The Dolan Fire spread to around 36,000 acres overnight from Monday, Sept. 7, 2020, to Tuesday, Sept. 8, burning near Nacimiento-Fergusson Road and the Nacimiento Fire Station. On that Tuesday, the fire overran a crew of firefighters, injuring 14, including Capt. Casey Allen.
When the Dolan fire swept through the Big Sur hills about 18 months ago, it destroyed the isolated Nacimiento Fire Station.
Now, the facility will be rebuilt thanks to about $18 million in federal funding, according to U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta.
In his announcement Thursday, the Monterey Democrat said the funding awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will go toward replacing the fire station, barracks, engine garage and pumphouse. The money also will help to replace some site utilities, such as a water well, solar connections and access roads.
In Panetta’s news release, he noted that the station’s loss devastated area firefighters and the out-of-the-way community. “Maintaining a functional fire station in such a remote location prone to wildfires is crucial to protecting the Los Padres National Forest and surrounding areas.”
Federal support was provided as Supplemental Disaster Funding through the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act. Approved in September 2021, the act provided more than $1 billion in funding for recovery efforts after wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters.
The Dolan Fire
The Dolan Fire torched nearly 125,000 acres of Big Sur land, at one point reaching Highway 1 and threatening iconic structures such as the Bixby Bridge.
It took firefighters months to control the stubborn blaze, in part because some of the areas it flashed through are so remote, according to Cal Fire.
The blaze was finally declared contained on Dec. 31, 2020.
Less than a month after the raging fire began in mid-August of 2020, flames took out the Nacimiento Ranger Station on Sept. 7, 2020. Some 14 firefighters were injured trying to protect the station, and one is still recovering from his injuries.
Casey Allen said Monday that healing from his second- and third-degree burns is continuing, with only a few small wounds left on his ankles, and his Achilles tendon on his right foot is almost completely healed.
However, the news about Allen’s injured left hand wasn’t as good: Doctors may have to amputate his ring and pinkie fingers.
He credited U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal and his district representative Wendy Motta with finally breaking a stubborn repayment logjam so Allen and his fiancé, who he called “my rock,” could be repaid for money they had to pay out of pocket toward his recovery.
More money
This is the second Big-Sur-related funding announcement Panetta has made recently for infrastructure repairs in the Big Sur area.
In January, he announced that $126 million in Federal Highway Administration funds would go toward fixing the steep, narrow, rocky and often washed-out Nacimiento-Fergusson Road (which has the local nickname of “Nasty-Fergie Road).
It links Big Sur’s Highway 1 with Highway 101.
Kathe Tanner has been writing about the people and places of SLO County’s North Coast since 1981, first as a columnist and then also as a reporter. Her career has included stints as a bakery owner, public relations director, radio host, trail guide and jewelry designer. She has been a resident of Cambria for more than four decades, and if it’s happening in town, Kathe knows about it.
