Moss Landing battery plant fire: Dolan Road closed, shelter-in-place lifted
A fire broke out early Friday, Sept 18, at the Vistra battery storage plant at 7301 Highway 1 in Moss Landing, inside the building damaged in the January 2025 fire. The Sheriff's shelter-in-place for the zones within a third of a mile (MRY-B047, B050, B053) was lifted at 4pm Friday. There are no evacuation orders. Dolan Road is closed at Castroville Blvd and at Elkhorn Road; Caltrans reports Highway 1 open through Moss Landing. EPA air monitors found no hydrogen fluoride and no PM2.5 exceedances on Friday. Officials expect the fire to burn itself out within about a day. If you smell smoke around Moss Landing or Castroville, close windows and doors and follow Alert Monterey County for updates.
Open Studios Art Tour: weekend 2 is Sat–Sun Sep 19–20, 11am–5pm, free
250+ Monterey County artists open their studios this weekend, from the Peninsula to Moss Landing, Salinas and King City. The numbered purple pins on the map are the tour stops; tap one for the artist's site. The printed guide and the full artist list are on Arts4MC's site. Free, self-guided, no ticket.
Directed by Alec Walsh (Carlsbad, CA) This short documentary dives beneath the surface of Northern California’s coastline to uncover a powerful story of loss, resilience, and restoration. Once-thriving kelp forests, vital underwater ecosystems that support marine life, coastal communities, and ocean health, have collapsed in recent years, with some regions losing over 90% of their kelp cover due to warming waters, disease, and an explosion of kelp-eating purple sea urchins. In response, a dedicated community of divers, scientists, and local organizations has come together to restore balance. Through hands-on efforts like urchin removal, long-term ecological monitoring, and pioneering work to recover the endangered sunflower sea star, a key predator in the ecosystem, these partners are working to rebuild what has been lost. At its core, Holdfast Together is a story of collaboration and hope. It highlights the people willing to descend beneath the waves, confront the crisis firsthand, and take action, one dive at a time, to bring California’s underwater forests back to life. FILMMAKER Q&A TO FOLLOW. Runtime: 18:08, Founders Theatre BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILMS, cont’d : Animation holds a unique power to spark deep emotions, yet it stands as the cinematic art form most threatened by generative AI. While animation is a true art form born from conscious intent, personal experience, and human storytelling, AI is simply a technological tool that mimics artistic styles without understanding meaning or consequence. CIFFest is proud to champion the global community of animators and animation students from around the world, offering them vital visibility and support through the festival.