Mission San Antonio de Padua buffering defenses against Dolan Fire
JOLON, Calif. (KION) A historic mission in South Monterey County is potentially in the line of fire tonight from the raging Dolan Fire incident.
Firefighters, staff and even the U.S. military are all trying to buffer the zones between the flames and the mission.
"When I was leaving on Monday and looked back from the front gate, the huge plume of smoke was this whole hillside where the fire had just reared up," said Joan Steele, the mission administrator.
The Mission San Antonio de Padua has been here since 1771 when Father Junipero Serra founded it before America was even a nation. It is the third of the 21 historic missions built across California; next year is its 250th anniversary.
But the Dolan Fire now poses a menacing front on the west side of the mission, prompting the evacuation of all important items at the location on Tuesday.
"We've been doing a seismic retrofit and restoration for the past six years to the tune of over $11 million, and I was really concerned that we might see it all go up in flames," said Steele.
The mission staff isn't sitting there for what happens next, though; they've already created defensible spaces around the mission and the outside buildings.
THey have also got friends at nearby Fort Hunter Liggett and Cal Fire; some army engineers from the 102nd and TASS Training Center created fire breaks all around the mission for extra safety using bulldozers.
More back burning also increased the buffer between the active fire and the mission as well. For Steele, this place is not only important for students to learn history, it's also a place where people can escape for reflection, peace and quiet.
"This is one of the few missions of the 21, maybe the only one, that still sits in its iconic, original site. Same landscape," said Steele.
The southern tip of the Dolan Fire is now burning about a mile or so from the mission and the main structures of Fort Hunter Liggett. It is a waiting game now.
"We hope and pray that the winds don't pick up. Right now, mother nature has been cooperating and the fire in this area, the back burns are working and they're slowing it down. Unfortunately, to the north and west of us, it's not the case," said Steele.
PREVIOUS ARTICLE: Staff at a historic mission in South Monterey County are trying to keep the buildings from burning down if the Dolan Fire makes its way down the hills.
The Mission San Antonio de Padua is located near Fort Hunter Liggett in Jolon, which means they have been getting some help from the U.S. Army, who has put in some fire lines surrounding the centuries-old infrastructure.
The mission administrator says things were pretty calm in terms of fire threat until just this week.
"We thought it was kind of growing slowly, but not really a threat to the mission until about Monday night when it jumped onto Hunter Liggett and very quickly doubled over night. So when I left on Monday, I could see the plumes of new fire over the hillside," said Joan Steele, the Mission Administrator.
KION's Josh Kristianto will take a look at just how close the Dolan Fire is getting there and why this mission is important to protect tonight at 10 and 11 p.m.
