The Station Fire Thread

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:10 pm

HikeUp wrote:
Mike P wrote:Dang it! Too late about firefighter deaths. Two were killed today... reportedly on Mount Wilson:

http://cbs2.com/firewatch/Fire.Watch.An ... 52524.html
1070 was reporting a 'rig' turnover on Mt. Gleason sometime in the 6 o'clock hour tonight.

Yup, I'm hoping it's the truck turnover.

Post by **HikeUp** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:38 pm

Now reporting 2 died when truck went off road on Gleason. Very sad.

Mt. Lowe seems to be burning if you can get the Mt. Wilson cam to load. I can see flames in the upper reaches of Eaton Cyn. near Mt. Lowe. This has to be the biggest fire ever for this mtn. range doesn't it?

Funyan005 · Post by **Funyan005** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:54 pm

Either Mt. Wilson is burning, or the feed from the camera is gone. Can't get it to load anymore. Hope for the best

Edit! Nm! Firefighters still there so must be just slow loading

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 5:13 am

Overnight the fire made major jumps

I have a Google Earth KML here

simonov · Post by **simonov** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 5:30 am

Funyan005 wrote:Either Mt. Wilson is burning, or the feed from the camera is gone. Can't get it to load anymore. Hope for the best

Edit! Nm! Firefighters still there so must be just slow loading

It's been slow loading all weekend. I suspect the server is being hammered by hits right now.

Ze Hiker · Post by **Ze Hiker** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:45 am

holy hell

simonov · Post by **simonov** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:11 am

Holy shit!

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:14 am

Mt Wilson wasn't overrun as expected!

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:22 am

I can't watch this anymore.

Kit Fox · Post by **Kit Fox** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:49 am

Matt,

How do you make the current fire maps?

simonov · Post by **simonov** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:50 am

Mike P wrote:Mt Wilson wasn't overrun as expected!

Came damned close:

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:06 am

Kit Fox wrote:Matt,

How do you make the current fire maps?

I download the data from http://wildfire.cr.usgs.gov/fireplanning/

Tweak it in Manifold 8

Export it to a KML file

The current image was made in Manifold with a Map I exported from TOPO! Xport Pro, but the KML is compatible with Google Earth

http://earth.google.com/

I tried making maps with Google Maps with little consistent success, I was gonna muck around with it and make it work....

http://maps.google.com

The trouble with trying to directly use the downloaded data in GE is the SHP file is a California specific projection NOT Lat/Long

GE has limited features Manifold is a true GIS package

Matt

Kit Fox · Post by **Kit Fox** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:13 am

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing. You are the only one who has current maps in a Topo format.

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:37 am

The GEOMAC site has fire perimeters viewable in Google Earth (the format could be friendlier). The latest Station Fire one is frm last night. It's huge, as everyone realizes. The Star News said this morning that it is at 86000 acres.

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:54 am

Kit Fox wrote:Fascinating. Thanks for sharing. You are the only one who has current maps in a Topo format.

If you want there is a topo download for GE

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/kml_overlay

download the GPSVisualizer_overlays.kml

Select the area you want a map for rtclk on the GPSvisulaizer and REFRESH

Select the TOPOGRAPHIC map option and open the resulting KML in Google earth

Rick Kent · Post by **Rick Kent** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:09 am

Damn! That's nearly 1/3 of the San Gabriels!

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:33 am

This is an outline of the fire on Google Maps

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie ... 88b9f08daa

edenooch · Post by **edenooch** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:42 am

is echo mountain and ins pt still alive?

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:47 am

Rick Kent wrote:Damn! That's nearly 1/3 of the San Gabriels!

And it's still growing.

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:50 am

edenooch wrote:is echo mountain and ins pt still alive?

The perimeter from this morning that Matt provided shows Echo just south of the fire and Inspiration Point inside the perimeter.

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:52 am

edenooch wrote:is echo mountain and ins pt still alive?

The outlook is very grim for the foreseeable future

I've given up trying to predict what this monster is going to do, and have written off most of the western half of the Angeles as this is what the fire "managers" have done.

We'll just have to wait and see what is left when it is out in a few months

There will be small victories but this is the worst fire the Angeles has ever seen bar none

You take the 4 worst fires ever and roll them together and you'll get some idea of just how massive this is.

Ain't Global Climate Change GREAT!

