6 minute am update on tactics & suppression strategy from Ops Chief, Mark Brunton, Cal Fire ICT3.
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Need someone to Prioritize this Scanner to the Cal Fire Command frequencies away from routine LE traffic.
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Very much appreciate the links. I watch each and they help me and family. I hope you or another will continue to post as it takes lot of time for a newbie to figure all this out!
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follow the official facebook or twitter accounts of Cal Fire CZU, Santa Cruz County Sheriff, and San Mateo County Sheriff. Sign up for alerts to get notified when they start broadcasting. Thy’ve been sticking to a 6am, 7am & 6pm schedule. They coordinate and share video streams so news on the fire could be on any one of those. On FB, use the “videos” tab to see all the events they have posted. Getting information straight from the official source is always more reliable than second & third hand reports.
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Summary from the am briefs:
Fire today is 78,000 acres and 13% contained. They have 1,511 personnel assigned on the fire. So far, they have documented 163 structures lost and the damage assessment is continuing. Due to limited resources, all the crews are working extremely hard and they have adjusted their tactics to cover a lot more ground with fewer people.
Weather yesterday was not as significant as they were expecting, so they had another good day with lots of progress constructing fire line. They got some wind on the fire, but no lighting so no new fires. They even got a few hundredths of rain, so the lower elevations (below 1500’) had some good overnight humidity recovery and that will help the fire. Above 1500’ humidity remains at about 17%.
- North Zone has established a set of control lines on the fire and in some cases, the fire has run into lighter fuels and with the humidity the fire has “self-mitigated”
- Around Davenport, the fire hasn’t moved that much it is still hung up on the ridgetop. Once they get more resources into the fire that is something they will go after, but for right now, they have good control line around the community and can protect that community pretty well.
- On the south side, they continue to improve both a primary and secondary control line that runs from Hwy 1 to Hwy 9. Ops Chief feels now that they really have excellent protection for Santa Cruz & the UC campus and they are “very confident” that those lines are going to hold.
- Felton area fire is still well up on the ridge and looking good.
- All along the Hwy 9 corridor, they have established some control lines where the fire is holding up above the communities but they are not as robust as they would like. Much was established very quickly to try and keep the fire in check, its very primary, but with current fire behavior it is working well. It’s in very extreme rugged terrain and not the best placement of fireline that they would like, but they are “working with what we’ve got.” Nothing along the fires edge there is pushing or threatening the communities. You will see more fire as smoke lifts, and it may have material roll out then start small fire runs back up into the burn, but overall it is moving slowly, so when small areas of fire pop up they can move from area to area and get those worked on. There are a few points, where there are no structures, where the fire has come down and touched Hwy 9. That’s good, Hwy 9 will be a good barrier and a good place to stop the fire and once that is extinguished it makes a nice good solid control line along Hwy 9. It will be a painstakingly slow process with a lot of time and persistent effort to complete a solid section of line, but they are diligently working to do that.
- Bonnie Doon area is very difficult because of the number of structures dispersed throughout the area in steep and rugged terrain. The crews continue to make slow progress to make the community more safe.
Burglary suppression & welfare checks were the priority for law enforcement officers in the area last night. Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s office had calls for 10 suspicious people, 2 welfare checks and they still are working on 4 reports of missing people. They will have 79 LE personnel working out in the area today 33 from the Santa Cruz sheriff’s office & 46 others from surrounding local agencies who have contributed people to the fight. They continue to actively monitor the area for people who prey on fire victims. Last night they made 3 arrests. 2 of the people they contacted last night had active warrants, so they were arrested for that and being in a closed evacuation area, as well as a lady from San Francisco who was seen walking in the area with a back pack - she was contacted and arrested for being in a closed evacuation area. They also contacted one person from the area who was “not supposed to be here” and he was cited and escorted out. They have gotten a number of calls about the ongoing “pre-warning” activities in the the City of Santa Cruz. They are trying to do public information activities but there is not a threat to the city of Santa Cruz at this time.
The Wallet - there has been a lot of interest in the story of the firefighter who was robbed while working on the fire. LEOs continue to work on the case and they will track down that person and they will go to jail.
- editors note: I have also seen much discussion about unrelated and uninvolved citizens trying to start GoFundMe unsolicited accounts for the firefighter. Cal Fire CZU has made at least one public statement to try and shut that effort down, but there is still a lot of public interest and numerous fundraiser requests out there of dubious intent
They did recover a fatality victim at the end of Last Chance rd. yesterday. The area was so remote and difficult to access, they had to coordinate a helicopter rescue to go in and bring out the victim.
San Mateo Sheriff’s office said yesterday they had 6 people who were trying to sneak back in to check on their property and had to be rescued. They entered an area that was restricted and they were surprised by the fire so they had to re-direct resources to go get those people out. the good news is that the people were not injured and everybody got out okay.
Unit Chief Larkin says please stay out of the area and do not try to check on your property. We currently have multiple teams going through the area for the purpose of looking at properties and gathering information on them; we are establishing websites for the public to be able to get info on their residences so you can have an idea of what you have left or if your property was undamaged. We also need to make sure it is safe for our inspectors to get into the area so please be patient with us.
PIO message - It is HIGHLY dangerous in the fire area right now. There are large redwood trees, old growth trees that are coming down across the roads right now. There is infrastructure that needs to be repaired, there are old wooden bridges that might not appear to be damaged but are burned and will fail if anybody drives on them. The fire might not be directly your residence right now, but there are huge hazards out there. The last thing the firefighters want is for someone to be hurt or injured after the danger of the fire has passed. We know it’s hard and we know you are all anxious but please be patient, our crews are doing the best they can to get this under control and get you back in your homes as soon as it is safe.
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evening press brief. replay
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Hearing crews on Hubbard Gulch road in Ben Lomond are getting their butts kicked. Lots of fire in very steep terrain and a 50 acre slop. Heavy Helicopters are non-stop trying to knock the heat out of it…dip site is very close thankfully
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They are beginning to populate the Damage Assessment map with data. It might be slow to load, be patient.
https://sccgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5461c7f372e24ab68ca386e73d58e35a
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6pm
79,640acres
19% contained
443 structures destroyed, 11 in San Mateo Co & 432 in Santa Cruz Co
1,697 personnel assigned
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AM brief Aug 26
80,137 acres
19% contained
538 structures identified destroyed, (11/527)
map continues to be populated with new info as it comes in. 12 Damage Assessment Teams at work.
Blackline on the North East is holding very well, in patrol phase. Still creeping activity on te Northwest side. Davenport may be re-energizing power today if all goes well. Control lines on the south holding well - really good protection for Santa Cruz/UCSC area.
Firing show today /tonight in the South Zone above Felton will be very visible from Hwy 17, they are putting black between the communities and the fire hung up on the ridgeline above Felton & lower Hwy 9.
LE reports third operational period without any arrests, evacuation zone has far less people running around, which is good and makes patrols easier.
IC says situation in areas where fire has secure lines around it will be evaluated for re-population after roadways, utilities and water service can be restored.
Air show with helicopters continues as long as good weather prevails. They have timed out the aircraft for the last three days, 256,000 gallons of water dropped yesterday.
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Visibility is very poor today over the south end of the fire. Normally we can see the mountains above Felton and Ben Lomond from basecamp but they are totally obscured today.
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San Mateo Sheriffs office just announced lifting of many evacuation areas unaffected by the fire on the North side of the fire. Check the evac map for recent clearances:
Pescadero, La Honda, Skylonda, Middleton tract, Portola Heights…
https://www.smcgov.org/smc-wildfire-response
Summary of last night and this am briefings.
81,333 acres
21% contained
646 structures identified as destroyed, 11 in San Mateo Co. 635 in Santa Cruz Co.
Of that total, 445 were residences, 1 multiple family residence, 50 non-residential commercial, and another 150 were other minor structures such as sheds, barns garages, etc. An additional 46 residences damaged, 7 non-residential commercial damaged, 16 other minor structures damaged.
Damage Assessment Team survey is about 55% complete. Many areas have not yet been inspected and work to post info on the website continues.
1982 personnel are now assigned to the fire. New crews continue to report in to the fire and are being put to work.
The firelines in the North Zone continue to hold well. They are patrolling and monitoring areas in Div G and Div K and the Pescadero area.
Butano has fire still creeping slowly down towards the control lines and firefighters are waiting for favorable ground to fight the fire on. Coastal weather continues to mitigate fire activity in that area.
Work in Davenport continues to rebuild the powerlines and get power restored to that area. Lots of PG& E crews working in the area. There is good black line along the west side of the fire and work continues with Cal Trans and utilities to get the Hwy 1 route open.
UCSC started a re-population plan yesterday and fire commanders are confident that the lines on the south will withstand any north winds expected this weekend.
Line around Felton is 3/4 complete, yesterdays burn op was delayed. The fog stuck around too long yesterday and they could not get the fire to burn effectively enough to make a good black line in the areas they wanted until much later in the afternoon. Also, one of the “highly qualified” personnel Chief Brunton spoke about yesterday who would be leading the burning operation had his vehicle broken into and his fire safety gear was stolen out of his vehicle. He was able to get replacement gear and was back on the fireline yesterday, but it was also a disruption to the plan.
Aircraft was not as active yesterday due to weather conditions. only 10,000 gallons of water dropped.
