Station fire likely to hit historic Mt. Wilson observatory, fire officials say

LA Times ^ | August 30, 2009 | Joe Mozingo

[BAW]

The fire burning in Angeles National Forest is approaching the historic solar observatory and television transmission towers atop Mt. Wilson, according to Los Angeles County fire officials.

The communications towers house transmitters for every major television station in Los Angeles.

“We expect it to get there in the next two to four hours,” said county fire Capt. Mark Savage.

Crews were clearing brush around the structures, but fire officials were not sure if they could leave personnel on the mountain to fight the flames because of the danger and limited escape routes. The fire is less than two miles away.

[BAW]

This is a live webcam feed from Mt Wilson. The site seems very busy, but the picture is starting to show what looks like flames nearby. Be patient, the site does not always load. Lots of people must be hitting on it now.

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm#imagetop

[BAW]

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm#imagetop

[sonofstrangelove]

From my point of view, it looks like something from Dante’s Inferno.

[Ancient Drive]

dude I’ve never seen a fire so large and devastating. I was listening to the evening news and they said there is like 20 television stations antennas up there.

[HiTech RedNeck]

News story shows 5:42 PM. The blaze 4 hours away? It would have hit by now.

[BAW]

click on the webcam - the blaze is creeping over the hills

[HiTech RedNeck]

Tried twice, timed out. I really don’t want to bog it down. But I hope all those antennas and the observatory are not going to go up in smoke!

[Ezekiel]

The communications towers house transmitters for every major television station in Los Angeles.

Wow, the networks are literally about to go up in flames.

[jessduntno]

I just had it up, but the time said it was 12:15

[presently no screen name]

Try it now. I just got on again after timing out 2x.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Something looks like fire at the extreme left and right.

[jessduntno]

10:56...

[HiTech RedNeck]

Oh boy, that will cause a panic. In a locale so notorious for its wildfire, why site all those antennas so close together? It is stupid.

[HiTech RedNeck]

That’s a real time link to the cam. Future readers won’t see it as of the time of the blaze. Can someone do a screen capture and host it somewhere else?

[jessduntno]

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm

[modhom]

Here’s a two-hour time lapse shot from the observatory
http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/towercam+large.gif

[NVDave]

That’s because there has been no fuels management in the Angeles National Forest for, oh, 30 to 40 years. There’s a huge build-up of scrub, understory and dead trees waiting for the right conditions to light it up.

I used to go up to Mt. Wilson on weekends in the mid-80’s. Even then, I was amazed that they allowed the trees to get so large, so close to that much valuable equipment. Were I running the show, I would have had the top of that mountain denuded for at least 200 yards around that entire site in every direction, for personnel safety if for no other reason. A fire starting on the slopes below could trap people up there with no way out very easily.

As bad as the situation is on Mt. Wilson, the situation on Mt. Harvard (just south of Mt. Wilson) is even worse, with more fuel coming right up to the electronics sites.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Burning behind the hills

[jessduntno]

It’s hard to believe how fast they can move...

[NVDave]

Because the area is controlled by the US Forest Service, and if you want to get “high real estate” in that area, you need to negotiate with the Feds.

One of the issues when you’re seeking to site some electronics or antenna up on a mountaintop is “is this a pristine area?” If there is no one else already there, then your application will likely face a much tougher road than if you’re applying to site your antenna on a mountaintop where someone already has an antenna, power and buildings. In many cases, the stations might be using their own antennas, but their equipment is all co-located inside the same building, with the same power feed and backup power generation systems.

[jessduntno]

That’s because there has been no fuels management in the Angeles National Forest for, oh, 30 to 40 years.

We got plenty of cool bike lanes and pretty center strips, though...

[NVDave]

Yup. You certainly do.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Or the possibility that one of the facilities could itself suffer a malfunction that would ignite a fire.

