Station Fire - 5 years later - moving on (at least for now)

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time going through my files on the Station Fire, as well as reviewing sources on the Internet that had written about the Station Fire as it was being fought as well as investigations and concerns raised in the aftermath of the Station Fire. Bill Gabbert of  Wildfire Today wrote a series of articles on the Station Fire (the link is for articles with tagged "Station Fire" with the most recent article being listed first).

At this point all I will say is that I learned a lot about wildland firefighting following various sources who covered the Station Fire while the fire was raging as well as the aftermath of the fire. I think that, at least for now, it is best for me stop here. The fire burned over 160,000 acres. Lives were lost, people were injured, houses were destroyed, residents were evacuated. For the victims of this and other wildfires, I will remember. It doesn't feel like enough, but at times it is the best that I can do.

I've been exploring some things which are tangental to the Station Fire. Perhaps I'll be back sometime later and offer my reflections on the tangents that I am exploring.

Station Fire - 5 years later

As I continue to do the background work on the post(s) that I will write later this week on my reflections on watching live stream of the aerial and ground assault on Mt. Wilson, I leave you with a couple of videos to watch. In addition, I going back to the posts that I made five years and doing some editing or removing posts where the videos (mostly from local news organizations) are no longer available.

I may have one or both of these videos five years ago, but if so a rerun doesn't hurt.


direct link to video sample of Station Fire video from Alan Simons


direct link to Mt. Wilson Cam time lapse video uploaded on Sept 1, 2009

Station Fire - 5 years later - Assault on Mt. Wilson part 1

direct link to video

I was intending to write today offering my reflections of watching airtankers and helos dropping on the Mt. Wilson Observatory and then seeing aerial wildland firefighters on top of Mt. Wilson fighting the fire. Five years ago this week, I spent hours watching this on live stream.

As someone who loves the night sky, historic Mt. Wilson Observatory holds a special place in my heart. Go here to read about the history of Mt. Wilson.

As I was preparing to write my reflections, I found an e-book, Diary of a Fire -- The 2009 Station Fire Threat to Mount Wilson Observatory, written by Harold A. McAlister. McAlister is the Director of Mt. Wilson, and the e-book comes from his blog. Edited to add on April 8, 2018, unfortunately this e-book may no longer be available.

Station Fire - 5 years later - Remembering Ted Hall and Arnie Quinones

A little over five years ago, on August 30, 2009, I was following the Station Fire (latest post is first). One of my good buddies had told me that Los Angeles TV news outlets where showing live stream over the Station Fire from news helos that were flying over the fire.

Sadly, one of the first live streams that I saw were aerial shots from the news helo in the area where a tragic accident occurred that resulted in the death of two fire fighters: Ted Hall and Arnie Quinones. There is a nice page devoted to Ted and Arnie and the incident that took their lives on Always Remember.

As the five year anniversary of the Station Fire rolled around, I found myself thinking (again) about Ted and Arnie. So, in sharing my reflections of the Station Fire with you, I start be remembering Ted and Arnie. And remembering Ted and Arnie's families, friends, colleagues and all who knew and loved them.

wildfires bloomed in Station Fire burn area

I ran across a link to an LA Times story and photo gallery on wildflowers blooming in the area of Station Fire burn. The wildflowers do not hang around for long, so they may already be gone, but seeing these photos made me smile.

Thanks to a post from May 25, 2010 wildland fire hotlist forum thread on the Station Fire for bringing this to my attention.

Wildland firefighting: Station Fire Redux

There are some fires that I will never forget and the Station Fire that burned in Los Angeles County last August and September is one of them. I was watching live streaming and exchanging e-mails with a friend when they found the bodies of Firefighters Hall and Quinones. This is something you don't forget.

I watched live feed over a couple of days as the airtankers and helos and later the ground crews fought the fire at the Wilson Observatory.

Martin Mars in action

I've been busy this week with a couple of projects and other life events. So, I have dug through my stored videos from youtube and found this video from the 2009 Station Fire of the Martin Mars loading water and than making a drop on Mt. Wilson Observatory. I had the privilege of watching some footage of the Martin Mars last summer from a live stream out of one of the LA television stations. She is beautiful airplane, one of only two of a kind. I could watch her for hours. Enjoy!

About Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation/Response (BAER)

I was writing about the other day about mudslides in the La Canada area of southern California burned by the Station Fire in late summer/early fall 2009. If you go to this inciweb report on the fire (dated Nov. 10, 2009), you will see a summary of the status of the fire, and reporting that the fire was fully contained on Oct. 16, 2009. You will also see that the report mentions three phases of rehabilitation following a fire:

• fire suppression repair
• burned area emergency response (baer)
• long-term recovery

A summary of these stages of rehabilitation may be found here. The Angeles National Forest is in the area burned by the Station Fire, and has a webpage devoted to the Station Fire Burned Area Emergency Response that may be found here.

Of interest is that fact that while the Station Fire was contained in October of 2009, the fire will not be fully controlled until after the winter rainy season ends. Moreover, the potential for damaging mud slides will exist for three to five years. The burned area of the forest is closed to the public except for residents of the area. For more information on these and other points see this FAQ on the Angeles National Forest Station Fire.

More specific information about what the Burned Area Emergency Response is may be found here.

Stay tuned for more on BAER.

November 19, 2015: I am able to revise a couple of links on this page. Unfortunately, I am not able to revise one outdate link and have crossed out that information. I am never quite certain how long links are available, especially after a few years have passed.

Map of fire TFR: from the Station Fire

The National Interagency Airspace Information website has a very good website where you can search for information on all TFRs by state, type (fire, laser, nuclear, presidential, and stadium). The also have links for recent, and pending TFRs as well as canceled TFRs. In addition, there is an interactive map where you can plot TFRs with options for different kinds of maps.

A note on laser TFRs (bounded by skinny bright purple circles on charts available through airspace.nifc), laser light shows require TFRs because they interfere with a pilots vision. Not good for anyone, especially someone piloting an aircraft. To the best of my knowledge there are no laser light TFRs shown on the above image. The purple lines and shapes of various widths on the above image are not laser light TFRs, but depict different kinds of airspace.

When you search for TFRs, for example by state, you are presented with a screen showing the actual NOTAM text for each TFR in that state with options to print that portion of the sectional (aeronautical chart) with the TFR plotted on the map. You can also search by type and see only the fire TFRs.

The image above shows the TFR for the Station Fire that I printed about three weeks ago. Actually, I was able to print the map to a pdf file and then used a graphics conversion program to save it is a jpeg file for posting here. The green circles on the map are stadium/sports TFRs. The area within the red polygon was the Station Fire TFR. As I mentioned in my last post, aeronautical charts take some getting used go and I am only beginning to get use to them myself. But they do mean something to pilots.

Here is a copy of the actual NOTAM, note that the number of NOTAM (9/7722) matches the number on the image (9/7792):

NOTAM : 9/7792

FDC 9/7792 ZLA CA.. FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS NORTH OF LA CANADA, CA. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 91.137(A)(2) TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS ARE IN EFFECT WITHIN AN AREA BOUNDED BY 343137N/1181838W OR THE VAN NUYS /VNY/ VOR/DME 011 DEGREE RADIAL AT 20.2 NAUTICAL MILES THEN TO 342548N/1175006W OR THE PALMDALE /PMD/ VORTAC 122 DEGREE RADIAL AT 16.5 NAUTICAL MILES THEN TO 340811N/1175831W OR THE POMONA /POM/ VORTAC 275 DEGREE RADIAL AT 9.9 NAUTICAL MILES THEN TO 341228N/1181301W OR THE VAN NUYS /VNY/ VOR/DME 079 DEGREE RADIAL AT 13.7 NAUTICAL MILES THEN TO 342013N/1183014W OR THE VAN NUYS /VNY/ VOR/DME 340 DEGREE RADIAL AT 6.8 NAUTICAL MILES BACK TO THE ORIGINAL POINT AT AND BELOW 9000 FEET MSL TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR FIRE FIGHTING. THE ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST TELEPHONE 661-723-3620 OR FREQ 135.350/STATION FIRE IS IN CHARGE OF THE OPERATION. LOS ANGELES /ZLA/ ARTCC TELEPHONE 661-265-8205 IS THE FAA COORDINATION FACILITY.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I got the text of the NOTAM from the FAA website very shortly after the NOTAM expired. I showed this text and the above image to a couple of my airtanker pilot friends who said that while they would have preferred to look at the actual aeronautical chart to be certain, that the text seems to be very close to the mapped NOTAM.

