Raging Fire Threatens Mount Wilson

Source: Sky & Telescope

Right now a tense and terrifying drama is playing out in the San Gabriel Mountains, which mark the northern rim of the Los Angeles Basin. What started as a modest forest fire along the Angeles Crest Highway on the afternoon of August 26th has become a rampaging, out-of-control conflagration that is only 5% contained. So far it has incinerated some 65 square miles (170 km²) and forced the evacuation of 6,000 homes.

http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/towercam+341.gif
The severity of Southern California's Station Fire is evident in this 2-hour sequence of images recorded by a webcam at Mount Wilson Observatory. Click here for a larger view.
UCLA Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

But that's not all — at this moment the "Station Fire" has moved to within 2 miles of Mount Wilson Observatory and threatens to overrun not only the historic telescopes there but also a dense crowd of television transmitters at the summit.

Almost every waking moment for the past two days, I've been checking the automated webcam located on the observatory's 150-foot-tall solar tower, which happens to point westward — the direction from which the flames are advancing. Last night's images, sequenced at right, show the fire's ferocity in the adjacent canyons.

This morning I reached observatory director Harold McAlister, who (along with his staff) spent a sleepless night after a forced evacuation yesterday. "All indications are that the U.S. Forest Service and California Division of Forestry are pulling out all the stops on fighting the Station Fire," he says. "I understand there are some 80 firefighters and 10 trucks along with a Hotshot crew of Native Americans from Arizona stationed on site to defend the observatory" and the broadcast towers next to it.

Apparently they're in for a battle. Despite some optimism this afternoon that the major outbreaks weren't in the summit's immediate vicinity, a Los Angeles Times report states that fire officials expect the summit to be overrun sometime this evening or early tomorrow. Fortunately, the U.S. Forest service had decided to keep its fire crew in place at the summit overnight — "a critical aspect to the survivability of the observatory should the fire sweep across it," McAlister explains.

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Read more: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/56266907.html

Here's some history on the observatory. Hope we don't lose it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Wilson_Observatory

Mount Wilson
Last Updated by Los Angeles Times 12:25 a.m. PST, 8/31/09: At the top of Mt. Wilson just after 10 p.m., about 25 firefighters were clearing the area around the buildings and towers as they prepared for the fire to arrive.

and from twitter link

Firefighters bedding down near Mt. Wilson

At the bottom of Mt. Wilson Road, firefighters bedded down in the ash-flecked open air, the forest pitch black except for the flames lighting ridgelines in the near distance. The head of the fire appeared to be across a broad and deep canyon from the Wilson compound. Smaller flareups could be seen closer to the thicket of communications towers alongside the observatory, where five engine crews were posted overnight. The blaze had already raced up to the winding stretch of Angeles Crest Highway that leads to the Wilson road, and the lanes remained barely passable in sections.

Road signs had melted, guardrails were burned free of their wood moorings, and the switchbacks were choked with fire-loosened boulders and scorched tree limbs.

...from my rooftop. It's actually a beautiful sight by night, but I'll be happy when it's over and I hope that is soon.

Source: Radio Ink


Fire Threatens Mt. Wilson Radio, TV Towers

August 31, 2009: Dozens of Los Angeles-area FM and TV stations have their towers on Mount Wilson in the Angeles National Forest, right in the path of what is being called the "Station Fire," which spread overnight to more than 85,000 acres. Clear Channel, Citadel, Bonneville, CBS Radio, Salem, and Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters are among the broadcasters using towers at the Mt. Wilson facility, along with every major TV station in Los Angeles.

As of Monday morning, AP reported the fire had moved to within half a mile of Mount Wilson, which is also home to a historic observatory. Backfires were planned to help slow the fire's advance, and planes were dropping retardant in the area. Los Angeles radio and TV broadcasts appeared unaffected as of 9 a.m. Monday.

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Read more: http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=1478551&spid=24698

....but am still looking for more sourcing on that...

....the fire burns through.

Plus the "multi-million" dollar astronomy projects of several universties:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fire-mount-wilson31-2009aug31,0,6711216.story?track=rss

Los Angeles Times | August 31, 2009 | 11:05 a.m.

Fire officials say "good chance" blaze will hit Mt. Wilson today

Crews battling the Station Fire believe it's only a matter of time before the blaze hits Mt. Wilson, but officials are hopeful that frantic work by hand crews and aircraft dropping flame retardant will protect the communications centers there

The fire has gotten so close that firefighters were taken off Mt. Wilson earlier this morning. Meanwhile, the fire continues to push west in the general direction of the outskirts of Sand Canyon.

"There is a good chance the fire will hit Mt. Wilson today," said Ray Dombroski, spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. "The fire is currently on two sides of Mt. Wilson, about one-half mile to the north and about one mile southwest."

More at: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/08/fire-moves-west-toward-santa-clarita-sylmar-mt-wilson-in-peril.html

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/%7Eobs/towercam.htm
Mt. Wilson 150-Foot Solar Tower Current Towercam Image

Refreshes every two minutes.

would be my guess.

That's normally a view for miles - totally socked in with heavy smoke, now - at least it's not flames for the moment.

They pulled the fire crews off the site for now, but they are not far away in case the flames threaten again. They were setting backfires by the structures up there.

camera is melted?

Took a LOOOOOOONG time to come up, though. I suspect the site is swamped, as someone has already suggested.

I worked on a firebreak project in the area, but I guess it's not holding. :(

"The Mount Wilson webserver has gone down, most likely due to a backfire infiltration of a pull box containing telephone lines that bring us our T1 internet service. The will be no more updates from the Towercam, the last one being upoaded at 13:49:06."

This is along with the Mt. Wilson site, so the link I had in message 25 is now broken. News is now being posted here...

on their towers, should something happen ...

and then they'd try their best to get $$$ from the government, too ...

The anti-corporate sentiment on DU is sometimes very infuriating. Of COURSE they have insurance on their business assets!

It is from KABC, ABC7 local:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/livenow?id=6991679

I seem to only be able to see it intermittently.

If the fire does make it to the top of the mountain, the towers and observatory will simply be allowed to burn. They're not going to risk firefighters to save them.

Mt. Wilson is where Edwin Hubble first discovered that the universe was bigger than our galaxy, and where the realization that our universe is expanding was first made. It's a historic site, and it will be a tragedy to see it burn.

i.e., we're just a part of a vastly larger cosmos (and I'm speaking of the galactic level, here!), rather than the Milky Way being the whole enchilada.

or even a discernibly large bite of same...!

A lot of the underpinnings of our current unerstanding of the universe were nailed down in that building. The observatory also has the more modern distinction of housing the largest telescope on the planet available to any layman for use. Any average person could call them up and reserve the 60 incher for research or enjoyment. Nowhere else on the planet is a scope that big available for public use.

As I said, it will be a tragedy if it's allowed to burn.

The com towers will easily be replaced, but the Observatory probably not, SAD!

indeed. Television and emergency services antennas are all located on the top of Mt. Wilson. If the fire shuts them down, the more serious thing will be the emergency service communications. The TV will still be on with cable connections, but police and fire communications will be hard hit. There are so many cell phone cells in that area that cell comms will probably not be affected.

There's pretty much not anything to stop this fire from reaching the top of Mt. Wilson. There's so much smoke that the air drops can't be placed accurately, so it looks like beads up there unless the clearing operations are enough.

It is growing so fast, very scary.

Edited to add raw video feed from NBC:

http://wwitv.com/tv_channels/b4966.htm

My understanding is that all Georgia State University staff and researchers evacuated this weekend or Monday. Hope all are well.

http://www.chara.gsu.edu/CHARA/