Announcement

**Heliotrope** · 01-09-2009, 18:41

The Station fire

Why is it called the Station fire? To me, the Station fire would be that one at a Great White concert in Rhode Island.

Edit: Oh, wait--is it because of the broadcast antennas?

**Ginger Yellow** · 01-09-2009, 19:01

The Station fire

The view from Mount Wilson:

**Incandenza** · 01-09-2009, 19:01

The Station fire

The explanation I've heard is that it started near the Angeles Crest Ranger Station, and firefighters named it the Station fire. Some of the fire names are kind of unusual, I don't know if there's a protocol for how they are named.

**Rogin the Armchair fan** · 01-09-2009, 19:03

The Station fire

Do you think you should be posting on this thread with a username like Incandenza? They might google this and think you're the one who started it.

**Incandenza** · 01-09-2009, 19:03

The Station fire

GY, any idea when those images are from? The webcam view this morning was almost completely brown and dark from the smoke, then it cleared a bit, and now I can't get the page to load at all.

**Incandenza** · 01-09-2009, 19:21

The Station fire

Oh dear--webcam shows the view almost totally obscured by smoke.

**Ginger Yellow** · 01-09-2009, 19:22

The Station fire

Last night, according to the BoingBoing article.

**Ginger Yellow** · 01-09-2009, 20:37

The Station fire

**Incandenza** · 01-09-2009, 20:40

The Station fire

There's a note on the UCLA webcam site: "Note: the large amount of new smoke seen is due to backfires set by firefighters. This is the very best thing to do at the moment. Go California firefighters!" Some of the firefighters are state prisoners that volunteer for forest fire duty.

On the broadcast of the Galaxy v. Chivas game Saturday night, they showed that the flames were visible from the stadium, which is over 25 miles away.

**Ginger Yellow** · 01-09-2009, 20:51

The Station fire

Two firefighters have already died, alas.

**George** · 01-09-2009, 21:05

The Station fire

The picture posted by GY looks like a scene from one of those 'End of the world' disaster movies from the late '90's.

**Ginger Yellow** · 01-09-2009, 21:07

The Station fire

My thoughts exactly. It looks like half a dozen volcanoes erupting at once. Kind of how you imagine the Siberian Traps must have looked during the P-T extinction, but without the vast fields of lava as far as the eye could see.

**George** · 01-09-2009, 21:14

The Station fire

The amount of greenery destroyed in the fire could no doubt herald in alot of desertification in the long term. Further affecting a city not known for its air quality.

**evilC** · 01-09-2009, 21:37

The Station fire

A panorama 245 miles wide, from an angle of 46 degrees:

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From the Jet Propulsion Laboratories website.

A great timelapse video of the sunset there, too.

**Incandenza** · 01-09-2009, 22:22

The Station fire

Last update from UCLA Mt. Wilson station: "Note: 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."

Updates still being posted at Georgia State's website:

Monday, 1 Sep 09, 5:26 pm PDT [sic - 2:26?] - The Battalion fire chief on Mount Wilson has just called both Larry and Dave to ask how to turn off the fire alarm up there! His name is Cam Todd and he's a Cal Fire chief with crews from Calaveras County. These are the same fire crews who did such a fantastic job prepping the place over the weekend before they were withdrawn yesterday morning. Chief Todd confirmed that these are indeed backfires and he said his guys are doing a heck of a job and their efforts are going just great!

Monday, 1 Sep 09, 2:04 pm PDT - CHARA Site Manager Larry Webster, who left the mountain yesterday morning, has told me that what we see on the TV feeds is exactly what the fire fighters told him they would do to deplete flammables on the ground. Their plan, which they would have implemented earlier had they not been withdrawn, was to start these groundlevel fire and literally walk along with them to keep them controlled. This is why we see no flames. The fires will consume the accumulation of needles from the many pine and fir trees as well as other scrub growth that could flame up and ignite lower limbs that would them permit the blossoming of the entire tree into flames. All the smoke we see is entirely consistent with this procedure. Larry and Dave are both delighted to see what's going on, but I've got to say that seeing smoke next to those domes is very unsettling to me. Still, I know what the fire fighters are now doing is necessary to save the Observatory.

Controlled burns were what the Native Californians did and part of the reason why the Spanish missionaries and soldiers to think of them as reckless and unfit to care for the land.

**Ginger Yellow** · 01-09-2009, 22:23

The Station fire

he said his guys are doing a heck of a job

An unfortunate choice of words.

**Incandenza** · 01-09-2009, 22:25

The Station fire

Oof, indeed.

**Ginger Yellow** · 01-09-2009, 22:40

The Station fire

Especially given that the anniversary of Katrina was only last week.

**adams house cat** · 01-09-2009, 22:57

The Station fire

The firefighters are amazing. Many are volunteers.

When we lived in New Mexico I was driving home from ABQ one evening when we stopped because a brush fire tthat had been burning for 3 days suddenly changed direction and headed for the road. It spread 15 miles in 20 minutes and came within a quarter mile of where we were stopped. The firefighters told us to be ready to leave the cars and make for the helicopters. Luckilly it was stopped in time.

The most frightening thing I've ever experienced.

**Ginger Yellow** · 02-09-2009, 09:19

The Station fire

Looks like the observatory's going to be OK. Great work by the fire department.

**Incandenza** · 02-09-2009, 12:58

The Station fire

What gives, San Francisco?

While much of Southern California is currently blazing away like an old Christmas tree, we've got a little bit of a fire going on up here in San Francisco, too. It's a four-alarm blaze under John Hanley's collar.

The head of the San Francisco firefighter's union is incensed that the SFFD has spurned pleas from the State Office of Emergency Services to send a "strike team" consisting of five fire trucks and 22 firefighters to SoCal. Instead, the city has sent a single truck.

"If the city of Vallejo, which is in bankruptcy court, can send one engine down, San Francisco ought to be able to send five," said Hanley. "Our neighbor's house is burning and we've got well-trained, well-qualified guys but the chief won't let them go. It just doesn't look very good."

San Francisco's neighboring counties, meanwhile, sent multitudes of vehicles and personnel southward. Alameda County dispatched a pair of five-vehicle strike teams, as did Santa Clara, Solano, and Monterey. Santa Cruz, Contra Costa County and Marin also sent a strike team apiece, according to Emily Hopkins of the Contra Costa County Fire Department, which coordinated the regional effort. She confirmed that San Francisco has not sent a strike team.

**Incandenza** · 02-09-2009, 15:51

The Station fire

So, mostly good news yesterday, but there is concern about the southeastern flank of the fire and its approach to Altadena and Pasadena.

Photo from the LA Times:

**Reed John** · 02-09-2009, 16:04

The Station fire

That sucks about SF not helping out. I understand that it's not in their budget, but I'd think that federal or state disaster relief money could go to reimbursing those departments for helping out.

**matt j** · 04-09-2009, 15:38

The Station fire

The Big Picture:

here

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The Station fire

The Station fire

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