Helitankers and more from the Station Fire

This video is just over 7 minutes with shots of two helitankers loading retardant from dip tanks at what looks like a mobile retardant base. But the footage is more that shots of helitankers filling their belly tanks, there is some awesome photography of groundcrews and airtankers interspersed with the footage of the helitankers filling their bellies.

Elegance in action: watching air tankers

I had the privilege of spending a few minutes watching an air tanker on live news helo feed as she worked the Station Fire about three weeks ago. Much of it was prior to making the drop.

Elegance in action, an air tanker and her crew.

There was a fluidity of motion as I could almost see the special relationship between air tanker and crew. They were as one as they maneuvered into the right position at just the right height and speed for the drop. They nailed the retardant drop.

I know of the danger that is a very real part of what these pilots and crew do. As I watched the footage the aura of danger, while still there, faded into the background. In it's place was elegance as tanker and crew did something special, dropping retardant on a fire. Thanks to some incredible camera work from the news helo and the wonders of the internet, I had a live, up close, and birds eye view of elegance in action.

Reflections on firefighting operations on Mt. Wilson

About three weeks have passed since I was following live news helicopter feeds of the Station Fire that was burning in the area of the Angeles National Forest and environs. I was able to watch the early phase of the ground fire fighting operations on Mt. Wilson along with some retardant drops by air tankers, and the Martin Mars making a water/foam drop. Being a little superstitious, I wanted to wait until after these operations were over before writing my reflections on firefighting operations on Mt. Wilson.

I don't mind telling you that I was a little worried about what would happen to the Mt. Wilson Observatory on the evening of August 30 into August 31 into September 1. I woke up each morning and checked on the internet to see if the fire had reached the observatory and the nearby communication towers. It had not.

It was Tuesday September 1 and it was in the early afternoon my time (EDT). A friend had clued me in that there was some live news helo feed of Mt. Wilson. As I was tuning in, I was not sure if there were any firefighters on Mt. Wilson. I could be wrong, but at the time I thought that the ground crews were pulled out of Mt. Wilson a couple of days earlier due to safety concerns. The news helo feed was very good with nice clear video. I was able to see ground crews digging line. I read later that ground crews were back on the mountain, perhaps by the prior morning working on digging line and cleaning out brush, leaf litter, and other vegetation. I was thrilled to see these ground crews, As the camera on the news helo moved around, I saw other ground crews digging line. My fears of the past 36 hours began to fade, turning to hope.

Then the camera turned to the one access road up the mountain. I saw around four engines, maybe more coming up the mountain. The calvary had arrived. I'm not ashamed to say that there were tears in my eyes as I watched this caravan of engines arrive at Mt. Wilson knew at that time that the odds were now in favor of saving the observatory.

I was very glad that I was watching this live, it was special.

Stay safe!

Mt. Wilson timelapse (Sept. 4-7)

While I was sans internet access, a friend shared this youtube video of photos from the Mt. Wilson webcam (timelapse) taken from Sept. 4 through 7. I share this with you now.

Station fire from space

I have seen individual images of the Station fire from satellites, but not a compilation of images. It is short. Check it out.

More fire footage

And more fire footage uploaded to youtube on September 1.

Fire footage

While I am wondering around in the land of no internet access, I am leaving you with some video footage of the recent fires in Southern California.

Tanker 21 drop near Mt. Wilson

Awesome video of an AeroUnion Orion P-3, tanker 21, making a drop near Mt. Wilson, uploaded on September 6.

Updated on August 3, 2015: The US Forest Service terminated its contract with Aero-Union for their Lockheed P-3's, going out of business a month later. (see my articles of July 30, 2011, August 17, 2011, and January 18, 2012). 

Mt. Wilson Observatory and Airtankers

Here is another image taken by the Mt. Wilson Observatory webcam sent to me while I was sleeping last night. You can see the Station Fire burning in the background.

