Monday, July 7, 2008

Intense fire suppression effort has paid off...

July 7, 2008, about 9:15 am...

This morning, the air is hazy... what appears to be a mix of fog and smoke, kind of like when you douse a campfire. 

Yesterday, the fire suppression effort was was intense - as predicted by the Forest Service fire update - which included the use of a DC10 Air Tanker, repeated attacks by water-bucket helicopters and burn outs within the fire zone.

From yesterday's Forest Service news release: 
"Crews conducted burning operations to strengthen existing dozer line from Bottchers Gap to Old Coast Road. Pico Blanco Boy Scout camp has been secured. Air support was critical to the success of these operations. Burning will continue Sunday night to finish securing the line from Bottchers Gap to Old Coast Road and south along Old Coast Road."

Today's Forest Service news release claims 18% containment, a jump from 11% containment yesterday! Similar hard-hitting tactics are planned for today, in advance of the hot, dry, windy weather predicted for the rest of the week.




Yesterday, plenty of smoke was evident inside the fire zone past Cachagua, toward Elephant and Uncle Sam Peaks, from this picture taken near the entrance to Sky Ranch.






This morning, though the air was hazy, there were no evident plumes or smoke, other than the haze, at my usual photo spot near Stonepine, on Carmel Valley Road, southeast of Carmel Valley Village.





Here's the same spot on July 4th, zoomed in a bit from this morning's photo, above left...




No comments: