10:25PM Wednesday October 1 Update
Here’s tonight’s IAP. Keeping the fire south of the Vicente Trail and north of the Prewitt dozer lines are still listed as objectives. And here’s another example of the kind of stuff the Forest Service doesn’t seem to like sharing with the public. In this case it’s a Fire Spread Probability Map prepared yesterday. Why don’t they post this stuff on Inciweb?
10:00PM Wednesday October 1 Update
Inciweb has raised the estimate of acres burned to 5,050 this evening. And here’s what they say is happening:
Current Status: The fire was most active on the northwest flank today. There was also activity on the southeast flank. Crews worked through the day improving and constructing control lines and keeping Nacimiento-Fergusson Road clear of falling snags and rolling debris. Humidity levels are predicted to increase up to 40% this evening which will aid suppression efforts.
Crews and dozers will continue to construct and hold direct lines on both the north and south sides of Nacimiento -Fergusson Road. They will provide structure protection on Prewitt Ridge and will be preparing for structure protection in the Pacific Valley and Highway 1 area. Burning out operations will occur only when necessary and when crews feel the conditions are favorable. Firefighter and public safety will remain the highest priority.
So what can we glean from this? Well, the statement about the fire being most active on the northwest flank seems to imply that what we’re seeing on MODIS is not a backfire from the Vicente Flat Trail, but the main fire itself moving forward to the trail (although we still think it’s striking how well those heat detections have lined up along the route of the trail and we do find it odd that there was such a wide gap between them and the main fire). We also received a message from Mark Readdie at Big Creek who talked to a Forest Service Supervisor who told him that hand line has NOT been built along the Vicente Flat Trail and that they expect the fire to burn all the way north to the Basin Complex burn. So what happened to the Forest Service plan to “continue to construct hand line to keep the fire … south of the San Vicente Trail to San Antonio Trail” (as announced Monday on Inciweb)? Keeping the fire south of the Vicente Trail is, in fact, still listed as an objective in today’s IAP.
We’re also a bit concerned with the talk about “preparing for structure protection in the Pacific Valley and Highway 1 area.” Does this mean they’re giving up on stopping the fire at Prewitt Ridge, or is this just contingency planning? Kind of reminds us of when they issued a statement about the Basin Fire moving toward Carmel. It sure would be nice if they’d be a bit more clear about what their current objectives are!
3:50PM Wednseday October 1 Update
New MODIS data is showing some interesting developments. What’s this heat detection way off on the wrong side of Prewitt Ridge? If the fire was really burning here, we think we’d have heard about it from Big Sur Kate by now, so we’re going to assume that this is a MODIS hallucination:
And look at this. A string of new heat detections right along the route of the Vicente Flat (Kirk Creek) Trail. They said they were building hand line along this trail and it looks, from this, like they may be starting to backfire from it now:
More backfiring? Hard to tell, but that could be the explanation for two new heat detections right on top of the ridge between the Nacimiento and San Antonio River headwaters:
3:15PM Wednesday October 1 Update
For your reading pleasure: Today’s IAP
8:50AM Wednesday October 1 Update
Inciweb has raised the size of the fire to 3,760 acres this morning and raised the containment figure to 13%. They’re saying the rate of spread this morning has been slow and MODIS agrees that the fire is much less active than it was on the last pass. No telling what it will do once the day begins to warm, of course. Here’s an overview:
The only expansion visible on MODIS since the last pass is in the east, where a heat detection has turned up inside Fort Hunter Liggett territory for the first time. This is deep in the Nacimiento River canyon:
11:45PM Tuesday September 30 Update
The latest MODIS data suggests that fire activity is picking up tonight from one end of the fire to the other. Here’s the overview:
MODIS finds fire actively climbing Alms Ridge and (in the background) nearing Prewitt Ridge:
Things continue to heat up above Vicente Flat:
And the upper Nacimiento River watershed seems to be burning pretty much everywhere you look:
11:30PM Tuesday September 30 Update
Inciweb, which this afternoon was reporting only a “slow” rate of fire spread today, now says that the fire “became active earlier today than on previous days” and has doubled in size (to 3,453 acres) in the past 24 hours. On the bright side, they’ve upped the containment estimate to 8% and posted the most up-to-date map we’ve yet seen.
