Reflections: Drought affecting Southern CA (including Mt. Wilson)

I was in southern California for the week of November 17th when I began my series on Mt. Wilson. As fate would have it, there were about 48 hours of Red Flag Warnings for areas east of where I was staying north of San Diego. If memory serves, the Red Flag Warnings included the Angeles National Forest where Mt. Wilson is located.

Before going to southern California I was aware of the severe drought that according to my my meteorologist friends in souther California has been ongoing for three years. As fate would have it, there is a rain storm expected this week in Southern California, and several of these storms will be needed to alleviate the drought in Southern California. I wonder what will happen if there is another year of extreme to exceptional drought?

As I write this, Southern California ranges from severe to exceptional drought depending on the exact location. I believe but am not certain that Mt. Wilson lies in an area that is in an exceptional drought (the most severe drought category). For information on the current status of droughts in the U.S. go to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

As you can guess while I was in San Diego County, I was very much aware of the drought and the fire danger. I did my best to use as little water as possible, but admit that some of my bad and wasteful water habits were a little hard to dispel. But I got better as the week wore on. I thought of my friends at the Mt. Wilson Observatory, wondering how they were making out. I suspect that everyone in southern California is in the same boat, more or less, as my friends at the Mount Wilson Observatory — too little water and serious water conservation efforts are under way.

I was and am scared for all of Southern California and all the other dry wildfire prone areas out west. I think that I am more scared now that I recently spent a week in Southern California. Whether or not there are active Red Flag Warnings, it won’t take that much for a wildfire to start that could, depending on winds and other factors, threaten Mount Wilson Observatory, Palomar Observatory and other residences, schools, research centers and businesses in Southern California. I also know that CAL FIRE and their sister wildland firefighting agencies (on the ground and in the air) are good at what they do. Stay safe everyone.

I am hoping for a wet winter in drought affected areas out west.

A drive up the Angeles Crest Highway on September 3, 2009

If you read Hal McAlister’s Diary of a Fire: the 2009 Station Fire Threat to Mount Wilson, he writes about the drive that he and his wife took up the Angeles Crest Highway to Mount Wilson Observatory on September 3, 2009. Road closures were still in effect at that time, and the fire had yet to be contained. They were escorted by LA County Sheriff’s deputies. The video shows the destruction that the Station Fire brought to the forest. I don’t have a comparison video to show you showing the landscape five years post fire. I’d imagine that there has been a lot of regrowth. But I don’t know for sure. If I find a good video that shows portions of the same drive after some regrowth has happened, I’ll share it with you.


direct link to video on youtube

Mount Wilson Observatory Today

In my wonderings doing background reading and research on the MWO, I was fortunate to find a wonderful 1 hour episode on the MWO filmed a few months after the 2009 Station Fire. There is a Television Show called California’s Gold a  Huell Howser production ( http://calgold.com/ ). The June 8, 2010 show was on Mt. Wilson and may be found at on this Huell Howser archive page. There is no embed code, the show lasts for about 58 minutes and is well worth the time spent.

Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO) Website
Mount Wilson Observatory on Facebook (public page, no account needed)
Current Science at MWO
Chara Array
Video from the American Museum of Natural History on CHARA

A little history of Mount Wilson Observatory

Just over five years ago, the Station Fire burned 160,577 acres in and near the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, California. Over the years that I have been writing this blog on aerial wildland firefighting, there are a few moments that I will always remember. One of those moments was watching livestream from Los Angeles California media outlets cover the aerial assault on Mount Wilson. As many of you know, Mount Wilson, which lies in the Angeles National Forest, is the home of Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO.

Under the leadership of George Ellery Hale (see Mount Wilson Observatory webpage on Hale and Wikipedia on Hale ) and with funding from the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the Mt. Wilson Observatory (MWO)  opened in 1904 as a solar observatory. Solar observations continue at MWO today.  Additional telescopes and facilities came later including but not limited to the 60-inch telescope (1908), and the 100-inch Hooker telescope (1917).

Up until I wrote this article, when I thought about the Mt. Wilson Observatory, I have to be honest and say that I knew only about Hale and Hubble. Among Hubble’s notable discoveries were the discovery of the galaxies outside of our own galaxy and the expansion of the Universe. The Day We Found the Universe by Marcia Bartusiak has a good discussion of the construction of the Mt. Wilson Observatory and her telescopes as well as Hubble’s work and a couple of other astronomers who worked at Mt. Wilson Observatory in the early twentieth century. The MWO has a nice webpage of the history of the MWO (with links), there is also a nice timeline of the first 100 years of MWO (with links) where you may learn about some of the work that has been done at the MWO, some notable astronomers, and current uses of MWO.

