[CPEO-MEF] Ft. Ord fire update

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Officials on defensive about fire
Residents affected by blanket of smoke
By SUKHJIT PUREWAL
Monterey Herald
Saturday, October 25, 2003

The 490-acre "controlled burn" at Fort Ord spiraled into a wildfire
Friday, charring more than 1,200 acres, spewing smoke and ash as far
south as Pebble Beach and enraging a sizable share of the Monterey
Peninsula's populace.

After seeming to die down in the early evening, the blaze flared up
again shortly after 9 p.m. and was expected to continue generating smoke
until this afternoon, though not nearly as much as it did for most of
Friday.

The fire escaped its boundary along Gen. Jim Moore Boulevard about 11
a.m. Friday and then burned rapidly along Watkins Gate Road, even though
the area had been treated with fire retardant the day before.

"Wildfires are difficult beasts," said Rich Foster of Fire Stop, the
Granite Bay company contracted by the Army to carry out the burn.

Military officials insisted the burn had gone off as expected, with a
breeze from the northeast carrying much of the smoke to the southwest
and over the ocean. But complaints poured in from all across the
Peninsula, especially Monterey, Carmel and Pebble Beach, where residents
said they had no idea they would be driven indoors by the brown haze.

...

for the entire story, see
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/7101750.htm


-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CPEO: A DECADE OF SUCCESS.  Your generous support will ensure that our 
important work on military and environmental issues will continue.  
Please consider one of our donation options.  Thank you.
http://www.groundspring.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2086-0|721-0