2:50PM Tuesday September 30 Update
There’s nothing new on Inciweb, but the MODIS satellite has made another pass. Overall there appears to be renewed activity on both the northern and southern fronts. Here’s the overview:
Here’s a view of the southern end. An enormous amount of smoke has been rising from near the location of the recent heat detection on the right (just to the east of the South Coast Ridge), so we think it’s safe to say that the fire has been making a good sized run in that area:
Here’s a view of the Hare Creek drainage, where MODIS is once again detecting fire. One of the Forest Service’s stated objectives is to prevent the fire from crossing this drainage. Hare Creek is also the location of Vicente Flat, one of the more popular Ventana Wilderness destinations (and just about the only popular Ventana Wilderness destination as yet unburned) — so we’ve marked the location:
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Cone Peak Rd., the fire appears to have reached the top of the ridge separating the Nacimiento and San Antonio River watersheds:
10:20AM Tuesday September 30 Update
Big Sur Kate is reporting that the fire approaching Prewitt and Alms Ridges is up and running again. This fire is now moving uphill through a populated area, so our thoughts are with those who are working right now to save their homes.
9:45AM Tuesday September 30 Update
Well, the Forest Service has finally updated Inciweb and the big news is that an overnight burn out operation was a success, but that, miraculously, the total number of acres burned remains at 1,708. The burn out was in Division A, which means the western portion of the fire burning just above the Nacimiento Fergusson Rd. In spite of the burn out, containment remains at only 5%.
They’ve also posted a new map that’s so outdated it puts the fire at only 1,280 acres and shows none of yesterday’s moves to the north and south.
8:55AM Tuesday September 30 Update
Inciweb still hasn’t been updated this morning. Funny how when the big shots take over command of a fire from the local Forest Service people the quality of the information being made available to the public takes a nose dive – in spite of all those teams of “information officers.”
The overnight MODIS data shows the fire a bit quieter, with the big fronts that were advancing north and south yesterday having laid down a bit. Here’s the overview:
Here’s a view of the southern end of the fire. It looks like the fire was more active on the east side of the South Coast Ridge during the night than on the west:
The fire was also less active in the north (no new heat detections in the Hare Creek watershed), with the notable exception of what looks like a long run toward the Nacimiento/San Antonio River divide:
Here’s a closer look at the heat detection near the ridge separating the Nacimiento and San Antonio watersheds (in the center foreground). This heat detection is very close to the San Antonio Trail (which the Forest Service is turning into a hand line in order to stop the fire’s northward spread). The trail leaves the road (just left of the white road scar), drops down onto the top of the ridge, then descends toward the San Antonio River (the watershed on the right). We don’t know whether the hand line they’re building stays with the trail or keeps to the top of the ridge, but either way it looks like the fire has now reached or is very close to the northern containment line in this area (the mountain in the background marked with a green pushpin is Cone Peak):
9:45PM Monday September 29 Update
The latest MODIS data indicate a very active fire that has expanded considerably today. Here’s the overview:
A large front now appears to be burning south on both sides of the South Coast Ridge as well as toward Prewitt Ridge and Alms Ridge:
To the west, the fire is burning through open country above the Nacimiento Fergusson Rd.:
But it’s in the north that the fire appears to have made the biggest gains. MODIS now places the leading edge of the fire inside the Hare Creek watershed (Vicente Flat is located on Hare Creek):
9:25PM Monday September 29 Update
Inciweb has finally updated their estimate of the number of acres burned and the number has almost doubled (to 1,708 acres). This means that at the current rate of spread it should take another 50 days or so for the fire to burn out the entire 45,000 acres inside the fire lines outlined today on Inciweb. Even recognizing that a lot can burn in a hurry if conditions allow, we doubt the fire will be able to complete this job on it’s own before the rains start. We’re guessing they’re either going to have to hurry it along with a lot of burn outs or work to contain it within a smaller area. In any case, here’s what they say about today’s fire behavior:
Current Status: The fire continued to be very active today with spotting and intense uphill runs. Crews and dozers worked through the day constructing control lines. The fire has high potential to move quickly and erratically tonight. Crews tonight will continue to construct hand line where possible. Fire fighter and public safety is the highest priority.
5:00PM Monday September 29 Update
Inciweb is still holding the fire size at 925 acres and providing the same maps (which were already outdated when they first posted them last night). Big Sur Kate, on the other hand, has posted a new photo showing the fire has continued creeping down the Mill Creek drainage since yesterday and that it has now moved outside the boundaries of the Forest Service map in that area as well.
