Well once again, it is fire season in Southern California. Once upon a time fire season lasted just a few months - from Summer through Fall. Due to the ongoing drought, however, fire season seems to last rear-round. Historically, brush fires were Mother Nature’s way of clearing old vegetation to make room for new growth.
With land development, especially on the hillsides surrounding Southern California, brush fires now carry the potential for immense property damage and the risk for loss of life. Over the past few days, several fires have been scorching the hillsides surrounding the Los Angeles Basin. These fires have already burned over 30,000 acres of land, destroyed homes and other structures and forced thousands of residents into mandatory evacuation.
Now the “Station Fire” fire is burning within two miles of Mount Wilson and threatening the Mount Wilson Observatory. The fire is already sending smoke toward the century-old observatory as well as communications towers that house transmitters for every major television station in Los Angeles.
The top of the 5,712-foot Mount Wilson, which sits above Altadena, is home to multimillion-dollar astronomy projects for UCLA, USC and UC Berkeley. Georgia State University also operates a $20-million facility and a powerful telescope array at the Mt. Wilson Solar Observatory.
“A lot of people think of an observatory as one dome, but Mt. Wilson Observatory is actually a 40-acre tract of land with 50 to 60 buildings on it,” said Dr. Harold McAlister, director of the nonprofit Mt. Wilson Institute, which runs the observatory. “None of that stuff is portable, and to move telescopes out of there takes many weeks. We’re strictly at the mercy of nature and the great competence of the firefighters.”
Observatory staff members were evacuated Saturday. The view from an on-site Web camera today showed a smoky outline of communications equipment.
"There’s a lot of dollar value in those towers and of course what they mean to broadcasters in Southern California,” McAlister said. “It’s one of the major communication centers for this part of the country.”
The observatory offers visitors the chance to view space through its 60-inch telescope, which has been in place since 1908. In recent years, the road itself has become a popular destination for hikers and bikers looking for a rigorous climb, although it has been officially closed to the public since 2005 after rain-triggered landslides buried portions of it.
(Quotes from L.A. Times)
Fire update - two firemen die
Officials say two firefighters have been killed when their vehicle rolled off a mountainside as they battled a massive wildfire in northern Los Angeles County.
County Deputy Fire Chief Mike Bryant said at a news conference that the two men were amid intense fire near Mt. Gleason in the Angeles National Forest on Sunday afternoon when the vehicle crashed.
A tearful Bryant said the men's families have been notified. He did not release their identities or give a cause for the crash.
The fire has consumed 66 square miles, destroyed at least 18 structures and was threatening some 12,000 homes.
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Let us hope that the brave and hardworking firefighters already at hand, will be able to contain the fires without any further damage to life and property.
Now, the Sunday Comics for August 30, 2009. Enjoy!
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