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large wind driven crown fire, Bonny Doon area

eric strt6

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,516
13,852
directly above the center of the earth
started 2 hours ago, jumped to 30 acres in the first 30 minutes. it's now 90+ acres and forcast to grow to 400+ . winds of 30 mph+ are pushing it up out of the Scott Creek drainage towards Lockheed. Cal Fire has 15 engines [including the Bonny Doon part of Santa Cruz County fire on scene] and all the inmate fire fighters from camp Ben Lomand. two 6 engine stike teams are just arriving from out of county. more strike teams have been ordered.

this is going to get nasty

wind shift is now driving fire towards the coast it could swing into the state parks ie wilder , coast daries
 
Prettym1k3

Prettym1k3

Turbo Monkey
Aug 21, 2006
2,864
0
In your pants
Jeez, this sucks. I was watching it on the news this morning. :(

Just goes to show when the government cuts forest clearing, major fires happen that cost more money. When the government cut firefighters, more people die from injuries because of lack of staffing. When the government cuts police officers, crime goes up. When the government cuts anything that the people or nature have become accustomed to having... bad things happen.
 
jimw

jimw

Monkey
Aug 10, 2004
210
24
Santa Cruz, CA
Wow, that's crazy! Just heard about it this morning. I hope they can get it under control soon... Good luck to the fire crew and all the folks with homes/property up there.

What's a trip is I was just up there late Tuesday night/Wed AM. I was up at the old fire lookout right next to the Lockheed facility! Was checking out the meteor shower. I was there between maybe 2 - 6 AM, and can report that there was nobody else up there then and no signs of any fires starting. It definitely was warm though, in the 70's in the middle of the night with warm North-ish winds.

Interesting side note. I used live near that area and hiked up to that fire lookout a lot. It's interesting how the terrain changes up there. For one thing, there's a lot of knobcone pine. This particular pine has a cone which stays tightly closed and doesn't release its seeds until it is exposed to extreme heat - i.e. fire. So the vegetation seems to be adapted to fire, and even requires it from time to time.
 
jimw

jimw

Monkey
Aug 10, 2004
210
24
Santa Cruz, CA
Hmm. I guess so? There are no signs on that access road that I know of. You can also ride/hike up all the way from Little Basin on an old fire road, which goes all the way to the the old fire lookout.

Anyway I hope your buddy and his ranch are OK. I always thought that would be an awesome place to live (and build some trails!). On one of the other sites there was a report of a new fire at Empire and Jamison Creek, which is right there.
 
GiantRider

GiantRider

Monkey
Mar 6, 2002
589
0
Nor. Ca. Santa Cruz ,Mang
Yea there are signs all over and no one cares or sees em.No worries on you though, your just star gazing, its just people leave trash all over the place and keep breaking into the fire lookout.And yea we have wanted to build trails there for years but just never seem to get around to it, maybe one day all us SC monkeys can go build somethin, I have been given permission to go up there whenever .
 
eric strt6

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,516
13,852
directly above the center of the earth
Lockheed Fire Incident Information:
Last Updated: August 14, 2009 7:00 am
Date/Time Started: August 12, 2009 7:16 pm
Administrative Unit: CAL FIRE San Mateo - Santa Cruz Unit
County: Santa Cruz County
Location: Bonny Doon area - Smith Drainage
Acres Burned: 4,100 acres
Containment 4,100 acres - 5% containment
Structures Destroyed: 2 outbuildings damaged
Threatened: More than 250 residence are currently threatened in the Swanton and Bonny Doon communities.
Evacuations: Mandatory evacuations for Bonny Doon and Swanton affecting 2200-2400 people.
Cause: Under Investigation
Cooperating Agencies: CAL FIRE, Santa Cruz County, Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Total Fire Personnel: 676
Engines: 120
Fire crews: 16
Dozers: 15
Water tenders: 3
Costs to date: $ 750,000
Major Incident Command Team: CAL FIRE ICT #9
Conditions: Significant resources have been ordered for this incident.
An evacuation center has been established at the Vintage Church at Hwy 1 and Mission. A large animal evacuation center has been set up at the Watsonville fairgrounds and a small animal evacuation center has been established at 7th & Rodriguez.

Phone Numbers (831) 335-6717 (Lockheed Fire Information)
 
eric strt6

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,516
13,852
directly above the center of the earth
Lockheed Fire Incident Information:
Last Updated: August 14, 2009 6:30 pm
Date/Time Started: August 12, 2009 7:16 pm
Administrative Unit: CAL FIRE San Mateo - Santa Cruz Unit
County: Santa Cruz County
Location: Bonny Doon area - Smith Drainage
Acres Burned: 5,036 acres
Containment 5,036 acres - 15% containment
Structures Destroyed: 2 outbuildings damaged
Threatened: More than 250 residence are currently threatened in the Swanton and Bonny Doon communities.
Evacuations: Mandatory evacuations for Bonny Doon and Swanton affecting 2,000-2,400 people.
Cause: Under Investigation
Cooperating Agencies: CAL FIRE, Santa Cruz County Sherriff
Total Fire Personnel: 1,548 (570 CAL FIRE)
Engines: 234
Fire crews: 17
Dozers: 22
Water tenders: 17
Costs to date: $ 2.1 million
Major Incident Command Team: CAL FIRE ICT #9
Conditions: Problems and concerns include weather, steep terrain and limited access to the fire perimeter. Strong gusty onshore winds are predicted today, and could push the fire further to the east toward the community of Bonny Doon.
An evacuation center has been established at the Vintage Church at Hwy 1 and Mission. A large animal evacuation center has been set up at the Watsonville fairgrounds and a small animal evacuation center has been established at 7th & Rodriguez.

Phone Numbers (831) 335-0378 (Lockheed Fire Information )
 
eric strt6

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,516
13,852
directly above the center of the earth
the fire grew by 1800 acres last night

Lockheed Fire update: Fire at 6,800 acres, 30 percent contained;

Aug 15:
Firefighters pick small battles, win small containment of Lockheed FireFarmers carry on through flamesBonny Doon holdouts brave fire danger to defend homesFire, law enforcement officials update evacuees on Lockheed FireThousands of rare fish survive fireCounty Fairgrounds become home base for Lockheed relief effortupdated 8:50 a.m. This story will be updated throughout the day with new information. BONNY DOON -- As of this morning the Lockheed Fire has burned 6,800 acres and is 30 percent contained. The winds have died down this morning and crews continue to make progress, Cal Fire reported Saturday morning.
Weather remains a concern. Swirling winds, dropping humidity and higher temperatures expected over the weekend could a witches brew when mixed with the roaring flames that had consumed 6,800 acres in two days.

"It's definitely not going to help the fire effort," said Larry Smith, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Monterey. "Drier and windier is not going to be a good thing for the fire crews."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to arrive at the fire command post a the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville at 10 a.m. today to get an assessment of the damage and learn about firefighting efforts around the state.

Evacuations affecting as many as 2,400 people remain in affect for Bonny Doon and Swanton. Cal Fire is reporting that only two outbuildings have been damaged by the blaze, which is the largest in the county in at least 20 years.

There are more than 1,500 firefighters assigned to the fire. Cal Fire estimates the blaze has cost $2.6 million to fight so far.
 
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