beautiful but scary!

For those who are seeing and smelling the smoke, I would take the health warnings seriously. It may be anecdotal or coincidence, but I think it can affect your ability to fight off colds and flu the following year.

I know more than a few people who have had extra tough winters with lingering chest congestion following the two San Diego fires.

So be careful and if you already have lung issues, I would even consider getting out of town if at all possible. It's the stuff you can't even see that's the worst.

Hellon mlgb, I agree. I am worried about a dear friend. She gets bronchitis every winter and is always ill for over a month. She, much to my dismay, was out and about without any good reason for hours today. She won't listen to how this is not a good idea, sigh.

Heartbreaking, worrisome. Another hellish summer in the making on each coast, seems like.

So sad re: Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP, one of my favorite go-to places out there.

Best wishes to all, please take care.

Razzle, aren't fireworks already illegal in the whole State? They certainly are here in San Diego. I think the Governor was talking about cancelling commercial fireworks shows, a good idea IMO.

I'm in Stanislaus County and the air here is miserable. Very unhealthy for anyone. The "safe and Sane" fireworks are not banned all over California. I agree with the Governor.... I'm not buying any this year. Fireworks stands are up and sales begin Saturday. I know it's a huge fundraiser for a lot of groups here, but we just can't take any more smoke!! I have not been grilling this week either. I'll be in Reno for the 4th. I wonder how it will be there. Everyone please take care, heed the warnings and Bless the firefighters.

Sorry for all of this living in the unhealthy air conditions.
It looks like the Big Sur Fire won't be contained anytime soon :(

I could believe the picture I saw yesterday of the smoke filled sky line over San Francisco Bay.

mean to say couldn't believe