Fire Updates
It’s looks like firefighters are beginning to get the upper hand on the Big Meadow Fire in Yosemite. Here is the latests from InciWeb:
At 7:30 PM on Monday, August 31, the evacuation of Old El Portal and Yosemite View Lodge was lifted. Residents are cautioned that the Big Meadow Fire remains only 55% contained and fire behavior could dictate additional evacuations in the future, so they should remain vigilant with irreplaceable documents and possessions ready to move. The evacuation of the Foresta community remains in place while firefighters continue to mop up hot spots and cut down hazardous dead and burned trees along access roads.
The fire is now at 4909 acres.
Unfortunately the same can’t be said for all the other fires burning in California. There are currently 11 fire burning out of control in the state with over 100,000 people evacuated from their homes. Sadly 2 firefighters on the Station Fire lost their lives on Sunday when their truck slid down an 800 foot hill side. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of these two men.
Once again I must thank all firefighters for the work they do. These are truly amazing men and women who risk their lives everyday and deserve all the thanks we can give them.
I was out on Saturday shooting images of the Station Fire in Big Tujunga Canyon and La Canada-Flintridge (from a safe distancem believe me!) Got some incredible images and video, albeit not the best quality video since I shot it with my still camera. I’ll be posting them on Flickr soon.
This is a very scary fire. Even without the Santa Ana winds, smoke from this fire is affecting air quality as far away as Denver!
Yes, the Station Fire is now over 122,000 acres…..and heading West… On Saturday Mt. Wilson web camera was really something to see, smoke all around it. Yesterday it was all smokey and you couldn’t see much at all. I haven’t looked at it today as our Internet has been down. Mt. Wilson is home to TV, Radio, Cell Phone and lots of other antenna’s. Around 4 PM on Sunday we had no signal on our TV for CBS, NBC & ABC our screen was bright pink. Heard later that evening that they’d dropped some tardent on Mt. Wilson which caused the outage for a while. If we lose the antenna’s……we will have no local programing, no cell phones etc…..things will be a big mess. Yes, things are a big mess in LA right now……wish the rain would come up from Mexico and help our wonderful Fireman……
i’m watching the 11:00 news and the tide is turning, particularly for the station and oak glen fires. people are being allowed back in their homes. also a change in the weather has helped, some moonsonal moisture from a storm off baja. they just showed some pictures of mt wilson with smoke in and around the complex, but no flames. they indicated that they feel it will be saved. when i tried the wilson webcam sunday, the web site was down so it’s good to hear it is up again. part of the fire fighting equipment is the martin mars plane. it is a 4 engine seaplane built in the 1940′s and only two are left. it skims water off local lakes and then dumps it on the fire.
Just took a look at the Mt. Wilson web camera…..smokey all around it…..really something to see and glad that Steve has this connection for us…..
thanks steve for your good words. I was a firefighter in Monrovia calif. in the 60s and 70s. and worked on the Angeles before that, I am retired and glad I am not doing that any more it is for the young!!!!! I enjoy your web site. chuck
Thanks for the comment Chuck. I have so much admiration for fire fighters. You guys are amazing!
Here’s a link to the first of my Station fire images posted on Flickr. Very scary stuff! http://www.flickr.com/photos/kahlee/
Wow! Thanks Kahlee. Let us know when you get more up. Go see these folks. They’re awesome.