About Cambria

After the overwhelming rejection of the ballot measures on May 19, the Governor has come up with one way to make up some of the multi-billion dollar state budget gap: Close state parks. The Governator made a similar suggestion a little over a year ago. No parks were closed at the time. This time, the campaign to keep the parks open began in earnest – almost before the official announcement.

State Parks (like Hearst Castle and Julia Pfeiffer in Big Sur) don’t take in enough money to sustain their operation. I’d argue that closing them doesn’t eliminate the the expense for running these places – maintenance must be provided and and police patrols have to be stepped up to prevent vandalizaton and theft – and that, too costs money.

To read more about this issue: http://www.savestateparks.org/

As nearly everyone is certainly aware, a major fire is burning a little over 45 miles north of Cambria. Highway One has been closed for at least two weeks and Cambria Fire Chief Putney has been leading a strike team for almost two weeks. According to a 6AM update at Surfire2008.org today, over 72,000 acres have burned and the fire is only 11% contained. There are 2,320 personnel currently fighting this fire and only 3 injuries so far. Surfire2008.org is being updated “officially” twice a day, but is acting as a communication source and bulletin board for locals, so there are posts being put up throughout the day by many in the community.

Anyone visiting the site can see updates on the fire fighting efforts as well as needs and offers to help. Of particular interest to Cambrians should be the pages where people can offer housing or to volunteer and the pages listing needs for housing or volunteers.

For other official fire information, visit the County of Monterey’s Fire Information page. To see a map updated yesterday of the Indians and Big Sur Fires, Click Here. See the change in the affected areas, check out this image from July 1 and July 3.

For information more current, but unofficial, visit the surfire2008.org blog first, then go visit Xasáuan Today, which is continuing to update a back country photo tour of the areas affected by the fire (pre-fire). KUSP radio also has been keeping a great web resource updated regularly. Below is a Google Earth image of the fire details from this morning.

There are many opportunities for people to give their help or financial support to those who are directly affected by these fires. I suggest visiting surfire.org to find out what help is most needed. And keep all the firefighters and other emergency workers in your thoughts and prayers.

Are you prepared for a possible emergency here in Cambria? Visit the Fire Emergency Preparedness pages on the CCSD’s web site. Use the navigation links on the right to learn about preparing for evacuation or staying put if a fire like the one in the Big Sur area threatens our community.