I Shot the Sheriff... But, I Did Not Shoot da Deputy...

July 12, 2008, about 9:00 am

With smoke in the air all night, we woke this morning to a strange sunrise - very red - the light from which turned a kind of yellow. Right now it's smoky, with ash fall like a wee summer's dusting of snow!

      46% containment as of this morning!!

There's LOTS of fire equipment traffic on the Tassajara Road heading up toward Chew's Ridge through the newly-declared Vountary Evacuation area. Aircraft are overhead or flying by quite a lot, as I drink coffee and report this to you.

The traffic - air and ground - makes sense, based on last night's Basin Complex Fire Update: "East Zone: Contain and extinguish spot fire in Rodeo Flats area. Hold and improve current lines and provide structure protection as needed. Continue firing operation from Chews Lookout to the east and south as weather conditions permit."

What is hard to figure out from the "Location" view of the yesterday's (that's the most recent as of this moment) Basin Complex Fire Update is just who is still under ADVISORY Evacuation and who is under MANDATORY evacuation. Not that it much matters, given the circumstances. Kind of like James Bond tied to the table, in Goldfinger, while a laser slowly threatens to split him in two (the guys who remember this scene are probably cringing right now *laughs*), moving a little bit to the right or the left doesn't really help.

Here's what yesterdays news release says under Significant Events, on the "Location" view of the page: "East Zone: Voluntary evacuations of Lower Cachagua, Paloma Creek and Lower Carmel Valley Road."

Right... OK, these folks aren't Jamesburgers (fries or coleslaw with that??), so they have a hard time understanding that Jamesburg is a state of mind rather than a place.

As such, it's a bit difficult - using words - to describe accurately what's where. But, perhaps, and with no thanks to that overzealous county worker driving the side mower who trashed the mileage markers years ago, maybe one way to describe evac status zones would be to use county mile markers. Barring that, signs would work... as of last night, and granted - it was a bit early after the change in status - there was nothing describing the evacuation zones either on the Fire Information notice boards or posted conspicuously.

Be sure to go to the "Summary" view of the update. You access that using the "tab" in the middle-top, above the mini-map.

Here's where you find the real scoop:

"Effective Friday, July 11, 2008 at 2:00 p.m., the Advisory Evacuation for Carmel Valley Road has been upgraded to a VOLUNTARY evacuation from the intersection of Carmel Valley Road and Arroyo Seco Rd. to Cahoun Summit. Areas from Cahoun Summit north to Tassajara Road, and the Cachagua Road to Nason Road turnoff remain under an ADVISORY Evacuation."

"Tassajara Road from Jamesburg to the forest boundary is now under a VOLUNTARY evacuation."

"Tassajara Road is under MANDATORY evacuation from the forest boundary south to Tassajara Hot Springs. There is a hard road closure at the forest boundary."

Also, regarding evacuation updates check this VERY hooked-up website:

Fire Information for Monterey County

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"Rastafar-aye, vi-BRAY-shon, poh-zee-teeve..."

Regarding the rather cheeky title to this post - "I Shot the Sheriff... But, I Did Not Shoot da Deputy..." - at last night's Carmel Valley Fire Information Meeting, held at Tularcitos School, one of our neighbors brought up a question about misinformation and rumors, proferred by firefighters and yes, even sheriff's department employees and the disoriented CHP watchstanders of Jamesburg.

IC Jerry McGowan mentioned that people are, after all, people, and (these are my words here, not Jerry's) - like a secret whispered along a line of people, transferred from person to person, what goes in one end, isn't what comes out the other... true, by the way, about much of what we humans process.

Point being people really want to do the right thing and get their job done. We're all a bit tense, but the best advice is: chill out and give each other a break. We're all in this together.  

And to ensure that you have the proper information, verify it. Call, read, ask, email, listen.

Unless it's an order to get out of Dodge right now, be sure to iterate the info you get, especially if it sounds unusual to you. Go to to KUSP's website - loads of contacts there - and track down the information you need by phone or other means of communication.

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Interview with Incident Commander Rick Hutchinson of Cal Fire

Speaking of KUSP, and posting information, there were three meetings around Monterey Peninsula and Big Sur, so KUSP will have the audio up sometime later today.

I have a 5 minute interview with Incident Commander Rick Hutchinson of Cal Fire, regarding Chews Ridge, Jamesburg and Cachagua fire status and tactics. 

You can here it... HERE!

Beware, crappy audio quality

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Heavy traffic

Regarding the comment from "Anonymous" (thanks, Anon!!!) I have no official confirmation that the evacuation status of the section of Carmel Valley Road from Jamesburg to the National Forest boundary has been upgraded to MANDATORY.  I CAN tell you that there's a heavy and steady flow of hand crews and equipment going up to Chews Ridge.

Stay tuned... we'll keep you posted... at least from our little corner of Jamesburg!