Hwy 236 area and Bonny Doon area roadways are still getting cleared for crews to gain access. There are a lot of damaged trees in the area.
Law Enforcement - They have gone 4 days without new arrests, they will have 42 officers on patrol today, 21 from Santa Cruz Co. 14 from cooperating agencies and 7 from “over the hill”. Law enforcement officers conducted 10 welfare checks, responded to 3 reports of suspicious people and assisted Animal Services with over 100 requests to feed/check on animals left in the area.
Last night’s briefing mentioned that they found the 73 year old man who had been reported missing by a friend after he left safety on Monday and tried to re-enter the evacuation area. He had found a trail on the outskirts of the area and attempted to hike back in and got lost. He spent 2 nights in the woods and was discovered by a search and rescue effort in a very steep area. It required 126 man hours, 3 hours of ambulance time and a helicopter to find him and lift him out. One of the searchers (on mountain bike) was injured in the process. He is going to be okay, but this diverted all kinds of resources to find him and help him. He was taken for treatment and issued a citation. 2 other missing people mentioned at yesterdays briefing have been located and they are okay.
When asked about timelines for evacuations being lifted, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s rep stated that will depend on the restoration of safe roads (hazard trees) and utilities to the area. He estimated that in coordination with fire managers, the time line for:
- Scotts Valley could be a day or few days
- Felton could be days to a week
- Further north up Hwy 9 could be a week to weeks, due to much more fire damage in the area, and much more difficult area which slows progress and makes it difficult to work.
- Bonny Doon could be weeks due to the amount of damage and blocked roads, unsafe trees etc.
- the Last Chance area is even more work.
Santa Cruz Sheriff’s rep said pay attention to the online map, the phased plan to reopen will be announced in advance, you will have time to prepare and it is not productive to come to the evacuation barriers and try to wait there to get in. Law Enforcement will be maintaining a high presence in the area even after the evacuations are lifted to ensure your property safe throughout the repopulation process. He also said there is no system for police escorts in or passes to allow people to check their properties, due to ongoing work by utility crews and emergency crews in the area. People are NOT being allowed in to visit their properties and leave again.
San Mateo County Sheriff announced many areas North of the fire in San Mateo County which were unaffected by the fire have had evacuations lifted this afternoon (Sky Londa, La Honda, Portola Heights, Middleton Tract, Pescadero …etc) Areas in the fire zone remain closed. See San Mateo County evac website in separate post.
Links to Santa Cruz Evac maps & Damage maps:
https://www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/fireresources.aspx
or
www.smco.community.zonehaven.com
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Scotts Valley evacs lifted
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Aug 28, am press update:
82,540 acres
26% contained
799 structures identified as destroyed (11 San Mateo Co / 788 Santa Cruz Co)
of those, 554 are single family residences.
2019 personnel assigned.
- 30 acre slop over in Brookdale area yesterday, attributed to creeping fire in thick duff.
- discovering lots of weakened trees in residential areas affected by fire, lots of problems on Hwy1 with rolling material. One house (unoccupied) in Butano area destroyed yesterday by a falling tree. “days and days” of tedious restoration work remains. Hwy236 “is a mess” and will require a lot of work just to get the road cleared.
- CNG crews arrived on the fire yesterday which will allow more qualified crews to shift to hazard areas while CNG works griding & hotspots.
- pipe bomb discovered by firefighter in a residential area doing mopup yesterday was destroyed in place by Santa Cruz Co bomb team, investigation continues.
- looking at lifting evacs for more areas unaffected by the fire as warranted by conditions. Pay attention to webpage and social media accounts for latest updates.
- Watershed response team work beginning.
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We got an orbit from the Sentinel satellite yesterday, and there was a cloud and fog-free zone over Big Basin Redwoods. I made this image to show the fire severity. It’s not authoritative or vetted on the ground, but these sensors do a pretty good job of capturing what is foliage vs burnt sticks.
Brown and tan areas are devoid of vegetation, lighter shades of tan have a higher severity burn. Some of the lighter tan areas in the image were brush fields before the fire. Blue areas still have foliage. Lighter blue shows more vigorous vegetation.
This image shows that the forest canopy is still intact in large areas of the park. As is typical of most fires, the canyon-bottom areas, which are moister and more sheltered from the wind, appear to have experienced lower-severity fire, while the exposed, hotter and drier ridges had hotter fires.
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Thanks for that insight Zeke🤙🏽
Love Big Basin.
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84,338 Acres
33% containment
9,374 Structures threatened
1,094 Structures damaged -20 in San Mateo County
2,142 Fire personnel
Evacs lifted in additional areas.
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Word at the camp today is the team will transition to the local unit next Wednesday Plan is to keep either 300 or 500 personal (heard both numbers today) and us in Supply could be there until the beginning of October.
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