At approximately 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 26th, what is now known as the Station Fire broke in a little valley just above La Canada. Personally, after viewing it live online at ABC7.com, I thought the fire would be easily contained and the firefighters would have it out before nightfall. That was not the case. By nightfall Thursday, the fires had the hills above JPL aglow and that was not a good thing.
Friday night, the hills above Altadena were aglow and the smoke filled the air. I could not believe what started as a small fire ended up threatening homes in La Canada/Flintridge, Little Tujunga, Glendale, and Altadena. As it now stands, Mount Wilson may be in danger and all of those communication towers are at risk.
Saturday, I went around taking shots of what I could get myself into. The following are both images and video shot over the last few days. I’m still working on another video of the air ballet which will show the smaller jets — which were like aerial acrobats — as they led the larger tankers over the spot to drop flame retardant. I was most fascinated by them because the smaller jets were like daredevils in air. They swooped down over the fire area, immediately aimed upward and out of the fire area and then they would speed up to cut in front of the slow moving tankers to guide them in using their planes as the “Big X” marking the spot. Fascinating.
I have to give it to all of those men and women out there fighting these fires. The temperature in Altadena was said to be around 103 but it felt more like 110 to me. With all of the equipment these guys wear I can only imagine what the temperature was for them.
There were evacuations in Altadena as well. The Meadows and La Vina were both evacuated along with cabins in the forest. I am hating the images in my mind’s eye of how the forest must look now. The fires were hot and fierce and when I saw it crossed into the Arroyo and into the forest, I was heartbroken. Millard may also be in danger.
If I have time later I will add more images to the group.
Links:
- As always, for all things Altadena check out the AltadenaBlog
- Altadena Weather Cam– High Atop Lake Avenue in Altadena
- Mt. Wilson Tower Cam– High Atop Mount Wilson
August 30th, 2009 → 5:42 am @ Angela Odom
0