UPDATE as of 5:45pm Monday, June 16: All evacuation warnings have been lifted.
Regional and Cal Fire personnel are responding to a 0.9-acre fire just east of Panetta Road on the 100 block of Carmel Valley Road, according to Eric Ulwelling, Monterey County Regional Fire District Deputy Fire Chief.
Cal Fire also sent a bulldozer and a hand crew. The fire was reported at approximately 3:24pm on Monday, June 16 in the Carmel Valley Village area, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Several structures are reported threatened, and one outbuilding is burning. Crews are dealing with downed, energized power lines with restricted access to the area, according to incident command. Evacuation warnings have been issued by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office for a significant portion of the Carmel Valley Village area, spanning from E. Garzas Road across Carmel Valley Road (including Tularcitos Elementary School and Carmel Valley Community Park) past Ford Road. It extends southeast roughly to Esquiline Road. Check your address and evacuation zone here.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office released evacuation warnings for the following zones: MRY-D-057a, MRY-D-057b, D-057c, MRY-D060, MRY-D061, MRY-D-065 and MRY-D066A. To keep up to speed with evacuation notices go to readymontereycounty.org/emergency.
Evacuation warnings mean to be prepared for possible evacuation orders; authorities recommend packing up essential items and pets in case of an evacuation order.
As of 5:45pm Monday, the Sheriff Office's lifted all evacuation warnings.
Deanna Ross, program manager at Hidden Valley Music Seminars, says she heard three explosions and spotted plumes of smoke around the time the fire began.
“I ran outside and we all saw a huge plume of pretty dark smoke and a bad, chemically smell,” Ross said. “When I was talking to 911, there was another big explosion, and then again when I was leaving the area, there was a smaller explosion.”
Peter Meckel, director of Hidden Valley Music Seminars, went to check the property and found that the fire had not impacted the campus.
Meckel says they can see the fire from above.
“Even though we're up above [the fire] by a couple hundred feet, looking over the edge of the area, we can't discern where it came from or where it's coming from,” he says, adding that he could still see more white smoke rising from the area.
The fire remains active. No information has been released about the cause or containment as of 5pm Monday.
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