Mt. Wilson - Who made the call?

[K6JHU]

Now that the dust is starting to settle, one thing has been buggging me about Mt. Wilson and the Station fire. The Incident Commander said that Mt. Wilson was 'indefensible' and pulled his people and equipment off the mountain. A little while later they said something to the effect that 'defend Mt Wilson at all costs.' What happened between the two statements? Who called who? Was it the stations, public service, observatory? Anybody know?

BTW, I do believe the decision to defend Mt. Wilson was a necssary call.

 

[oaktree]

What I might speculate was that it was the observatory and broacast engineers, because of the historic, irreplaceable and priceless archives that remain at Mt. Wilson. It was a "do or die" effort to do what what possible to save that portion of the site, with the effort to negate as much damage as possible to power, fiber links, cabling and other facilities nearby.

Many were thinking (and heard) that the CBS facility (and the 1000 ft. tower) were at first, most in danger, but the observatory came perilously close to losing more than just its webcam and backup power panel.

I would say that both made the call for protection, but it was the firefighters and a dead-on bullseye of the "Flying Boat" on the tower site itself that saved the site.

 

[nmoore6676]

What I might speculate was that it was the observatory and broacast engineers, because of the historic, irreplaceable and priceless archives that remain at Mt. Wilson. It was a "do or die" effort to do what what possible to save that portion of the site, with the effort to negate as much damage as possible to power, fiber links, cabling and other facilities nearby.

Many were thinking (and heard) that the CBS facility (and the 1000 ft. tower) were at first, most in danger, but the observatory came perilously close to losing more than just its webcam and backup power panel.

I would say that both made the call for protection, but it was the firefighters and a dead-on bullseye of the "Flying Boat" on the tower site itself that saved the site.

Bottom line is that life should always take precedence over property. The loss of the observatory would have been a terrible loss and the loss of broadcast and other communications facilities would have been devastating. however in the end they are all to one degree or another replaceable. In times of grave emergency decisions have to be made on he fly and with the best information available but in the end they are made by humans and none of us are perfect.

If the decision on how to fight these fires is only based upon the value, economically or regarding historical importance and without due regard for the lives and safety of the personnel that would be a more serious error in judgment. As to the broadcasters, in New York City they all recovered from the World Trade Center disaster and that was so much more devastating than any fire on Mount Wilson could ever be just because of the loss of life, not even considering the monetary losses.

On the other hand the potential for disruption in service has taught the operators in both cities to at least explore, if not implement actually alternative back up sites so that is a lesson learned. We learn from tragedies and in almost every case following any disaster there is usually an improvement in facilities which will make future mishaps less disruptive to our lives.

 

[XBanderRadio]

I would rehabilitate the old Mt. Wilson road so
that emergency vehicles could use to access the
mountain and fight future fires. That would be
a good economic stimulus project. Is the CBS
tower really 1000 ft. tall? From 30 miles away the tower
is noticable, but it does not look like 1000 ft. in
relation to the 5000 ft mountain.

 

[davideduardo]

I would rehabilitate the old Mt. Wilson road so
that emergency vehicles could use to access the
mountain and fight future fires. That would be
a good economic stimulus project. Is the CBS
tower really 1000 ft. tall? From 30 miles away the tower
is noticable, but it does not look like 1000 ft. in
relation to the 5000 ft mountain.

The road is already being restored, with new barrier rails put in to replace the ones that were burnt, as well as pavement repaiir. There is not much else you can do while preserving the park's intended beauty.

The real issue is the ongoing threat of landslides and mud flows as the unstable surface soil, with little vegetation to hold it, comes down with every rainstorm.

The CBS tower is indeed a kilofoot high. It is set back from the ridge, so you don't see a big part of it from basin level. If you are at one of the FM sites, it is indeed a big stick.