Soberanes Fire expands in day three, destroys homes.

The air in Palo Colorado was eerily cool still on Sunday afternoon around 5pm, despite the 11,000-acre Soberanes Fire ranging just across the canyon.

The area was shielded by a thick layer of smoke overhead, keeping wind and sun at bay, good news for efforts to control the fire. Wind was finally cooperating enough to keep the smoke layer in place instead of blowing it off. 

"It's capping the fire, like putting a pot over a lid," says Kim Bernheisel, fire captain at the Carmel Highlands Fire District. "And what happens when you take the lid off?" 

Bernheisel looked on as the fire backed down over a ridge on the southern slope of Palo Colorado, near the top of the canyon.

Fire moves much slower downhill than uphill, but still, burning chunks of material roll down, ignite dried-out vegetation, then start burning up the hill in bursts of flame. 

The fire forecast for Sunday set the "probability of ignition" at 90 percent, meaning nine of every 10 embers that fly away are likely to ignite a fresh flame, due to lots of dead and dry vegetation. 

The sound of limbs and trees cracking down comes through the smoke about once every minute. 

The fire was burning along nearby Green Ridge, where residents report several homes were destroyed, and was creeping slowly from a few angles into Palo Colorado Canyon. (Cal Fire confirms six homes have been destroyed.) 

The fire grew in several directions Sunday, reaching up and over Bixby Mountain to the southeast, and moving eastward toward Carmel Valley.

From the north, large mushroom-cloud-like plums of smoke could be seen to the east, a sign the fire was make runs, quickly consuming acreage Bernheisel says. 

"When it comes up real fast like that, that's when it's taking out a lot of acres," he says. 

The fire was forecast to move at 300 chains per hour—units of 66 feet—through grassy vegetation on Sunday, and flames up to 22 feet high.

"It's moving fast," Bernheisel said. 

Firefighters were examining and preparing homes on a gated section of Corona Road, which dead ends about 5 miles from Highway 1 above Carmel Highlands, as flames shot up and over the ridgeline. 

"It's probably going to be at the top in 35 to 40 minutes," one firefighter said as the flames approached. 

Within 30 minutes, there it was, raining ash and burning plumes of dark black smoke and approaching two homes. 

One homeowner loaded two dogs into an SUV and prepared to drive down the road to evacuate. 

As he left, he told Bernheisel, "Stay safe. It's just a fucking house."