Several regional fires surrounding San Benito County continue to burn as of Sept. 4. There are currently no evacuation orders or warnings for San Benito.
The fires include:
- River Fire in Salinas—48,088 acres and 98% contained as of 8:06 a.m.
- Carmel Fire in Monterey County—6,905 acres and 98% contained as of 8:05 a.m.
- CZU Lightning Complex in Santa Cruz/San Mateo—86,509 acres and 56% contained as of 7: 34 a.m.
- SCU Lightning Complex in Santa Clara/Alameda/Contra Costa/San Joaquin/Stanislaus counties—396,624 acres and 82% contained as of 6:59 a.m.
More information is available at the Cal Fire Incidents web page.
Police and fire representatives—including those from the Hollister Fire Department and San Benito Sheriff’s Office—meet to look at the risk of the fire for neighboring communities. The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office provides updates on Facebook.
For information on how to prepare for a wildfire, visit Cal Fire’s Ready for Wildfire website.
From USDA:
Recent extreme weather conditions have impacted farmers and ranchers in San Benito and Santa Clara Counties. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through the Farm Service Agency (FSA), has disaster assistance programs available to help agricultural producers recover after natural disasters, including wildfires.
“FSA offers a variety of disaster assistance programs to support farmers and ranchers through times of adversity,” said Vivian Soffa, Acting County Executive Director for FSA for San Benito and Santa Clara Counties. “Many disaster programs have a 30-day window to report losses, so once producers are able to evaluate their losses, it is important to contact the local FSA office to report all damages and losses and learn more about how we can assist.”
FSA offers many programs to help producers recover from losses, including the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) and the Tree Assistance Program. Producers located in counties receiving a primary or contiguous disaster designation are eligible for low-interest emergency loans to help them recover from production and physical losses.
To participate in LIP, producers must submit a notice of loss to their local FSA office within 30 calendar days of when the loss of livestock is apparent. In addition, livestock producers should bring supporting evidence, including documentation of the number and kind of livestock that died, photographs or video records to document the loss, purchase records, veterinarian records, production records, and other similar documents. Owners who sold injured livestock for a reduced price because the livestock was injured due to an adverse weather event, must provide verifiable evidence of the reduced sale of the livestock.
To participate in ELAP, producers must submit a notice of loss to their local FSA office within 30 calendar days of when the loss is apparent. Producers should also maintain records and receipts documenting that livestock were removed from the grazing pasture due to adverse weather, costs of transporting livestock feed to eligible livestock, receipts for equipment rental fees for hay lifts, and feed purchase receipts.
The FSA Emergency Conservation Program provides funding and technical assistance for farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters.
Compensation also is available to producers who purchased coverage through FSA’s Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, which protects non-insurable crops against natural disasters that result in lower yields, crop losses or prevented planting. Eligible producers must have purchased NAP coverage for 2020 crops and file a notice of loss and application for payment on qualifying crops.
Please contact the local FSA office at 831-637-4360 for more information about our disaster assistance programs or visit farmers.gov/recover.
Fire Updates
Cal Fire BEU Facebook and Twitter (San Benito/Monterey Unit)
Cal Fire SCU Facebook and Twitter (Santa Clara Unit)
Cal Fire SZU Facebook (San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit)
Cal Fire/Fresno County Fire Facebook
Check Cal Fire Facebook pages for daily live updates.
Air Quality
Air quality for Sept. 4 is listed as good to moderate (59 in Hollister and 50 at Pinnacles) as of 3:30 p.m.
Air quality can change throughout the day and the most update information can be found here: http://air.mbard.org
Weather
The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat watch in effect for areas away from the coast beginning Saturday, Sept. 5 and lasting into Monday, Sept. 7. Temperatures on Sept. 6-7 could reach triple digits. Temperatures expected to begin dropping Sept. 8.
Road Closures
Many roads in and around fires are closed. Up to date Caltrans information can be found here:
Local Resources
San Benito County Sheriff Facebook (831) 636- 4080
Hollister Fire Department Facebook (831) 636-4325
San Benito County Office of Emergency Services Facebook (831) 696-4168
Hollister Police Department Facebook (831) 636-4330
