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MT. WILSON FIRE THREAT?

Mt. Wilson Observatory curator reporting live on KNX that he is "cautiously optimistic" as backfires within 30 yards of smaller telescopes will be "something to come back to as the fire meets those being set." Towers, he says, not appearing to be in trouble, a mile away, though the smoke is heavy, with lots of it coming from the observatory side at this time (12:36).

Still looks threatening from the KTLA feed (12:50). Excellent video from Channel 5.
 
Firetruck seen on the path right at the top of the summit. Helo appears coming in to make a drop. "Seems like it's burning the grass, not the trees," according to KTLA reporter. Foscheck mostly on the other side of the site, not from the observatory side." (12:56) "Towers are fine right now, but still a lot of fire to come from the gulch, yet." (From Chopper 5).

KTTV back to helo video. KTLA 5 still live with Mt. Wilson. (1:00)

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-tivid-livestream-b,0,1174195.tividlivestream

Smoke blowing to the North & West, now encircling main Observatory building.
 
The latest webcam shows the towers almost obscured by smoke. The next hour or so may tell the story ---
 
One cannot tell, however, which (if any) are the backfires (controlled burns) and which are not. New water or Foscheck dump expected in the area in minutes. (1:19)
 
pjc1961 said:
KTLA Ch. 5 Copter back up - live streaming images from Mt. Wilson as I write (link here):

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-tivid-livestream-b,0,1174195.tividlivestream

Also see this site which has streaming feed of CBS Fire Cams (doesn't "freeze up" as much as the CBS2/KCAL9 player; it is from a different source):

http://www.wildfiretoday.com/

That link is from the Mt. Wilson Observatory Update Page:

http://www.mtwilson.edu/fire.php
Click to expand...

Alternate (mirror) temporary link to the Mt. Wilson Observatory Cam (since the normal server is overloaded with internet traffic, slowing down or disconnecting):

http://avtanski.net/towercam/
 
Smoke too thick now for KTLA to focus on Mt. Wilson at this time.

Flames still in "gorge" and have been there for 2 day. Lots of Foschek lines holding flames back from the Mt. Wilson tower site (and well below the rim at this time), but a few buildings in the Mt. Wilson Observatory area look to be in potential trouble at this minute.
 
See Observatory Director Hal McAlister's Blog on the Mt. Wilson Observatory's Temporary Site (their main webserver is now down):

http://joy.chara.gsu.edu/CHARA/fire.php

Seems that most of the fire near Mt. Wilson is "controlled backfire" set to burn off any "fuel" (brush/needles, etc.) & is meant to protect the Observatory & tower farm.
 
OK, scanner checkers: 135.35 (air atack) - KTTV reporting that MARS plane from Lake Elsinore to be dropping "lots of rain" - about 4 acres worth, directly on the Mt. Wilson site to stop advancing flames. "Lots of stuff" going on, according to reporter Justin Yeager. (2:48) MARS plane requested by CaFire control management.

Water dump to take place "overtop the site" between 3:45 and 4:15 PST. (as of 2:49) Live video at www.cbs2.com
 
7200 gallons on the way.

MARS JMR-3 water bomber from British Columbia. Should be a sight to see. Must be a pinpoint drop to be effective.

Has been too smoky to make drops this morning. "We want to make it rain a lot." Going back to Castaic for another drop after the first dump.

Light winds at present. (3:10 p.m. PST)

Grab your space on CBS 2 / KKAL 9 -- or KTTV FOX 11 http://media.myfoxla.com/live/

http://www.wildfiretoday.com/

Grab some popcorn and a beverage. Should be quite a show.
 
A "Martin MARS Flying Boat" enroute to Mt. Wilson.

Air attack reports plane (bigger than a Super Scooper) now at 120 knots from Elsinore.

"Old" Sky 9 chopper trying to get up with Larry Welk to join Chopper 2.
 
Bengalsfan said:
Did someone report that the observatory servers are down? I see the last updated picture is from 1:29 local time.
Click to expand...

Yes. The Internet connection to the Mt. Wilson observatory was knocked out by fire -- so the webcam will no longer be able to send updated pics, and the mtwilson.edu site is offline.

The Mt. Wilson observatory blog has moved here:
http://joy.chara.gsu.edu/CHARA/fire.php

From the re-located blog:

Monday, 1 Sep 09, 2:15 pm PDT - The Mount Wilson webserver went down moments ago, most likely due to a backfire infiltration of a pull box containing telephone lines that bring us our T1 internet service. All future updates will be posted here.
 
Yes. Obervatory server is down.

Excellent video on http://media.myfoxla.com/live/ KTTV.

Lead plane now on southside of Mt. Wilson.

"MARS Flying Boat" is huge 4 prop plane. Dropping on the north side, reportedly, when it arrives.
 
Plane identified now as Tanker R-223.

TV copters told to maintain 9000 ft. to allow plane to get in. They can go lower but with a more distant shot than from over the summit of Mt. Wilson.
 
Thank you, PJC.
 
KRTH 101.1, KTWV 94.7, KAMP 97.1 no longer transmitting from wilson (on backup)
i suspect KCBS 93.1 is also off the hill... the signal is very good so i can't be sure its not on wilson.. there is no hd signal however, and there is definitely different audio processing.. i will assume they too are off the hill at the moment.

reports say fire near hiltop is a controlled burn so i guess the site is likely to survive

wonder why cbs radio has moved everything off the hill when the others have not
 
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