Meanwhile, a friend of ours has done a rough calculation of how many acres would be blackened if the entire area inside the fire lines currently described by Inciweb is actually allowed to burn. He gets 45,000 acres. That’s quite a fire.
Here’s something else you won’t find on Inciweb. Click here to read today’s IAP (not much information about the fire, but lots of detail about the firefighting effort).
12:50PM Monday September 29 Update
Inciweb is still clinging to their estimate of 925 acres, but they have added some interesting new information:
Current Status: The fire continued to be very active last night with spotting and intense uphill runs on the northeast side. Crews worked through the night constructing control lines. The fire has a high potential to move extremely quickly and erratically and the terrain is very steep. Today crews will continue to construct hand line to keep the fire north of Prewitt Ridge, west of Del Venturi Road, south of the San Vicente Trail to San Antonio Trail and east of Highway 1. Crews will be supported by helicopters and air tankers.
The runs to the northeast confirm what we’ve been seeing from MODIS, but what’s really interesting here is that they seem to be saying they don’t plan to contest the fire burning all the way from Highway One to Del Venturi Rd.! We’re glad to see they’re taking a more proactive stance against the fire burning north and south along the populated coast than they did for the Basin Complex. Maybe something has been learned. But they are still conceding a lot of territory, including a very significant chunk of San Antonio River watershed. The San Antonio River is already at risk of serious floods and debris flows due to the Indians Fire. It doesn’t really need more of its watershed burned this year. Maybe the cooler, damper weather forecast for this week will slow things down and make it possible for hand crews to contain this thing before it burns quite that far.
7:40AM Monday September 29 Update
Inciweb has decided on an exact figure (925 acres) for the fire this morning and has even announced 5% containment. The MODIS heat detecting satellites, however, say that the fire is much larger (burning way beyond the boundaries shown on the Forest Service Fire Map), and that it was very actively burning overnight. Here’s an overview:
Here’s a closer look at the southern front burning through the headwaters of Mill Creek. A photo taken by Big Sur Kate around 1:00PM yesterday puts fire much further down the Mill Creek watershed than MODIS has yet detected:
And here’s the very active northern front:
About the only good news is that there were no new heat detections on the far-flung eastern front (just above Nacimiento Camp). Inciweb also says they plan to “burn out” dozer line from Prewitt Ridge west to Hwy. One. That’s some rough and risky country, so we sure hope all goes as planned.
11:00PM Sunday September 28 Update
Inciweb says the fire has now reached 800-900 acres. They have also posted a fire map that lists the acreage burned as approximately 925, but (as usual with Forest Service hand-outs) it doesn’t look too up-to-date or accurate. MODIS has been showing a lot of burning well to the east of the area shown on the map throughout the day today and there have also been reports of the fire burning well to the south and north of what is shown. Big Sur Kate remains the best source for breaking news on this fire.
4:50PM Sunday September 28 Update
Inciweb now puts the fire at 600-800 acres and notes that an Evacuation Advisory has been issued. Here’s what they’re saying:
Summary
Evacuation update: All National Forest campgrounds along the Nacimiento-Ferguson Road, Southcoast Ridge road and Prewitt Ridge, have been evacuated. An Evacuation Advisory, be prepared to evacuate, has been issued for Highway 1 in the Limekiln, Mill Creek, Hermitage and Harlan Property areas. This is a precautionary notice that people in these areas should be prepared to evacuate if an evacuation order is issued.
The Chalk Fire started at approximately 7:30 p.m last evening and has now burned 600-800 acres. The fire is located just to the north of Chalk Peak, approximately 22 miles south west of King City, in the Monterey County section of Los Padre National Forest. The fire is burning in oak and brush west of Chalk Peak and South Coast Ridge Road and is on both sides of South Coast ridge Road. By 1:00 p.m. this afternoon, the fire had crossed Nacimiento Ferguson Road and is currently burning on both sides of the road. The fire is currently very visible, as it is generating a several large columns of smoke.
Cause of the fire is under investigation.
Road closures: Nacimiento Ferguson Road is closed at Highway-1 on the west side and at the forest boundary on the east side. South Coast Ridge Road is closed at Nacimiento Ferguson Road and Highway-1 at Plaskett Creek.
Evacuations: As a precautionary measure, 3 national forest campgrounds southwest of the fire have been advised to evacute. Other rural residences and private inholdings may need to be evacuated.
