MT. WILSON FIRE THREAT?

[gcreedle239]

KFI is reporting that Mount Wilson FMs and TVs are in danger due to the forest fire. Curious as to evacuation plans and backups if anyone is in the know...

[DavidEduardo]

KFI is reporting that Mount Wilson FMs and TVs are in danger due to the forest fire. Curious as to evacuation plans and backups if anyone is in the know...

The fires is still two ridges away, 3 to 4 miles from the small area where the transmitters are. All personnel are evacuated, except two who have fire fighting experinece. Only a few of the FMs have an aux on the basin floor, with KPWR being one of them. I do not think any TV has an aux, although they are less dependant on on air signals due to cable and satellite carriage.

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm#imagetop is the observatory webcam that shows the fire and its location. Very frightening.

[gcreedle239]

 A little tangental to the subject, but David, do you know what cable penetration is in LA County? I would bet it would be lower than average and that a fair number of people still rely on OTA in the LA area (assuming they made the digital transition). Best wishes to the CEs involved, hopefully contingencies won't be needed.

[DavidEduardo]

Per an engineering reflector,

"Mt Wilson has two hot shot (fire) crews staged at Skyline park, The Mars and DC-10 have been approved to start dropping. It currently looks like Mt Wilson may be ok but Red Box and Mt Disappointment is in serious danger."

Obviously, the Wilson installations are critical to more than most FM and TV stations. There is a lot of other communications gear up there, and the observatory has extensive installations.

[romer979fm]

here's a link if you want to take a look:
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm

[chrisradioanimal]

Its Getting Closer. I Think I Can Even See Some Flames In The Distance.

[oaktree]

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE57R3G820090829

[oaktree]

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/36789/5m/cbslocalimg.dayport.com/htm/DayPortCBSPlayer.html?categoryID=71,102,72,73,101,104,96,77,86,95,80,69,90,89,92,98,99,100,108,193,192&limit=10&articleID=8861@kcbs.dayport.com&adInsertionInterval=2&bannerAdConDefID=29&defaultPreviewImage=http%3A//cdn.dayport.com/vlnimg/img/PartnerPlayer/samplepreviewimage.jpg&domain=kcbs.dayport.com&imageDomain=cdn.dayport.com/kcbsimg&limit_default=10&conDefID=9&videoAdObjectID=28&logoAdConDefID=8&logoAdObjDefID=27&hitboxAccountID=DM5307034JDN&hitboxDomain=cbs2.com&siteName=KCBS%20TV&callLetters=KCBS&isLiveStream=true&version=20071003

Live raw video - KKAL 9 / KCBS 2, Los Angeles

http://cbs2.com/

[chrisradioanimal]

I See Flames!!!

[Skynet74]

Oh Boy this is getting real close. I see big flames coming.