Wildfire SE of San Luis Obispo, probably near 166

SLOweather · #1 (**permalink**) 08-08-2009, 06:50 PM

Just looked out the back of the house here in SLO and spied a smoke column of to the SE. Not a lot of details yet. 150 acres estimate, engine access on Cottonwood Canyon off 166.

Helicopter just asked LPNF dispatch to have their support truck meet them at Twitchell Reservoir.

Evacing campgrounds in the Cottonwood area. Big Canyon evaced, Sierra Madre evaced.

3 tankers coming in in the next hour.

Activity on LPNF dispatch and 166.675.
1.5 - 2 miles from Sierra Madre Ridge in the wilderness...

Apologizes for any errors above. I was transcribing as I listened.

SLOweather · #2 (**permalink**) 08-08-2009, 08:25 PM

This photo of the smoke column was taken about 17:10 8 Aug 2009, about 40 miles away. It keeps reforming and getting blown out. The winds here in SLO are 19 MPH with gusts to 24, blowing straight toward the fire.

The images has been cropped and enhanced to bring out the column.

digitaljim6 · #3 (**permalink**) 08-09-2009, 07:47 PM

Location: San Rafael Wilderness, 26 miles east of Santa Maria (near Highway 166 and Old Sierra Madre Road) N 34-57-19, W 119-58-55

La Brea Fire - Approximate Location

Temporary Flight Restriction

Behavior and Weather: 2,500 acres as of 0900 today. Grew from 150 to 1200 in 3 hours yesterday. No containment. Extreme behavior and growth potential. Daytime weather drier (below 20%) and warmer (mid to upper 90s) over the next few days.

135.575 Victor
123.975 Base Victor
163.100 Helicopter Deck
172.625 Air Tactics
166.825 Air to Ground
168.350 Tac
170.475 Tac
163.7125 Tac
170.550 LPF Forest Net
171.550 LPF Service Net (La Brea Command)
415.325 Link for LPF Forest Net
415.400 Link for LPF Service Net

digitaljim6 · #4 (**permalink**) 08-10-2009, 01:14 AM

Here is the 1800 report from the So Cal GACC:

LA BREA CA-LPF-002631 Incident Organization T/3 IC (Andrea) Transition to a Type 1 CIIMT Team #3 (Pincha-Tulley) this evening. Fire is burning in 6'foot Chaparral and brush with nor fire history recorded in this area for 20+ years acreage reported as 10,544 ACRES 0% contained as reflected on perimeter map provided to Southern Operations Calif. by AA Fire is burning in steep, inaccessible terrain in the San Rafael wilderness. Heavy fuels, long range spotting and moderate to rapid rates of spread. Major runs were observed during the day. Moderate to rapid rate of spread, slope and fuel driven. There were reports that the fire slopped over Sierra Madre Rd. but was pick up by ground resources as fire burned approximately 7500+ acres during the operational period. Extreme fire behavior was observed. The Sierra Madre ridge road remains closed. Campgrounds in the area have been closed. Evacuations are complete. Resources are arriving and ICP is being established. 12 adjacent camp ground were evacuated yesterday and remain closed to hikers and the public. There are 230 CALFIRE overhead assigned with a total of 644 personnel on scene. The Los Padres National Forest was working to issue a closure of the fire area . La Brea ICP is located at Preisker Park 2301 Preisker Lane Santa Maria, Ca 93458.

inigo88 · #5 (**permalink**) 08-13-2009, 05:26 AM

These photos don't really do it justice. I was really amazed by how convective and vertically developed the smoke plume was (at least to 25,000 ft! We were at FL410), and that the middle of the cloud itself was ORANGE (the camera totally ignored this). It struck me as a cross between a small thunderstorm and a volcanic eruption, which I was totally not expecting. Given the prevailing winds that day, everything north of Santa Maria was hazy (including the bay area), and everything south was perfectly clear.

This is a BIG fire!

digitaljim6 · #6 (**permalink**) 08-13-2009, 09:43 AM

Now over 30,000 acres. New evacuations. Unified Command with CDF. TFR area is expanded.

123.9750 Base Victor
172.6250 Brea Air to Air
166.8250 Brea Air-Ground
170.0000 Brea Air-Ground
162.9625 Brea Command
168.7000 Brea Command
169.5375 Brea Command
170.9750 Brea Command
173.7750 Brea Command
164.7125 Brea Command In
163.1000 Brea Deck
173.6250 Brea Intercrew
163.7125 Brea Tac
164.1500 Brea Tac
164.5500 Brea Tac
165.3125 Brea Tac
166.8000 Brea Tac
168.0500 Brea Tac
168.2000 Brea Tac
168.3500 Brea Tac
168.5500 Brea Tac
168.6000 Brea Tac
169.0625 Brea Tac
173.9625 Brea Tac
173.9875 Brea Tac
128.4250 Brea Victor
135.5750 Brea Victor
168.3000 Fed Scene of Action
170.5500 LPF Forest Net
415.3250 LPF Forest Net Link
171.5500 LPF Service Net
415.4000 LPF Service Net Link
170.4750 LPF Tac
168.6125 ?
171.7000 ?
173.0500 ?
408.8000 ?

SLOweather · #7 (**permalink**) 08-13-2009, 11:16 AM

Thanks for that freq list. I'll be programming those in tonight or Friday.

kd6ecz · #8 (**permalink**) 08-13-2009, 09:06 PM

For the past 2-3 hours the sky down here in the Inland Empire has been rather smokey and orange towards the west (towards Los Angeles). I was starting to wonder of we had a fire around Southern California somewhere but I think it's smoke from this particular fire drifting down this way.