Resources either on scene or ordered: 7 helicopters, 8 air tankers, 1 lead plane, 1 air attack aircraft and 10 engines.
4:45PM Sunday September 28 Update
A report has appeared on the Wildland Fire Forum that the famous DC-10 tanker (Tanker 910) is now en route to the Chalk Fire. Let the airshow begin …
4:00PM Sunday September 28 Update
New MODIS data shows the fire burning over a wider area as well as an increase in heat on the fire’s eastern front. The new heat detections are mainly near the top of the South Coast Ridge, running from just south of Chalk Peak north toward the Nacimiento Fergusson Rd. (the yellow push pin on the right is the NF Rd. Summit). It should be noted that MODIS places the eastern fire front on the slopes directly above Nacimiento Camp:
2:00PM Sunday September 28 Update
Inciweb has already increased their acreage estimate to 500-600 acres and there are reportedly three dozers en route from Cachagua, with a fourth scheduled to be sent Monday morning.
1:30PM Sunday September 28 Update
Inciweb has some info!! Their headline puts the current size of the burn at 500 acres, although the text on the page still says 250. They also say the fire has crossed the Nacimiento Fergusson Rd., which would suggest a fire front is moving north toward the Basin Complex burn. Here’s what they have to say:
Summary
The Chalk Fire started at approximately 7:30 p.m last evening and has now burned 250 acres. The fire is located just to the north of Chalk Peak, approximately 22 miles south west of King City, in the Monterey County section of Los Padre National Forest. The fire is burning in oak and brush west of Chalk Peak and South Coast Ridge Road and is on both sides of South Coast ridge Road. By 1:00 p.m. this afternoon, the fire had crossed Nacimiento Ferguson Road and is currently burning on both sides of the road. The fire is currently very visible, as it is generating a large column of smoke.
Cause of the fire is under investigation.
Road closures: Nacimiento Ferguson Road is closed at Highway-1 on the west side and at the forest boundary on the east side. South Coast Ridge Road is closed at Nacimiento Ferguson Road and Highway-1 at Plaskett Creek.
Evacuations: As a precautionary measure, 3 national forest campgrounds southwest of the fire have been advised to evacute. Other rural residences and private inholdings may need to be evacuated.
Resources either on scene or ordered: 7 helicopters, 8 air tankers, 1 lead plane, 1 air attack aircraft and 10 engines.
See Big Sur Kate for dramatic photos taken within the past hour and up-to-the-minute reports from the South Coast.
12:30PM Sunday September 28 Update
Information on the Chalk Fire is still hard to come by. Nothing on Inciweb so far (surprise, surprise). The MODIS thermal satellite data shows two very widely separated fire fronts, making us wonder if this isn’t really two separate fires. If one fire had burned this far in different directions since last night, we’d certainly expect to be seeing more heat detections. But with MODIS, you never know.
Here’s the western fire burning in the headwaters of Mill Creek. The good news is that the latest satellite pass didn’t pick up any new hot spots here:
And here’s the still active (according to MODIS) eastern fire burning on a mountainside above the Nacimiento River. The western fire and the NF Road summit can be seen in the distance:
A new fire, already named the “Chalk Fire” broke out last night on the South Coast Ridge. As of now, the best source of information (by far) on this unpleasant development is Big Sur Kate.
Xasáuan Today 
Thanks, XT. No online or hotline “official” info yet, so I am putting it together from on the ground reports and visual observations. Trying to verify what I hear or read, but it is difficult. I do know the “official” reports of 30 acres are WAY off the mark. Unofficially, I’ve heard 200-300 acres, but I’ve watched the plumes grow considerably in the last hour.
I’ve found nothing on GeoMac yet either. All be safe down there!
This afternoon will tell the tale, Kate… if they can’t get their arms around it, and the wind shows up, it could get ugly heading toward Hunter Liggett mas pronto.
the traditional media seemed not to be reporting this fire, does anyone know why?
We were at the Hermitage and awoke to ashes on our cars Sunday morning, and a brown sky, we KNEW something had gone on but didn’t know how close.
I hope and pray that all creatures great and small will get through this and our friends at the Hermitage and beyond.
Betty Withrow reported today that the fire is heading south, but had not yet reached the creek. That was approximately 10 (accurate time to 1/2 hour on my blog). Also, a secondary dozer line is being put in off my property down Home Ridge, letting out just south of PV Station.
Is it possible to get a hold of more of those daily IAPs? That is useful to know who is in charge of which division. Especially since I know some of those folks from the last fire and can try contacting them for updates. Thanks, Mark
We’ll try. They got ticked off when we started posting excerpts from them during the Basin Fire and started treating them like classified information. We’ll see what happens this time … XT
Fire did make the NPR news and KCBS out of SF.
Smoke down here,near the SLO county line and extending south over Patty’s daddy’s Ranch. Hoping the Santanna doesn’t come up.
Planning to drive to N CA for the fall blacksmith conference tomorrow, but worried about leaving.
Thank you all for the updates!…pf
According to the USFS supervisor working in Big Creek Reserve at the moment (I worked with him during the Basin Fire as well, so good to see a familiar face-got a hold of him through the IAP you posted-thanks!), there is no hand line being build along the Vicente Flat-San Antonio trail. Don’t believe everything you read, he said. A fact I can confirm with you is that they are building a hand line here in the Reserve and will use that plus our road to backfire and protect our structures and Bob and Joey’s house down at Circle M when (if) the fire gets here. Unfortunately, and things could change, they are preparing for the fire to round Cone Peak, probably from the east but maybe from the west and drop into Devils Creek or Vicente Creek. They are re-opening the fire break along the hermitage road, up over Lucia and down the ridge south of Vicente Creek on Circle M Ranch. This way, the fire can burn north, right up to Dolan Ridge and into the black of the Basin Fire. His story is that the fire is hung up above Fresno campground along the ridge there but that they have kept it below the cone peak road just west so far.
Now, you don’t have to take his or my word for it, call it “contingency” but here at Big Creek they are fully expecting this fire to burn north to the Basin and Indians perimeters. We shall see. We’re just glad we have good support here on the ground and we’re already pretty prepared from our experience with the Basin Fire being stopped on Dolan Ridge.
Best wishes to all,
Mark
Just got back from the highway along Lucia to Mill Creek. I could see the glow from Big Creek so went to check. Lots of fire spilling down all over between Hare and Kirk canyons. It’s fairly complete across the ridge (Espinosa?) and those spurs leading down to the coast. I could definitely see light coming from Hare Canyon. Up Hare to the right and then a little left, looking from the bridge at Limekiln.
I agree that clear information would be nice to have. We are so used to knowing fine details about the area while they use quite a broad brush to describe what they’re doing and where they’re working. Bit why be too specific when nothing is for certain? Best is seeing with your own eyes though. I hope the IAP is right about Vicente trail. If crews are working on that line then they must be coming down from cone peak road because I haven’t seen any crew trucks at the trailhead at Kirk Creek. So, only they know. We shall stay in the dark until we see the fire either stop at Hare or keep going north. They still have to hold that fire east of the cone peak road all the way up. Way up, speaking from a northwest-centric point of view of course. Based on the lethargic way the fire seems to be moving south, I have high hopes for them keeping it north of Prewitt. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
That Oct. 2 6pm perimeter map on inciweb is really inadequate. I think everyone would naturally appreciate a map with at least enough resolution to read it. The maps from Sept. 28 had good resolution. What happened?
XT, I went out and visually checked that modis hallucination at 6 pm tonight, from two different locations, and could see nothing — no suspicious plumes, nada. I also called PV Station, who had seen the hallucination, and checked it out and found nothing. Now, it is possible that modis is right and bigsurkate and PV Station are hallucinating, but we do have a better accuracy rate than modis. (LOL)
That is certainly true. We had our suspicions about that dot from the moment it appeared, but with all the talk about the fire being most active on the southeast side we couldn’t completely rule it out. – XT
8 pm, XT, you want to go to my blog and help me identify exactly where these new flames are, south and east of Cone Peak?
Our guess is that it’s in the upper Hare Creek drainage …. but that’s only a guess. Nice photo, though (in case we haven’t mentioned it, your photos throughout this fire have been fantastic – one glance at some of them is more informative than three days worth of Inciweb reports) – Xasauan Today
Seeing is believing! I drive down to Mill Creek every night now. Tonight the fire was a the highway at Kirk Creek. There were fire crews monitoring it. The fire is now visible up Mill Creek on the north side and a plume could be seen just over the first spur on the south side, looking from the bridge. Limekiln canyon is very smoky. But so is Big Creek.
