Let's hope the fire doesn't spread to Muir Woods. Those Redwoods are Red enough already!
Did you make it up this way today? Over the weekend the fire jumped containment lines heading towards the southwest(Big Sur). My daughter who used to live in Big Sur got an evacuation alert on her phone, at 2am. That'll wake you up. She was staying with friends in Carmel Valley.
They are doing a lot of back fires to get it under control. They did a great job saving Carmel Highlands and the White Rock area down passed Carmel Valley. I have a friend who's wife's sisters own two homes in White Rock. They were evacuated early on. The fire got to within 500 feet of their homes. In the end the firemen didn't lose a house in White Rock. The community support for the firefighters has been fantastic. There are signs all over thanking the firefighters for their efforts. The Monterey Aquarium had a fundraiser event over the weekend, for those who lost their homes. The big fear now is the homes down in Big Sur. Today the marine layer is thick. Hopefully the humid fog will help them get the upper hand down there.
Over the weekend the winds picked up. During the first 2 weeks of the fire the winds stayed down. Then there was a weather shift with winds coming down from the north. That pushed the fire to the southwest towards Big Sur and highway 1. I think they are just being cautious by temporarily closing down 1. Like I said the Peninsula has been crawling with firetrucks.Hey Lion. Yea I just drove from Big Sur to Moonstone Beach earlier this evening.
You could see the smoke over the hilltops.
I could be wrong (probably am) but it looks like they are closing the road so the fire trucks can get through. They had a lot of equipment lined up.
Just so sad. What a beautiful area that was decimated because of some assholes leaving a fire unattended in an area that wasn't even supposed to have a fire. Ughhh.
Thanks for all the help and info you and LafayetteBear gave.
You guys live in a beautiful area. I'm jealous.
The fire is up to 70,000 acres now and 55% contained. Yesterday was the smokiest day so far. Winds had turned, coming up out of the south. Blowing the smoke right up over the Peninsula. All of the hills were completely blocked from sight. On TV last night they talked about closing down route 1 completely, soon. I think they are getting ready for another wind change. That's when the fire pushes into new territory. Yeah that land down there is very rugged. That's why it takes so much effort to get it under control. Yes, that looks like Spanish moss. Years ago when I was a kid, we lived on Fort Ord. There was a lot of that in the back woods of Fort Ord. We get so much fog at night that encourages it's growth. They are still on schedule to claim 100% containment by August 31st.
Sad.
Smokes plumes are massive from our house. They focused on Hearst Castle but I think the fire shifted east as a result of winds. Have a few friends out near Running Deer that are very nervous.
Soberanes Fire is now 85,000 acres and still 60% contained. Last weekend they did several critical burns near Big Sur that helped contain it there. The fire continues to burn to the southeast in open rugged territory. Estimated containment has been moved back to Sept 30th. In fact it won't be put out until the rainy season begins. The Forest Service(The Feds) have taken over command of fighting the fire, from Cal Fire. The smoke was better today. However, day to day it changes. One day it's OK, the next day it's really bad.
