Big Bear, CA

I did just notice that the area to the left of the Village is no longer under an evacuation order (just a warning). This seems like really fantastic news!

A new Cal Fire video has been posted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhL53EUrQUg

Another quick update: This map is kind of a Frankenstein's Monster combination of four different maps...
The new IR map that's been added was actually skewed (not the exact dimensions of the others), so it is not precise.

• The purple overlay gives us a historic perspective from the 1970's fire
• The red overlay shows a more detailed fire perimeter from the detailed IR Cal Fire Map
• The base map is the primary Cal Fire map for the Line Fire
• The hot spots are from the NOAA satellite map
• The BRIGHT BLUE lines are a rough outline of "dozer lines"
• The TRANSPARENT WHITE lines are planned "dozer lines"

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A new Cal Fire video update has been posted (link below starts at the Big Bear section)
https://youtu.be/meio7RFcZvc?feature=shared&t=210

Formatted transcript:

And that will bring us all the way to the edges of our Bear Creek drainage. [The] Bear Creek drainage has been one of the areas that we're really trying to figure out how we're going to deal with. What we've decided is we're going to send Crews down into that Bear Creek drainage, and they'll be cutting it out. It'll be a long process - probably a 5-day event. We'll have helicopter support for them, and we'll have some safety mitigations that will have to take place, but due to the weather for the next seven days, [we're] confident that fir-behavior wise, we can keep this in its footprint with some very slow growth over the next couple of days.

So we're going to take advantage of our weather, we're going to take advantage of the high humidity, and we're going to take advantage of the lack of wind - and we're going to get our crews down in there and cut that whole piece out. It'll be a lengthy process with a lot of people.

Moving over into the Big Bear drainage, we still have that potential for fire runs up to what we call the plateau, which is right up on the top there where that enormous fuel brake was [created by] the forest service.

[The] fire will creep up and make slope runs up that drainage up to the plateau, and then slop over the plateau. We're pushing Dozer line around that entire Plateau all the way back to the Bear Creek drainage, and then North to the dam.

Once we get to that piece, that should be able to mitigate any of our problems in the Big Bear area. So, the next two or three days will be critical for that operation.**

As we move down off the plateau, and where it says division Romeo into the Clark's Grade area, crews are continuing to improve that line coming down Clark's Grade to the n54 road, and push down into the bottom into the S Oaks Road system, and then move back to the west and tied directly into the fire. Over the next day or so we should have [a] direct line all the way around that entire Eastern flank, all the way back down to the dam, which has been a tremendous progress. [The] next 2-3 days is that critical piece for us to get this entire Eastern section with line around it from the from from Big Bear all the way back down to the dam.

I am fairly certain that this below image I created from the Cal Fire 3D map is "The Plateau" mentioned above:

So far, the reports on Big Bear from the Cal Fire officials have been very positive. As such, I wanted to let people know what seemed open in town after I drove to the post office and back. This is as of noon, so they may or may not remain open depending on the air conditions, and fire status.

The idea behind posting this is that these businesses may need some cash flow after this rough week, so I wanted to get the word out.

Nottinghams
Bear Noodle Bar
North Pole Candy Co.
Saucy Mama's
Oakside
Dynasty
Gaby's Latin Flavors Get The Burger
Moonridge Coffee Company

Most fast food establishments appeared to be open
(but maybe consider supporting local establishments!)

Please let me know if I can expand this list, it is absolutely not a complete list and I may have missed things along the way! I did not drive through Big Bear City, so I can't give a report on that.

Here is an additional, very detailed fire map from this morning (published 9:13 PM PDT) that provides a wealth of information about both current conditions within the perimeter, and also preventative measures and planning.

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New fire map for this morning as of 10:16 PM PDT.
This features one with the historic fire data in purple from 1970 (similar fire size and location), and one without.
Both maps combine the Cal Fire map with the Satellite hotspot map from NOAA.

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I actually dug this map out of a dropbox archive, I haven't seen it posted anywhere... seems quite detailed! This is from today.

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Finally, a map update!

