Summary: The COLORADO FIRE started on 1/22/2021 around 1719 hours PT, in Palo Colorado Canyon in the Big Sur area, south of Carmel-by-the-sea in Monterey County, California.
The fire had jumped Highway 1 and began burning on both sides of the roadway. Containment began increasing, however, there were still active portion of the fire that remained a concern for fire officials.
The northern edge of the fire along lower Palo Colorado Canyon continued to burn and a growing concern until containment was achieved by firefighters on Sunday early morning.
Flareups in the southeastern and northwestern areas would become a challenge throughout most of the day, with it backing down towards Hwy 1.
Challenges still remain with steep and rugged terrain.
Photo Credit: Mid Coast Fire Brigade
Current Status: 700 acres. 40% containment.
Incident Cooperators: CAL FIRE, CAL OES, Mid Coast Fire Brigade, Big Sur Volunteer Fire Department, Monterey County Regional Fire District, North Monterey County Fire District, Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol, and California State Parks.
Resources Assigned: CAL FIRE 3 Copters, 53 engines, 4 dozers, 9 water tenders, 476 personnel, and 15 crews. Unified Command between CAL FIRE BEU and Mid Coast Fire.
Emergency Alerts: Receive Monterey County fire info text alerts. Text MCWILDFIRE to 888777.
Incident Summary: A structure fire has spread into the wildland interface on 1/21/2022 at 1719 hours PT, approx. 2 miles east of SR1 in Monterey County, CA. CHP units responded to a “Report of a Fire” call at 1926 hours in the 37800 block of Palo Colorado Rd. This is burning on the edge of the 2016 Soberanes Fire burn scar.
Credit: CALtrans District 5 PIO
This fire is named the COLORADO FIRE but is also being called BIG SUR FIRE, COLORADO IC according to Social Media.
Current Status: 1 structure has been damaged. CHP has been released from this incident and is reporting this is now closed. This morning, CHP was dispatched to the roadway in Palo Colorado to Bixby Bridge due to large boulders had blocked all lanes in various locations. CALtrans was dispatched.
Evacuations: Mandatory evacuations for all areas west of 3800 Palo Colorado Rd to Hwy1 and south to Bixby Creek were issued by Monterey Fire Officials.
Shelters: Red Cross Shelter at the Carmel Middle School, 4380 Carmel Valley Rd, Carmel, CA 93923. The SPCA Monterey County is also onsite with an Animal Support Trailer and personnel to co-shelter.
Emergency Alerts: Receive Monterey County fire info text alerts. Text MCWILDFIRE to 888777.
Road Closures: Hwy 1 from Molera Park Entrance. From Coast Road to Granite Canyon Bridge per Caltrans. No estimated ETA is known.
Mapping: The fire location can be found here on this CAL Fire map.
CAL Fire: Unified Command San Benito-Monterey unit with Mid Coast FD.
Incident Summary: A structure fire has spread into the wildland interface on 1/21/2022 at 1719 hours PT, approx. 2 miles east of SR1 in Monterey County, CA. CHP units responded to a “Report of a Fire” call at 1926 hours in the 37800 block of Palo Colorado Rd. This is burning on the edge of the 2016 Soberanes Fire burn scar.
This fire is named the COLORADO FIRE but is also being called BIG SUR FIRE, COLORADO IC according to Social Media.
Current Status: 1,500 acres with a 5% containment status.
Fire Behavior Analysis: Active behavior overnight. Photos on Social Media indicate pretty surreal fire behavior given the wet October and December observed across the region. Per historical fire, data appears the fire is burning south of Palo Colorado and towards Bixby Creek along Long Ridge in an area with little or no fire history. It seems as though the recent rains and cold winter weather aren’t helping to keep fires from developing. It appears the fire started last evening during peak offshore winds and a very low RH. The strongest winds have ended in the vicinity of the Colorado Fire. As of 0300 hours on Saturday, the current weather is showing RH values of 42-52% with southerly winds around 5 mph. These light south winds will represent a possible change for residents and firefighters should be aware of today. (NWS Bay Area via https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea)
Resources: CAL Fire T73 (USDA FS FEPP), T86 (USDA FS FEPP) out of Hollister Tanker Base.
