The fire made significant progress towards the south and east overnight. I will present only one image this morning, which I think sums up the situation pretty well.
This image has the MODIS data set as of this morning brought into Google Earth. Overlaid on that is the index to the operations plan for 7/29. I have added in black the dozer fire break near Cachagua that was indicated as complete on the 7/30 operation map. You can see that the fire has progressed to the south, in the direction of the town of Big Sur, and to the east along the path of a planned, but not completed fire break. I should emphasize that the alignment of the Google Earth MODIS image and the operations plan is approximate.
How to read the overlay: XXXs are completed dozer breaks. XOXOs are planned. Big black dots are drop points.
How to read the MODIS heat indications: The size of the square represents the nominal margin of error. The fire could be anywhere in the square, not just at the center. Dark red squares were detected less than six hours before the data set was created. Light red squares were detected less than twelve hours before the data set was created. Orange squares were detected less than 24 hours before the data set was created. Yellow squares were detected less than six days before the data set was created. Since the fire is now over six days old, some of the early detections have dropped off the map. MODIS makes mistakes, sometimes missing outbreaks, and sometime misplacing them outside the nominal margin of error. It is also a snapshot of the activity at the time the satellite is overhead, and will definitely miss flare ups between passes. MODIS can’t tell the difference between wildfires and intentional back burns.
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