Big Bear OPS Map:

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Here is the video report from Cal Fire earlier today, with the link starting the video right when he goes into detail about the current situation on the Big Bear front: https://youtu.be/DEeE4YRbDWI?feature=shared&t=268

Here's an annotated transcription of the Big Bear Portion of the update, which is extremely positive for us:

And then we get into our Big Bear area, and that Big Bear area looks really good. We had the fire come up that slope yesterday. We had about 800 acres burned in that area, [and] it hit what we call the plateau, or the very rim where that vegetation Management program has been put in by the forest service

We had Crews up there waiting and as it hit that Rim, and they attacked it with aircraft, they attacked it with bulldozers, and they're carrying the dozers to the west and then to the north and trying to tie it into the Big Bear Dam Area at the 18 intersection right there. So they'll be doing that today - nursing it along that entire Plateau. As that fire crests that Plateau, [they are] very confident in that operation due to a lot of factors:

1. There's some Dozer lines up there
2. That vegetation management work that's been done up there and
3. The crew's plan worked yesterday, [so] it's going to work again today

I think we're looking at a visual of a successful border where they stopped the fire. This is looking towards Big Bear from Keller Peak at 4:59 PM PDT. It certainly seems promising! Live Cam: https://ops.alertcalifornia.org/cam-console/2045

I doubt this is new news, I just didn't notice it until now and figured it was a positive update to share.

So, I haven't seen an update all day with regards to the maps... This is very abnormal compared to the last week, but not necessarily bad news.

In the good news category, this is the cleanest air day I've seen so far all week. The PM 2.5 count was over 800 for most of last night, up until about 1AM when I noticed the stars were visible. Today has been really nice, though... 50-100 at the start, and it's down to 15-20 right now.

There's a distinct lack of wind here, and (judging by the wind map on MyRadar) over the fire right now. This seems like great news when paired with this being the coldest day since the fire started.

Not the best news today first thing with this map, but hopefully the firefighters are able to tackle those hot spots near Bluff Lake. Update as of 10:45PM PDT (but those hot spots crawling north were from at least an hour earlier).

See this is the good shit right here. Thanks for putting this together.

A quick update showing the wind blowing the fire away from Big Bear after a fairly brutal few days of rapid and notable winds towards us.

This helpful resource came from the socaloumtains forum. I appreciate that it maps out the intensity of different areas.

Another update from just before 8PM PST (latest data as of 10PM PST). Not much good news here, but I hope the information has spurred the firefighters to respond. Map 1: Historic data overlay in purple from 1970 fire Map 2: Just the NOAA and Cal Fire maps meshed together

Good man!

Another map update as of 5:35 PM PST. Map 1: Latest Cal Fire Map + NOAA Satellite Hotspots + Historic Fire Data from 1970 Pan Hot Springs Fire Map 2: Latest Cal Fire Map + NOAA Satellite Hotspots Map 3: Wind readings (MyRadar App) from 5:35 PM PST

@LucidLethargy

Just a quick update... please use a mask if you're outside today. The PM2.5 readings are the highest I've seen since the start of this fire. I'm seeing 827 PM2.5 right outside my home right now. This is the highest reading I've ever recorded on my air quality sensors. It's so bad that with all my doors and windows shut, I'm still getting a reading 63 inside with three air filters running. 63 is considered unhealthy, so 827 is likely quite hazardous.

Just a quick update as of 7:20 PM PST (one with the 1970's fire map overlay, one without)

Just a heads up to those of us in a an evacuation warning zone that have not yet evacuated:

Trash collection through BBCDSD for Big Bear City has been postponed for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week. More information here on the home page of their website: https://www.bbccsd.org/

I do not know the status of Big Bear Lake's trash pickup service, as I have not seen any announcements from them.

Judging by the map data alone (see below 3:11PM snapshot), it seems like our amazing firefighters are doing a great job suppressing the spread of this fire towards Big Bear.

I've been additionally monitoring the wind in the area via the "MyRadar" app. It was stronger when I checked this morning, and now it's thankfully showing much more calm conditions. As with any other update from me, I have no idea what the ACTUAL conditions are - I am using data provided by a number of sources that may or may not be accurate. So, take these updates with a grain of salt.

Tomorrow is slated to be a bit cooler than today over the fire location, and the winds are supposed to be a bit calmer on the front facing Big Bear. By Friday, we have a small chance of rain, however the temperatures may be a little bit hotter. By Saturday and Sunday, that chance of rain rises with Monday being a pretty good chance of at least a scattered shower. Fingers crossed this helps out the fire suppression efforts!

Edit: MASSIVE drop in temperature by Monday, wow! From 78 degrees on Saturday to 60 degrees on Monday. This seems like great news!

Here is an updated map as of today, September 11 at 3:11 PM PST!

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I created this map to help put this fire into perspective. The most similar fire I've found from the archives was the Pan Hot Springs Fire in 1970, which was also in September, and burned a very similar shape into the mountain. This is represented in purple on this map. This map was last updated an hour or so ago.