Photo Credit: Flight Radar 24 Flight Tracker
Evacuations: Mandatory evacuations for all areas west of 3800 Palo Colorado Rd to Hwy1 and south to Bixby Creek were issued by Monterey Fire Officials.
Shelters: Red Cross Shelter at the Carmel Middle School, 4380 Carmel Valley Rd, Carmel, CA 93923. The SPCA Monterey County is also onsite with an Animal Support Trailer and personnel to co-shelter.
Emergency Alerts: Receive Monterey County fire info text alerts. Text MCWILDFIRE to 888777.
Road Closures: Hwy 1 from Molera Park Entrance. From Coast Road to Granite Canyon Bridge per Caltrans. No estimated ETA is known.
Mapping: The fire location can be found here on this CAL Fire map.
A brush fire is burning approximately two miles east of SR1, north of Point Sur and the Bixby Bridge; near the Palo Colorado section of Monterey County; near Carmel, California.
The fire initially was dispatched as a Report of a Fire in the 37800 block of Palo Colorado Road, just east of SR1 approximately two miles in Monterey County, California around 1926 hours PT on Friday, January 21, 2022. About 17 CHP units are either en route or assigned to this incident.
It was said to be burning at the edge of the 2016 Soberanes Fire burn scar.
INCIDENT DESIGNATOR
This is named the COLORADO FIRE also known as BIG SUR FIRE, COLORADO IC.
CAUSE
Reports from local residents and media reported this was a structure fire that began burning into the wildland interface and started to brew as a possible firestorm. Conditions are said to be high winds and dry fire fuels.
CURRENT WEATHER REPORTS
2315: Temps 55*F, clear with a 6% precipitation. Winds are 6 mph and there is a 19% RH.
2310: A Red Cross evacuation shelter will be open at 2330 hours at the Carmel Middle School, 4830 Carmel Valley Road. El Refugio de la Cruz Roja Americana estará disponible a partir de las 11:30 pm en la secundaria Carmel, en el 4380 del Camino Carmel Valley
Big Sur FD and Mid Coast FD: Volunteer FFs are on working on the fire ground.
NWS Bay Area
CHP
ESTIMATED SIZE
75-100 acres. 0% containment.
INCIDENT TIMELINE
1926-1934: Fire is burning near Bixby Bridge side, later reported as east of the bridge.
1937: reported as 2-3 acres with heavy wind and no structure threats.
2014: additional CHP resources being paged.
2024: Fire reported as starting in the area of Rocky Creek, Palo Colorado.
2024-2115: 9-1-1 calls coming in about the fire.
2124: Fire reported as getting near SR1, CHP units are requested to close the highway.
2130: Caltrans closes SR1 at the stoplight, north of Weston Ridge. CHP to stop southbound at the light, just north of Weston Ridge. Having a north unit to turn around all southbound traffic.
2132: At Rock Creek, the fire has jumped SR1 and is now burning on the westbound side. Poor visibility.
2134: All traffic being turned around at St Rio Raod.
2137: Law enforcement trying to get people to leave. Fire is now approaching Old Coast Road. CHP works with Carmel PD in Dispatch to start turning traffic around at Rio Road.
2140: IC Rocky Creek is in Palo Colorado.
2201: Parks close the south end. Evacuations were completed from the Fire Station to SR1.
2203: Road closed northbound SR1.
2204: Per FD: fire approximately 150 acres. Mandatory orders were issued on Palo and all other sides on SR1.
2207: Mandatory evacuations were ordered from the fire station westbound to SR1.
2214: Winds blowing from the southeast.
2215: 2nd fire reported at Boney Dune Road and Pine Flat Road between SR1 and Gate C17 in Santa Cruz. No other details on this.
2222: All areas west of 3800 Palo Colorado Road to Hwy 1 and south to Bixby Creek.
2233: All residents on the west side of the fire station have been evacuated.
2232: One wonders how firefighters will fight this fire as there is no level ground, no roads, aircraft not flying during the night.
2224: Fire started in Palo Colorado Canyon. GOES 17 satellite imagery showing the fire on the radar. Dry northeasterly winds are pushing the fire in a southwest direction towards Hwy 1. (weather news)
2103: Fire heading SW toward Rocky Creek and Bixby, which are under evacuation orders.
