Posted on 08/30/2009 6:53:29 PM PDT by jdfromny
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Authorities say flames from a major wildfire north of Los Angeles are about to reach Mount Wilson, home to a historic observatory and transmitters for every major television and radio station in the area. Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Mark Savage tells KABC-TV Sunday that "it's not a matter of if it impacts Mount Wilson, it's a matter of when," and estimated that the flames could leap to the top of the mountain within a few hours. Savage says firefighters could be pulled at any moment if the situation becomes dangerous. Television stations say if the antennas burn, broadcast signals will be affected but satellite and cable transmissions should not be. Two giant telescopes and several multimillion-dollar astronomy programs are also located at the observatory.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
....and when I do, I will have a new tagline.....
I’ve been trying without success to link here to a webcam atop Mt. Wilson. The sun is setting to the upper left of the screen, the towers are in view, and alot of smoke is eerily in the background.
Dont know what its not linking, but the site is weatherbonk.com. Navigate your way from there, it’s well worth seeing as this things unfolds.
These events are most unfortunate. My prayers for all affected.
An old friend of my family was employed by the local NBC affiliate here, back in the day when transmitter facilities were manned. I remember, fondly, going up there on occasion to visit, when I was a kid. We took a telescope. Shooting stars were very visible up there, I swore I could hear them, lol. It was, and still is, up on the mountaintop behind my childhood home.
There was a big fire, the week my father died, last year. It nearly reached those towers. This brings back some sad times for me.
Prayers for all affected.
Wow, not much left but KROQ or Talk Radio!
I worked on the ABC buildings on Wilson in the late 60s and they were unmanned then.
They did use telephone connection for transmission then but I built the platform and mounts for their microwave equipment on top of a sound stage at Prosprect and Talmadge in the early 80s so their communication and transmission doesn’t require hard wire any longer.
Well it must be Obama’s fault based on the libs logic.
No one is mentioning the “T” word here on all these California fires — neither will I — I’ll just say Napalitano best get on the case.
Kill TV and keep it dead.
It’s a Government conspiracy to destroy analog television!
Observatory and cameras shut down already due to fire. 150ft Tower Cam is still functioning...http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm. Pretty ugly.
I grew up in L.A., mostly in the San Gabriel Valley, just beneath Mt. Wilson. This is terrible.
We just lost the Tower Cam in the last two minutes.
Last pic I got was 19:52:22.
I had 19:58:02, at the refresh, it went dead, and I can’t connect anymore.
Just got it again, 20:03:55. Still real ugly.
I did freelance work for KABC in the mid-90s and their transmitter site had accomodations for a live-in engineer and his family. Quite cozy actually. I recall that no one lived up there when I was there. FWIW...SSZ
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