About Mount Wilson Observatory: Introduction

There are many observatories around the world where significant astronomical research is and has been done. Likewise there are many important assets, historic and more recent that have come close to being destroyed by wildfire or have been destroyed by wildfires. Observatories tend to be located on remote mountains and hilltops for obvious reasons. Sometimes these remote mountain top observatories are located in areas where wildfires pose a threat. 

One of the nightmares of those who love an observatory, is the destruction of  their observatory and her equipment and related infrastructure in a wildfire. Such was the nightmare that happened to the Mount Stromolo Observatory when a fire storm destroyed most of the observatory buildings and equipment in January 2003 (Space Daily on fire at Mt. Stromlo, Photos of Mt Stromlo fire from Canberra Times  and Sky and Telescope on fire at Mt. Stromlo). Such was the nightmare that almost happened, but did not, to the Mount Wilson Observatory during the 2009 Station Fire.

The Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO) was not destroyed by the Station Fire. I am not here to tell the story of  MWO and the Station Fire. If you are interested in the story of the 2009 Station Fire’s impact on the Mt. Wilson Observatory, you will want to read Hal McAlister’s e-book, Diary of a Fire: the 2009 Station Fire Threat to Mount Wilson. Edited to add on April 8, 2018, I don't know if this book is still available. 

If you are interested about more general coverage of the Station Fire, I wrote some articles at the time with links to photos, and videos (Sept. 1, 2009, Sept. 2, 2009, Sept. 3, 2009, Sept. 4, 2009 , and Sept, 6, 2009).

While I would like, at some point to talk about what has happened on Mount Wilson five years after the Station Fire, that story will have to come later. I am here because when I was following the Station Fire in 2009, Mount Wilson played a prominent role and as someone who likes the night sky, I decided that I wanted to learn more about Mount Wilson. 

Outline of series:

Day 1: a little history of MWO (November 21)

Day 2: MWO today (November 24)

Day 3: A drive up the Angeles Crest Highway on Sept. 3, 2009 (November 26)

Day 4: Wrap-up and Reflections (November 28)

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.

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.

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.

Mt. Wilson Observatory Redux

This is the last webcam picture taken from the Mt.Wilson observatory webcam website at 1:49 PM PDT on Sept. 1. The note on the webcam says:

Note: The Mount Wilson webserver has gone down, most likely due to a backfire infiltration of a pull box containing telephone lines that bring us our T1 internet service. The will be no more updates from the Towercam, the last one being upoaded at 13:49:06. ... Solar observer comment posted on September 1, 2009 at 10:32 P.D.T.: Current weather conditions: smokey

For news on the status of the fires on Mt. Wilson, go here.

Martin Mars makes drop on Mt. Wilson

direct link to video

After eating dinner I decided to come in and watch some more live video streams out of southern California. I lucked out and saw the Martin "Hawaii" Mars circling over Mt. Wilson. What a magnificent airplane, literally two of a kind. After about five to ten minutes of watching the video, with some nice closeups of the Martin Mars, it came in for its dropping, dropping water (with foam) near the transmission towers.

Remember the capacity of the Martin Mars is 7,200 gallons and it has a 600 gallon foam tank. For more information on the Martin Mars, go here.

In the meantime I am watching streams of helitankers working the fires, loading and making drops.

update:8:10PM EDT
I would like to thank Huufs for pointing me to myfoxla video that I just embedded as well as the video from abc on youtube. Thank-you Huufs

updated on Sept 6, 2013
It seems that the myfoxla video may no longer be available, so I am, hopefully, including a video from youtube of the Martin Mars making a drop on Mt. Wilson

Mt. Wilson Observatory

Wildfires continue to burn near the historic Mt. Wilson, observatory. Wildfires were expected to overrun the observatory and the nearby communications towers last night. The LA Times reports that brush clearance by ground crews last night along with retardant drops may have helped, at least in the short term. However, the danger to Mt. Wilson is fair from over.

The observatory dates back to 1904 and is of historical significance, it is where Edwin Hubble worked, to learn a little about the observatory, go here. From what I understand, Observatory personnel were evacuated yesterday.