Firefighters with the Texas A&M Forest Service and other Mutual Aid resources were kept busy on Friday and continuing into Saturday, December 11, 2021, as they were deployed to several very large wildfires under RED FLAG fire conditions producing extreme fire behavior. Many of these fires caused significant travel delays and impacted several communities. Continued fire suppressions efforts are still going strong.
Credit | TAMFS
Arrowhead Fire
The ARROWHEAD FIRE is located about one mile west of Petrolia, heading Southeast towards Henrietta in Clay County. The fire started on 12/10/2021 at approximately 1600 hours. Unified Command with TX A&M FS and local Fire Departments. There have been about 7,500 acres destroyed. Grass and brush are fire fuels and crews have reached 35% containment status. Dispatched via the Northwest Dispatch Zone. Cause: Debris burning.
County Line Fire
The COUNTY LINE FIRE is located in Wilbarger County. It is about 1,000 acres and is 0% contained. This incident was dispatched via the Northwest Dispatch Zone.
Electra Complex Fire
The ELECTRA COMPLEX FIRE is located In the town of Electra off of US Hwy 287 in Wichita County. The two fires started on December 10, 2021, around 1200 hours and would later merge together on the very same day it started. There has been an estimated 2,300 acres of tall grass and mesquite burned and crews have successfully reached an 85% containment status. Fire Managers have reported the weather windy conditions as a possible concern. Incident Cooperators include local FD agencies along with Federal Firefighters from Sheppard AFB and State resources along with crews from the TX A&M Forest Service. TAMFS and Electra VFD are in Unified Command. Fire behavior has been extremely active with high winds. Aircraft has been unable to assist or fly due to heavy smoke and poor visibility.
Lazy J Town Fire
The LAZY J TOWN FIRE has burned about1,000 acres and there is a 0% containment. Limited information.
Twin Creek Fire. West of Lake Meredith in Moore County. Started December 10, 2021, around 1430 hours. Est. 3,000 acres. 60% contained. Panhandle Dispatch Zone. Started on December 10, 2021. TX A&M FS in Unified Command with Dumas FD, TX Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System, and local fire departments. Extreme fire behavior has been observed with a high rate of spread.
LAFD Firefighters quickly egressed on the Sylmar Fire at 1652 hours PT in containing it. Forward progression has been stopped dead in its tracks with no structures were damaged nor were there any injuries reported to citizens or firefighters.
Most of the 1st Alarm resources have been released from this incident but some still remain to conduct mop-up operations.
Units listed for this incident are now the following: AO,1 AO2, BC12, BC15, CE84, CM42, E18, E275, E287, E290, E298, E7, E8, E90, E91, EM15, H1, H2, H3, H4, HA1, HA2, HA3, HA4, RA7, RA90, T75, T87, T90 T98 WT77.
Update 1 | 11-25-2021 Thursday | 1635 PT
A wildfire response has just been deployed located in the 16000 block of W. Rockford Street in Sylmar, California at 1635 hours PT.
The fire has burned about two acres of brush at a moderate rate of speed with winds out of the norther at 10-15 mph.
Units assigned to this incident are BC12, BC15, E18, E275, E287, E290, E298, E7, E90, E91, EM15, H0A, H0E, RA7, T75, T87, T90, T98, H4, H3.
Current weather conditions in this area are 66*F degrees, clear, sunny skies with 1% precip and a RH of 6%.
This is the Los Angeles Fire Department Incident #1168.
Hashtags we are using, #CAFireSeason2021 #SylmarFire
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CA — Another brush fire has broken out in California today as winds are picking up and low RH making it the perfect combination for fire to burn up drought-like fuels around them.
Credit | Alert Wildfire cameras
Tonight, we see another brush fire has broken out but this one is located along HWY 166 at mile marker 17 in Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County) called the RANCH FIRE. Northeasterly winds have picked up to six miles per hour with gusts up to 13. (Initial reports at 1912 PT).
At 1912 hours PT, both the SB County and CAL FIRE FD units were en route to the area where the fire was reported to located.
Shortly, thereafter, Command called for a Fire Investigator and a PIO.
Unknown how many acres burned or the current containment status.
The BRULER FIRE was detected on July 12th near the boundary between the Detroit and Sweet Home Districts, near the junction of FS Rd11 (Straight Creek and Quartzville Roads) and FS Rd 1133. This is about nine miles south of Detroit Lake, Oregon.
