California Burning ... Again

[Football_Bat]

From the sound of it, this has the potential to be the mother of all California wildfires.

I spent some time up in the San Gabriels a few years ago. (Anyone from east of the 95th meridian who saw the Angeles National Forest would think it better named a national scrubland — no offense.) Even went up to Mount Wilson and took some awesome photos of the valley and downtown LA in the distance.

The whole place also looked like one match would create an incredible inferno that would burn for miles, and that looks like the case. By tonight, 22 TV and 25 FM stations in LA could be off the air, not to mention emergency communications.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13235958

The Google map on the page doesn't really do justice to how big this fire really is.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Awful...

I am so glad I don't live there anymore.

 

[BTExpress]

Daniel Miller: "Is this Hell?"

Bob Diamond: "Actually, there is no Hell. Although I hear Los Angeles is getting pretty close.
HA!"

[/defendingyourlife]

 

[poindexter]

By tonight, 22 TV and 25 FM stations in LA could be off the air, not to mention emergency communications.

I can confirm that Ryan Seacrest of KISS-FM was still on the air this morning.

 

[MileHigh]

This is bad, and I haven't been out there, but 2003 was much, much worse. The entire mountainside from Big Bear to Ventura was burning then.

 

[OTD]

By tonight, 22 TV and 25 FM stations in LA could be off the air, not to mention emergency communications.

I can confirm that Ryan Seacrest of KISS-FM was still on the air this morning.

I think we just solved the question of whether there is a God.

 

[Football_Bat]

You can watch the fire approaching ... if you can get in.

As of seconds ago this cam works. Others have been crashed by high traffic.

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm

 

[Football_Bat]

Here's the live image.

 

[buckweaver]

This is bad, and I haven't been out there, but 2003 was much, much worse. The entire mountainside from Big Bear to Ventura was burning then.

Hell, 2007 was worse (than this year's, not '03.) The whole Southland seemed to be on fire then.

Of course, it's only August. Still a long way to go before fire season is over here.

 

[OTD]

We've been lucky so far in that there haven't been Santa Ana winds. If those were to pick up today, the Station fire might burn all the way to the ocean.

 

[KevinmH9]

You can watch the fire approaching ... if you can get in.

As of seconds ago this cam works. Others have been crashed by high traffic.

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm

Wow. Can't see much, but that's a lot of smoke.

 

[poindexter]

Check out this footage

http://www.brandonriza.com/Video/HTML/ZeroPercentContained.html

 

[KevinmH9]

Check out this footage

http://www.brandonriza.com/Video/HTML/ZeroPercentContained.html

:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

**** that. If I woke up, looked out my window and saw that; I'd **** my pants.

 

[SoCalDude]

This morning they pulled all of the firefighters off Mt. Wilson because it was too dangerous. Any wind change and they would have been in trouble.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Southern California is burning

<blockquote>LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A fast-moving wildfire with "a mind of its own" had more than doubled in size and threatened 10,000 homes in Southern California on Monday.

The Station fire had grown to 105,000 acres -- 164 square miles -- by Monday afternoon, up from 45,000 acres in the morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Web site.

The blaze, which was only 5 percent contained, was being fueled by dry air and protected by the steep terrain in and around the Angeles National Forest.</blockquote>http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/31/california.wildfires/index.html

The LA Times informs me that this is a pyrocumulus cloud:

The Times says the fire has destroyed 74 homes (so far), is threatening the Mount Wilson Observatory and is doing pretty much whatever the hell it wants to do. That fire and a couple of others are dominating reports on the Times' L.A. Now blog; the Times has also done something very interesting with a custom Google Map showing what's burning, where it's heading and what areas have been evacuated.

 

[Shaggy]

For those familiar with Dodger Stadium and it's location--pretty much just north of downtown.

Scary stuff. The 2007 fires got close to my neighborhood and it's no joke. I worry 2,000 times more about fires than I do earthquakes out here.

 

[MileHigh]

Depends where you live, obviously, but, yeah, fires are much more destructive. Which means I probably just jinxed it and the 7.5 is coming.

 

[buckweaver]

Depends where you live, obviously, but, yeah, fires are much more destructive. Which means I probably just jinxed it and the 7.5 is coming.

On an every-year basis, fires are far more worrisome.

But all it takes is the Big One.

 

[Madhavok]

It's gotten pretty damn hazy/smokey out here in Colorado.

 

[MileHigh]

It's gotten pretty damn hazy/smokey out here in Colorado.

Yup. Moon high in the air and very orange. Visibility down to about a quarter mile today and more of the same tomorrow. It's not choking us like out there, but certainly different.