Speaking of Mt. Wilson, the website that I have referred you to for updates on how the station fire is affecting Mt. Wilson is written by staff of the Observatory, including the director. They write of the aerial assault near Mt. Wilson. The retardant lines laid by these airtankers. In addition to benefiting Mt. Wilson, these retardant drops were laid in hopes of keeping the fire out of Big Santa Anita Canyon, Sierra Madre, and Monrovia. I encourage you to visit their fire webpage for their impressions of seeing this aerial assault up close and personal as well as ground operations. They also have a picture page with some awesome photos of airtankers up close and personal. I was interested in the photo of one of Minden's SP-2H tankers, as I have never seen a photo of one of their tankers.

In closing, I'd like to offer these observations that an aviator friend, who has flown fires in southern california offered very early this morning (about 5AM, my time):

The fire continues burning to the East. We're at 154,655 acres and a good hold is on the Western flanks. The Eastern portion is being handled as best they can, but there is minimal access to the area. That means tankers, helo's and a VERY long hike for the handcrews.

September 8, 2014: dead links removed

The Mt. Wilson webcam was back in service yesterday. Someone sent me this image last night and I am posting it here. Updates on the fire as affects Mt. Wilson may be found here.

On pets and wildland fire (and other disaster) evacuations

I was checking out a media outlet in Sacramento CA this morning checking on a small wildland fire that burned over night in the Cleveland National Forest. After checking out the fire story, I saw the story of badly burned cat that got separated from her owner after their house burned to the ground during the 49 fire that burned in Auburn CA over the weekend. Someone in the sheriff’s office found the cat and took her to a vet who has been treating the cat for severe burns. So, the Sacramento media has been doing their part in trying to reunite the cat and her owner.

I have always had animals and this story got me thinking about my own cat, Rocky. It got me thinking about what I can do to keep Rocky safe and to ensure that if some disaster happened and we were not able to evacuate to a shelter with Rocky. I would someone to be able to find us. You never know what might happen that will lead to an evacuation. If he were injured, we would want to know about it, to be able to comfort him. What can I do to protect Rocky and to give us a chance of being reunited if we had to leave Rocky somewhere or if he went into hiding as the flames approached?

Here I write about wildland fires, which often require evacuations. I read the story about the burned cat and saw the pictures and read the vets appeal to reunite the cat with her owner. I don’t want that to happen to Rocky. As I get to know those of you who are air tanker pilots, helo pilots, ground crew, engine crew, smokejumpers, etc., I know that you care about protecting people, property and animals. I know that you care about the innocent victims of fire who are animals.

So, I offer this advice from a member of the wildland firefighting community to honor all the pets as well as our feline friend in a veterinary hospital near Auburn CA.

Sometimes an animal's survival instincts are better than a humans. While I agree 100% that the family pet should be the first thing carried out with the family, yes, it's not always possible. Advanced notice gives one time to round up the animals and cage them...they're easier to catch. In the imminent danger of an approaching fire, animals sense the danger and panic (we as humans) unconsciously put out. One of the big reasons why pets go hide in the heat of the moment. Even if there's a family argument, a pet will seek refuge away from the battle. It's part of their nature.

What can we do to insure our pets are safe during a time of crisis?

• Whether you've been told to evacuate or not...if there's a chance you might be asked....crate your pet during the calm before the storm.

• ID chips are cheap insurance for keeping everyone together after the crisis.

• With a bit of training, most animals will respond to a specific command to go to their crate. Never make "time out" in an animal carrier a form of punishment. Keep a favorite blanket and toy inside the carrier, as this makes the crate more of a reward for good behavior than a punishment for bad. Remember, neither humans nor animals like that long walk to the woodshed!

• Make sure the carrier is tagged with the pets name, vet info., and owners contact information. Some evacuation centers don't allow pets to stay with their owners. At least if you become separated, there will be a chain of information to start the reuniting process.

Not much involved here, just a bit of common sense.

On the advice above, I'm not sure that I can train Rocky to go into a crate, but that is the nature of cats.

I am getting a chip implanted in Rocky. It isn’t expensive. A little "insurance." In Rocky’s case, the chip is injected under his skin between his shoulder blades. The chip has a unique code. We register our contact information and alternate contact info in a national database. The chip can be read with a scanner device. At least we have done the best that we can do, and won’t be saying that we shoulda made sure Rocky had a chip.