Credit: USDA
Fire behavior is moderate with backing and creeping.
Fire Managers say:
There has been 195 acres burned and there is a 53% containment status.South Cascade Interagency Type 3 Team will continue to mop-up. It is estimated thatanother five days of work is needed to complete all secondary contingency lines and have them secure.
Confidence grows as mop-up efforts progress; however, the fire has not been tested by higher winds. This may change today as we are expecting scattered thunderstorm cells and lightning in the fire area.
Additionally, there is a Red Flag Warning and a Fire Weather Watch in effect over the Bruler Fire area through Thursday night. Crews will continue to be vigilant and adaptable to any potential increases in fire behavior or new starts in the area. “Our goal is to focus day to day, and be flexible where needed” said Chris Mushrush, Type 3 Incident Commander (trainee).
Command is under the direction of the USDA Forest Service. There are about 144 fire personnel along with two engines and 11 copters.
Total CTD is $4.7 Million in suppression and containment expenses. As you can see, the numbers have doubled since our last update on this wildfire incident. On structure has been destroyed and fire crews have saved all others.
Projected containment is expected to be completed on Thursday, September 30, 2021.
The BOOTLEG FIRE was sparked by lightning on July 7, 2021. It is named after the nearby Bootleg Spring. It is located about 11 miles northeast of the town of Sprague River and 15 miles northwest of Beatty, Oregon.
The LOG FIRE has merged in with the BOOTLEG FIRE and is under one incident name only, including stats. This occurred on July 20, 2021.
Current Status
The fire has consumed 413,734 acres of mixed grass and shrub, timber with understory, and timber with litter fuel with a 74% containment.
Fire Operations
“At this point in the fire, we have to think about two things,” says Fire Behavior Analyst Chris Moore, “the fire we know about and the fire we don’t know.” The fire we know is the actively and recently burned portions of the Bootleg Fire. Much of the recent fire activity has been torching and burning pockets of fuel within the burn area. While the fire is not yet contained, a fire line has been constructed around the entire perimeter. Now crews are working to ensure that perimeter holds (is secured) to contain the fire. In some places, fire line is 100 to 150 feet wide from the unburned into the burned area. But some places may require as much as 300 feet to confidently expect the fire to remain contained. – PIO
South, west east perimeters: crews are patrolling and extinguishing fire and heat (mopping up) where fire is less active.
Northwest and Northeast: To strengthen and expand the fire line. contingency lines or fire breaks, are being constructed.
Credit | USFS
Fire Weather
Critical fire weather is projected for the weekend to include current drought conditions mixed in with low RH, strong surface wind and unstable air. Potential for wind to carry embers and spark new spot fires in areas where the fire line is unsecured.
Resources
Command is under Norm McDonald, Alaska Type 1 Incident Management Team.
There are 1,918 total personnel assigned.
Additionally, there are 51 crews, 95 engines and 10 copters.
Agencies and organizations that are assisting with this incident, are called Incident Cooperators. Below is the known partners but some could be missing from this list.
American Red Cross
BLM Fire
South Central FMP
Fremont-Winema NF
Klamath County
Lake County
Oregon National Guard
WA National Guard
Civil Air Patrol
Fremont FD (CA)
SW Polk FD
NWS Medford
Metro Fire of Sacramento (CA)
Nevada National Guard
Baker Aircraft
Portland FD
American Forests
Tanker 10
NIFC
Kirkland (WA) FD
ODF
OR’s 2nd District Congressman Cliff Bentz
Medford Tanker Base
Damage Assessment
There has been 408 structures destroyed. The total CTD is $70.6 Million Dollars for fire suppression and containment costs.
Public Informaiton
Forest Service Closures | The Fremont-Winema National Forest is now open south of Oregon State Route 140. Closures remain in effect north of the highway to provide for public safety and the safety of firefighters. The full closure order and map are available at https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/fremont-winema/alerts-notices  
Impacted Fire Victims/Evaucees
Insurance Assistance | How to File Fire-Damage Claims | For additional information on submitting insurance claims after losing your home or property to a wildfire, please visit https://dfr.oregon.gov/insure/home/storm/Pages/wildfires.aspx or call the state’s team of consumer advocates at 888-877-4894 (toll-free).  
NW Fire Blog 
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