Xasuan, thanks so much for posting the IAP reports. They are very helpful. I learned that today Big Creek and Limekiln SP have their own Division. Crews are removing the rehab material from Dolan Ridge and finishing the fire break prep on the south side of Big Creek, above our structures.
Notice that Division A, the one in charge of the fire in San Antonio watershed is unstaffed today. The report on inciweb also states that the fire is established there. Those who have looked down from Cone Peak road to the east into San Antonio know how steep it is. It would be so dangerous to try and go down there after fire. It seems they are taking this into consideration.
Oh yeah, I saw an example of “rollout” tonight up Kirk Creek. There was a big pop from way up the canyon and then tons of embers and burning debris rolled about 300 feet down the mountainside into the canyon bottom. I could see how trying to maintain a break with a fire backing down steep terrain is extremely dangerous and susceptible. More dangers that the crews are facing. I also heard a huge crash come out of the very lower part of the canyon, just up from the highway, as a tree came down. Made me realize how tentative conditions are in a burning forest.
Hi XT, I investigated this “direct line from Hwy 1 to Twin Peak”, both by phone and visually. It is true and you have the route correct on your google earth map. Six crew trucks were parked in the pullout just north of the big slide at the bottom of Twitchell’s trail, north of Limekiln SP. They were building that fire break up Stone Ridge toward Twin Peak. I drove up to an overlook along the hermitage road and had a wonderful conversation with a group of USFS firefighters, including a captain. Their crews got about halfway to Twin Peak today and hope to finish tomorrow. The plan tomorrow would be to come down off the coast ridge, along the cone peak trail until it meets the saddle between there and twin peak. If they can do it, they will move across to twin peak and tie in to where they got to today (Stone Ridge summit at 2449 Elevation). If the ground crews can’t do the upper section between twin peak and cone peak, they hope to just “paint it” with air support. This fire is burning in 9 year fuels this time, instead of much older fuels back in the Kirk Complex fire of 1999. So they feel more confident about this working this time (it was not an option given the conditions in 1999).
IC is responding to a lot of community and political pressure to keep any more coastal watersheds and slopes above the highway from burning. So they are doing a lot of direct attack and trying to keep the fire away from 1. If this can be pulled off then the fire will be taken from Cone Peak, down into Limekiln and hopefully just put it out down in the dampness of the creek. On the east side of cone, they plan to run it up the coast ridge into the Basin perimeter and out to the Indians perimeter on Hunter Liggett.
The fire has moved lower down Hare canyon now. That and a few wisps high above the highway between Limekiln and Kirk Creek is all you can see from the coast now. I also got news from those firefighters and Jeff Kwasny (USFS Resource Advisor) that the fire break along Prewitt and out to McKern road has been successful. I guess another 8% successful.
By the way, I noticed that the USGS Cape San Martin topo map updated in 1995 has “Gorda” labeled at Pacific Valley. Must be where google picked it up from. There is a “Gorda BM” benchmark where what we know as Gorda is. Interesting, wonder what the name history is there…
Right on, XT! You can’t imagine the concerns over a burnout that is misreported. That is major! Confusing the closure of day use areas, that is minor. Fortunately, locals know to contact me, re: confusions like this, and I can and do set USFS straight. I am SO glad I rolled out personally, and checked out all the areas USFS was confused about last night. But you know, I am only one person, and one tired person at that. I am committed to staying on this until all threats are removed from the western slopes of the Santa Lucias. I don’t have the energy to cover the eastern slopes. I will leave that responsibility to someone else.
bigsurkate
oops, “today’s IAP” link is hot linked to yesterdays.
Sorry about that …. guess you can tell we weren’t information science majors – Xasauan Today
HA! XT, if I can say so, represents a NEW Information Science modality that has impacted the way some of us are looking at these New Tools for New Times. Just compare the information exchange, on a real transpersonal level that is going on with this blog, MODIS, GOOGLE EARTH, etc., compared to where we were all at when some of you were dealing with the 1970’s fires! Okay … so we can fine tune all of this! And how about taking another look at the problems of DEBRIS! Sensors and sitecams like they utilize in Volcano Scenarios — other tools — might be appropriate for the FIRE, FLOOD & APOCALYPSE scenarios. We come to the SUR to escape from all of the technology, and it might be some of the technology and the genius of the community utilizing it that may help to save the SUR, and areas of similarity throughout our planet. Hmmm … another HA! (is in order) …
Kindest regards,
Sapan Rinpoche
Lyons, Colorado