Post by erik on Aug 30, 2009 13:41:14 GMT -5
For those who aren't aware, Southern California is once again on fire. And at this moment, firefighters from all over the state and the nation are battling one of the worst firestorms that I've ever seen here.
The Station fire, so called because it began Wednesday near a U.S. Forest Service ranger station along State Highway 2, above the community of La Canada Flintridge, has charred 37,000 acres, or about 31.4 square miles, of forest and brush, and has become a monstrosity. Fire crews are dealing with extremely hot temperatures (near 110 in some cases), and very low humidity (barely 5%); the only good thing out of all this, if there is any, is that this isn't a Santa Ana wind condition, or it'd be even worse. But a lot of the land this fire is chewing through, consisting of chaparral and other desert-based vegetation, hasn't burned since at least World War II, so there is an enormous amount of fuel to burn through. The blaze is threatening foothill communities on both sides of the Angeles National Forest, has consumed three mountain cabins and a dozen out buildings, and is even menacing the TV and radio communications towers and historic scientific observatories on Mount Wilson, above Pasadena.
As of this moment, fire offiicials say that only 5% of the blaze has been contained, and full containment may not happen until September 8th--nine days from now. The blaze is also sending up a huge smoke plume 12,000 feet into the air, creating an air quality problem in the Los Angeles Basin that is dangerous and potentially even lethal:
This is a really ghastly situation we're dealing with here--a horrible loss of land, property, animals, and, possibly even human lives. The firefighters are doing everything they can and then some to get a handle on this monster, but they're facing a fierce battle.
The Station fire, so called because it began Wednesday near a U.S. Forest Service ranger station along State Highway 2, above the community of La Canada Flintridge, has charred 37,000 acres, or about 31.4 square miles, of forest and brush, and has become a monstrosity. Fire crews are dealing with extremely hot temperatures (near 110 in some cases), and very low humidity (barely 5%); the only good thing out of all this, if there is any, is that this isn't a Santa Ana wind condition, or it'd be even worse. But a lot of the land this fire is chewing through, consisting of chaparral and other desert-based vegetation, hasn't burned since at least World War II, so there is an enormous amount of fuel to burn through. The blaze is threatening foothill communities on both sides of the Angeles National Forest, has consumed three mountain cabins and a dozen out buildings, and is even menacing the TV and radio communications towers and historic scientific observatories on Mount Wilson, above Pasadena.
As of this moment, fire offiicials say that only 5% of the blaze has been contained, and full containment may not happen until September 8th--nine days from now. The blaze is also sending up a huge smoke plume 12,000 feet into the air, creating an air quality problem in the Los Angeles Basin that is dangerous and potentially even lethal:
This is a really ghastly situation we're dealing with here--a horrible loss of land, property, animals, and, possibly even human lives. The firefighters are doing everything they can and then some to get a handle on this monster, but they're facing a fierce battle.