[catbertz]

I had that same thought tonight, about the obvious need for a good size buffer around all that gear.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I hope there is some emergency alternative broadcast site. Having all TV go off the air at once will stir up some folks. (I guess cable feeds will not have a problem.)

[jessduntno]

The picture at the link in post 12 is updating...

[StevieB]

If you are ever in LA, take the trip up to Mt.Wilson. It’s the highest point over the LA basic, and there are very few places in the basin that aren’t direct line-of-sight from the mountain.

[presently no screen name]

yes I notice that - I have two of them up now. Thanks.

[Ancient Drive]

ah yes.. the environutjobs didn’t even want cleared brush. That 50 yrs. without clearing anything was irresponsible!

[HiTech RedNeck]

And I suppose it’s nice to not need any antenna rotor.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Or plant something that doesn’t burn as easily. (Cactus?)

[R_Kangel]

My neighbors have been moving their horses out over the weekend in anticipation of this possible breach.

It has come close before but now we are all on pins and needles.

After the Ontario fire a year or so ago when almost 20 miles of mountain went up in smoke....we realize anything is possible now!

Be safe all!

[jessduntno]

ah yes.. the environutjobs didn’t even want cleared brush. That 50 yrs. without clearing anything was irresponsible!

But the blue tailed ground squirrel will go unharmed!

[AGreatPer]

I just caught a religious channel.

Their footnote is, "Our Tower is on Mt. Wilson. Prey for us.

[EDINVA]

I just got “IE.. cannot display this page.”

[presently no screen name]

But the blue tailed ground squirrel will go unharmed!

He's probably toast now.

[Ron C.]

Yes it is - and because of that, it makes loading from home quite a bit slower... nice thing, bandwidth to this FR link is FAR faster than the average home DSL... hence, it's better to refresh here and watch the coming fire than to try watching from your own PC!

~grin~

[NVDave]

Maybe, but probably not. There’s very little that substitutes for height above terrain at VHF and UHF frequencies; ie, you can’t substitute power for antenna height on a mountaintop.

The topology of the LA area leaves you with really only two areas to site TV/FM antennas: the Santa Monica Mountains (a poor, but possible alternative, which would result in sacrificing coverage to the south and northwest) and the San Gabriel Mountains, where the sites are now. Anything you’d site elsewhere is a bust.

For LA coverage, siting too far east in the San Gabriel Mtns is a bust too.

Having all TV transmitters go off the air at once would be pretty amusing in LA, actually. It would probably show how increasingly irrelevant TV is.

Now, if the cell phone service were to suffer a huge outage... that would get people really pissed in LA.

[presently no screen name]

That’s TBN.

[Tomato lover]

[Deo volente]

That’s a great picture! It seems to be updating every few minutes. The fire’s getting very close to the transmitter on the left!

[Ron C.]

Well so much for the updating 12 - links are apparently dumped after 15-20 minutes!

sad to say...

[HiTech RedNeck]

Was thinking of something like a cable hoisted by a helium balloon.

[The Cajun]

This is just nature doing the hard way what people could have done the easy way. People in California need to kick some enviro-wacko ass and start clearing some decent (wide) fire breaks. It would be a hell of a lot easier on the land than what is going on now. Sacrifice a little “pristine” forest or loose the whole damned works every 40 to 50 years....idiocy.

[R_Kangel]

Wow, that’s exactly what I see out my kitchen window with binoculars!!!

[HiTech RedNeck]

Until Congress and the clown legislature in Sacramento back it off, no can do.

[Ron C.]

not a fire - that's a light, been there for hours...

8^)

[jessduntno]

It’s looking pretty serious on the lower part of the hill on the left...the last update looks like it is getting brighter and BIGGER...

[Ancient Drive]

I think the blue tailed squirrel is toast now... 50 yrs in the making.... by brought on by the stupidity of those who thought themselves protectors of the squirrel.

[jessduntno]

Is the line moving behind it in the distance?