You can see the smoke on weather satellite imagery here: National Weather Service - NWS San Diego

Click on Visible -> Western US -> 1km Animation to see it.

digitaljim6 · #9 (**permalink**) 08-14-2009, 10:31 AM

Some news reports say 50,000 acres this morning (78 square miles).

170.0000 Air-Ground
123.9750 Base Victor
128.4250 Brea Air Brief
172.6250 Brea Air-Air
166.8250 Brea Air-Ground
162.9625 Brea Command
168.7000 Brea Command
169.5375 Brea Command
172.6125 Brea Command
173.7750 Brea Command
164.7125 Brea Command In
170.9750 Brea Command In
171.7875 Brea Command In
163.1000 Brea Deck
173.9875 Brea Deck
164.1375 Brea Firing ?
166.0875 Brea Firing ?
173.6250 Brea Intercrew
132.8250 Brea Roto Victor
163.7125 Brea Tac
164.1500 Brea Tac
164.1875 Brea Tac
164.5500 Brea Tac
165.3125 Brea Tac
166.8000 Brea Tac
168.0500 Brea Tac
168.2000 Brea Tac
168.3500 Brea Tac
168.5500 Brea Tac
168.6000 Brea Tac
169.0625 Brea Tac
170.4750 Brea Tac
173.9625 Brea Tac
123.1750 Brea Victor
135.5750 Brea Victor
168.3000 Federal Scene of Action
170.5500 LPF Forest Net
415.3250 LPF Link Forest Net
415.4000 LPF Link Service Net
171.5500 LPF Service Net
118.3000 Santa Maria Airport Tower
168.6125 ?
171.7000 ?
173.0500 ?
408.8000 ?

Eng74 · #10 (**permalink**) 08-14-2009, 11:17 AM

I was on the I 5/152/101 going up to the Bay Area yesterday and saw all of the smoke. There seemed to be a wind shift on Wendsday night, early Thursday morning.

gmclam · #11 (**permalink**) 08-14-2009, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eng74

I was on the I 5/152/101 going up to the Bay Area yesterday and saw all of the smoke. There seemed to be a wind shift on Wendsday night, early Thursday morning.

I was in this area from Sunday until late Tuesday and the radio traffic was abundant. I also heard a few "small" fires which ended up being "quickly" extinguished.

When I drove back home late Tuesday, north on 33 from just south of this area, the sky was orange and extremely smokey. This lasted until I turned eastward. What surprised me most was that there was either no fire fighting, no radio traffic, or both during dark hours.

kd6ecz · #12 (**permalink**) 08-15-2009, 04:19 PM

You can find more information about this fire here: InciWeb the Incident Information System: La Brea

More here:
CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS

digitaljim6 · #13 (**permalink**) 08-16-2009, 09:35 AM

170.0000 Air-Ground
123.9750 Base Victor (Santa Maria tanker base)
172.6250 Brea Air-Air
128.4250 Brea Air Briefing
410.2375 Brea Air Briefing Link (repeats Brea Air Briefing)
167.9875 Brea Air-Ground
166.8250 Brea Air-Ground
168.6000 Brea Air-Ground
166.0875 Brea Air-Ground Command
162.9625 Brea Command
168.7000 Brea Command
169.5375 Brea Command
171.4250 Brea Command
172.6125 Brea Command
173.7750 Brea Command
164.7125 Brea Command In
166.3125 Brea Command In
170.9750 Brea Command In
171.7875 Brea Command In
411.4000 Brea Command Link (links Command inputs to Command outputs)
173.9875 Brea Deck
164.1875 Brea Firing ?
173.6250 Brea Intercrew
408.5000 Brea Logistics
417.5000 Brea Logistics In
132.8250 Brea Roto Victor (Helicopters)
163.1000 Brea Santa Maria Airport Deck
173.9625 Brea Santa Maria Airport Helibase
163.7125 Brea Tac
164.1375 Brea Tac
164.1500 Brea Tac
164.5500 Brea Tac
165.3125 Brea Tac
166.8000 Brea Tac
168.0500 Brea Tac
168.2000 Brea Tac
168.5500 Brea Tac
169.0625 Brea Tac
171.7000 Brea Tac
172.3500 Brea Tac
123.1750 Brea Victor
135.5750 Brea Victor

464.3125 Central Coast Jet Center (Santa Maria tanker base fuel contractor)
170.5500 LPF Forest Net
415.3250 LPF Forest Net Link
413.0000 LPF Forest Net Link ?
406.4000 LPF Forest Net Link ?
171.5500 LPF Service Net
415.4000 LPF Service Net Link
170.4750 LPF Tac
168.3000 Federal Scene of Action
118.3000 Santa Maria Airport Tower
168.3500 USFS Tac

Exsmokey · #14 (**permalink**) 08-17-2009, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by inigo88

These photos don't really do it justice. I was really amazed by how convective and vertically developed the smoke plume was (at least to 25,000 ft! We were at FL410), and that the middle of the cloud itself was ORANGE (the camera totally ignored this). It struck me as a cross between a small thunderstorm and a volcanic eruption, which I was totally not expecting. Given the prevailing winds that day, everything north of Santa Maria was hazy (including the bay area), and everything south was perfectly clear.

This is a BIG fire!

Great pictures. When is was in Yellowstone during the 1988 fires some of the cumulus caps on top of the smoke columns were estimated to be at 45,000 to 60,000 feet. On one occasion we had a tiny bit of rain drop out of one of these columns. Still, I have not seen a column and the cumulus from above. You lucked out in getting a seat well enough behind the wing to get a good view. Nice to be on the correct side of the plane too.