Tensions run high at Soberanes Fire meeting.

More than 200 people gathered at Carmel River Elementary School Monday night for a meeting about the Soberanes Fire, and the mood among the crowd was somber, anxious and filled with frustration.

Cal Fire Captain Nate Armstrong led off the meeting, describing the chronology of the fire at its inception.  

He reported that firefighters responded at 9am July 22 to a 2-acre fire just below the Soberanes Creek Trail, and that the fire was very difficult to access, requiring firefighters to hike two miles in. 

As the day went on, and the fire began to grow, the winds picked up to speeds of 50-60mph along the ridge above the fire, and it quickly became clear the situation was critical.

"That's when we ordered in a team," Armstrong said.

Cal Fire Operations Chief George Gonzalez spoke next, saying that fire crews were up against ever-changing conditions, and constantly adapting.

"The wind is competing with us every single day," Gonzalez said, adding that because of today's warm, muggy conditions, mixed with the smoke, visibility was so poor that no aircraft were able to fight the fire.

"The windows for aircraft are very slim," he said.

Gonzalez also estimated that the spot fire southeast of Notley's Landing was about 800 acres, but was burning north toward the main fire, which has burned more than 15,000 acres.

Todd Derum, Cal Fire's Team 4 Incident Commander, noted that his team was one of six Cal Fire teams in the state, and tried to convey to the crowd that every available resource was being dedicated to the fire.

He also said 1,000 more firefighters would be arriving tonight, bringing the total force to about 2,400 personnel.

Monterey County District 5 Supervisor Dave Potter was on hand (as was state Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, and Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel), and noted it was the fourth fire in his district since he's been in office.

"As a community, we can stand together," Potter said. "We do better as a group when we stand united."

Potter reassured residents affected by the fire that in the event their homes are destroyed or damaged, the county will do everything in its power to streamline the rebuilding process.

He also praised the firefighters who've come from afar.

"These are men and women who've come from hundreds of miles away to put themselves in harm's way to protect your lives and your property," he said, to rousing applause. 

Monning also stressed the lengths his office would go to in helping affected residents, even for something so seemingly trivial as leaving one's ID at their house. 

"There's no issue we won't help with," Monning said. 

He also compared Cal Fire's budget to 2008, when the Basin Complex Fire ravaged Big Sur. 

"In 2008, Cal Fire's budget was $50 million," he said. "This year it's $950 million."

Still, Monning alluded to the fact that the road ahead is not short. 

"The winds, the terrain make this an ongoing treacherous situation," he said. "We're in the early stages of a really tough fire."

When responding to questions from the crowd, Cal Fire Unit Chief Brennan Blue said it will be a "few weeks out" before the fire is fully contained, and that crews hope to have it under control within two weeks. 

Cmdr. Derum, when talking about the conditions up in Palo Colorado, and the difficulty of the steep terrain, said that the fire dislodged a huge boulder that careened down a hill and totaled a fire engine. 

Sherrie Collins from the County Office of Emergency Services said that sometime soon her office will set up a local assistance center to provide one-stop services to those affected by the fire. 

She added that the county has made a local emergency declaration, which will be ratified by the Board of Supervisors tomorrow, July 25, and responding to a question, said that the threshold to reach a federal emergency—which would bring federal assistance—is $50 million in infrastructure damage and the loss of at least 800 uninsured homes. 

"I don't necessarily want to get to those thresholds," she said. 

There were questions from the crowd whether Highway 1 would be closed, which brought huge applause, but Chief Blue said it would remain open as long as feasible because many Big Sur businesses rely on tourism to thrive. 

There was also a suggestion to permanently close all hiking trails in Big Sur "until the drought is over," which Tim Short from U.S. Forest Service of said is not being considered, just that trails from Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park north would be closed indefinitely. 

Also responding to a question from the crowd, Chief Gonzalez confirmed that the area where most of the homes have burned are Long Ridge and upper Green Ridge off Palo Colorado Road. 

After the meeting, Derum said the number of firefighters could still grow. 

"It would not be uncommon for it to go up to 3,500 [personnel]," he said. "It's just a gut feeling.

A few hours after the meeting, Cal Fire Public Information Officer Daniel Berlant tweeted the latest numbers: