20 replies to this topic

[Chuck2]

A fire broke out Tuesday night in the hills above Altadena near Eaton Canyon, prompting a response from firefighters. The Eaton fire has burned more than 400 acres and prompted evacuations. Fire can be seen from the Mt Wilson Web Cams, few miles away…

 

https://www.hpwren.u.../SD/wilson.html
 

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Edited by Chuck2, 08 January 2025 - 03:53 AM.

[deSitter]

Well that's alarming. I remember dodging this bullet some years ago. Fingers crossed. The 100 inch telescope is second only to Hubble in historical importance.

 

-drl

[bobzeq25]

Right now the wind is blowing the fire in the opposite direction from Mt. Wilson. That _could_ change, but it's very unlikely, the Santa Anna wind direction is usually quite predictable.

[Chuck2]

Appears the fire burned along side the observatory and the adjacent communications towers throughout the night. Possibly the Santa Ana winds kept the fire away?

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Edited by Chuck2, 08 January 2025 - 02:42 PM.

[Chuck2]

Video of Eaton Canyon active fire adjacent to Mt Wilson, 11,000 acres burned in less than one day…

 

https://cdn.hpwren.u...20250108/Q2.mp4

 

 

 

 

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[vsteblina]

Appears the fire burned along side the observatory and the adjacent communications towers throughout the night. Possibly the Santa Ana winds kept the fire away?

Those communication towers are on US Forest Service managed land.

 

When I was working for the Forest Service there was a lawsuit filed between a couple of the communication companies with permits and Forest Service next to Mt. Wilson.  I was stunned at the "value" of the commercial traffic going through those towers.  They might let Mt. Wilson burn down, but those communication towers will be protected!!!

 

Too bad Congress, lets the telecommunications companies pay less than fair market value for the permits.  Could fund the entire Forest Service budget on that forest.

[deSitter]

Those communication towers are on US Forest Service managed land.

 

When I was working for the Forest Service there was a lawsuit filed between a couple of the communication companies with permits and Forest Service next to Mt. Wilson.  I was stunned at the "value" of the commercial traffic going through those towers.  They might let Mt. Wilson burn down, but those communication towers will be protected!!!

 

Too bad Congress, lets the telecommunications companies pay less than fair market value for the permits.  Could fund the entire Forest Service budget on that forest.

Great point. Just great.

 

-drl

[w4sm]

The cameras on Mt. Wilson are currently not functional. 

[deSitter]

The cameras on Mt. Wilson are currently not functional. 

I looked at the fire maps, the Eaton fire is less of a problem right now. As mentioned above, the winds are favorable for Mt. Wilson.

 

-drl

[Chuck2]

From the ground level view, Mt Wilson still looks to be surrounded by fire and smoke. Mt Wilson cameras shut down at 3:57am, when they were still clear of fire. Their web cams were best to track the approaching fire which is now at the base of the communication towers. Fire is blocking the only road in/out of the observatory.

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Edited by Chuck2, 09 January 2025 - 03:36 PM.

[dustyc]

Those communication towers are on US Forest Service managed land.

 

When I was working for the Forest Service there was a lawsuit filed between a couple of the communication companies with permits and Forest Service next to Mt. Wilson.  I was stunned at the "value" of the commercial traffic going through those towers.  They might let Mt. Wilson burn down, but those communication towers will be protected!!!

 

Too bad Congress, lets the telecommunications companies pay less than fair market value for the permits.  Could fund the entire Forest Service budget on that forest.

Given that LA is the 2nd largest market in the US, I'll guess that "value" is well over a billion dollars annually.

(maybe more like 10 billion?) I thinking a lot of data center backhaul is going thru those links.

[Dave Mitsky]

https://www.nbclosan...wilson/3599568/

[sickfish]

The fire is right up on those towers now.

[Dave Mitsky]

https://www.msn.com/...id=BingNewsSerp

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=Hc6p1DC7FmM

[Chuck2]

Web camera captured the moment fire suppressant was dumped from a tanker, quickly knocking down fire, area still smoking, but reduced the immediate danger! Appears main road is open again, no fire present. The main observatory still remains untouched. 

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Edited by Chuck2, 09 January 2025 - 06:19 PM.

[Brachiopod]

Watching a news conference on KTLA right now, and they said that they "feel pretty good about what they have to do up on Mt. Wilson tonight" which sounds good!

[Horologium1959]

I totally hope and pray it is saved and the staff and firefighters are safe and stay that way,  

[deSitter]

What a disaster! Is Mt. Wilson in the clear now?

 

-drl

[Chuck2]

Mount Wilson Observatory

“We are relieved to report that the flare-up of the Eaton Fire near the Observatory seems to be under control at the moment. There are fires below the towers and parking lot but fire crews are monitoring the situation, letting the fire consume the fuel. There are 14 or so trucks, 80 or so firefighters, from around the state. We are eternally grateful to the firefighters and our mountain staff for their dedication to keeping the mountain safe. We will continue to monitor the situation as things can change quickly”

 

”Edit for update: our website (and web cams) is down due to the increased traffic. We hope it will come back up soon”

Edited by Chuck2, 10 January 2025 - 03:06 PM.

[Chuck2]

Giant Tanker helicopters are flying continuous sorties, drawing water from the Sante Fe reservoir to drop on Mt Wilson. Flight Radar app lists specific copters currently in flight fighting the fire.

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Edited by Chuck2, 10 January 2025 - 10:54 PM.

[gordtulloch]

The same thing happened in 2009 when a friend and I were down in Pasadena on a "bucket list" trip organized as we reward for our work building the 100 Hours of Astronomy website for the International Year of Astronomy - we were booked for an observing run on the 60" but the fire made it impossible to get up there. When we fretted that the whole place might burn down my local friend said "They don't care about the observatory, but they'll never let those antennas burn!"

Edited by gordtulloch, 15 January 2025 - 02:12 PM.