I personally am grieving for my backyard playground I'm at Stage 5 Acceptance

edenooch · Post by **edenooch** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:14 am

Hikin_Jim wrote:HPS peaks in closed area in and around the Station Fire:
09A Mount Gleason (in the burn perimeter)
09B Iron Mountain #2 (in the burn perimeter)
09C Condor Peak (in the burn perimeter)
09D Fox Mountain #2 (in the burn perimeter)
09E Mount Lukens (in the burn perimeter)
10A Mount Emma
10B Old Mount Emma
10C Pacifico Mountain
10D Bare Mountain
10E Granite Mountain #1
10F Rabbit Peak #1 (in or at the edge of the burn perimeter)
10G Iron Mountain #3
10H Round Top
10I Mount Hillyer
10J Cole Point
11A Josephine Peak (in the burn perimeter)
11B Strawberry Peak (in or at the edge of the burn perimeter)
11C Mount Lawlor
11D Barley Flats
11F Vetter Mountain (LO)
12A Mount Deception (in the burn perimeter)
12B Mount Disappointment (in or at the edge of the burn perimeter)
12C San Gabriel Peak (in or at the edge of the burn perimeter)
12D Mount Markham (in the burn perimeter)
12E Mount Lowe (in the burn perimeter)
12F Occidental Peak
12G Mount Wilson
15A Monrovia Peak

or the entire forest.........shit............damn arsonists!
are the trails from the neighborhoods to the front ranges still open?

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:55 am

DamOTclese wrote:I thought Mount Wilson was going to be overrun. It leaped from 45,000 acres to 85,000 acres over night, it looks like. Is that possible?

This is bad, bad, bad.

Mt Wilson is toast, just a matter of time. (unless there is some sort of divine intervention)

I pay no attention to those values they are ancient history by the time they are released

but 85,000 is as good as any figure yeah, the major extension was from Mt Gleason to Pacifico Mtn area

edenooch · Post by **edenooch** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:58 am

Its all toast!

how did the fire get so uot of control. I have seen better fire combat for the other fires in the past year. when it was just a small blaze east of lukens. They should have had it out in a day

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:59 am

for the perimeter that is shown on the Geomac website my GIS program calculates 115,575.38 acres

Obviously not all that has burned inside the active perimeter, but I gives you some sense of the size

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:06 am

edenooch wrote:Its all toast!
how did the fire get so uot of control. I have seen better fire combat for the other fires in the past year. when it was just a small blaze east of lukens. They should have had it out in a day

I couldn't disagree

There needs to be an investigation as to why this happened, they need to hold the people responsible accountable

Fury, rage, extreme disdain really doesn't describe what I am feeling at the boneheads that where in charge of this on Wednesday and Thursday

The decisions that where made where very very very poor ones, and that is putting it mildly

platypii · Post by **platypii** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:08 am

Such a sad day! I'm just praying that by some miracle Eaton Canyon survives (my favorite place in all the san gabriels). Seems to be just on the precipice now...

1 day old image from space. Can see the smoke extending all the way out towards vegas:

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:24 am

If you are having trouble accessing the Geomac website I downloaded the Active Perimeter and made an online map of it

this is 115.575.38 acres

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8& ... 899583f7e7

outwhere · Post by **outwhere** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:34 am

mattmaxon wrote:
edenooch wrote:Its all toast!
how did the fire get so uot of control. I have seen better fire combat for the other fires in the past year. when it was just a small blaze east of lukens. They should have had it out in a day
I couldn't disagree

There needs to be an investigation as to why this happened, they need to hold the people responsible accountable

Fury, rage, extreme disdain really doesn't describe what I am feeling at the boneheads that where in charge of this on Wednesday and Thursday

The decisions that where made where very very very poor ones, and that is putting it mildly

I would like to hear more about this too...

I may be totally way off but the impression I got when the fire first started, it seemed like it was relatively calm.

Be curious to know how many acres burned, let's say, in the first 5 to 6 hours of the fire...

Again, monday morning quarterbacking on my part - but did the lack of high winds make this fire less alarming? Did certain officials see this as an opportunity for a so-called 'controlled burn' (especially since the fire was heading north vs. towards the houses?)
Or were there just a lack of air resources to hit the initial fire area?

I think I sorta feel like edenooch feels - compared to other fires, this fire seems like it never got the attention or respect that we've seen over the years.

Or am I way off and this fire just happened to occur in such a remote area that not much coulda stopped it?

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:06 pm

mattmaxon wrote:This is an outline of the fire on Google Maps

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie ... 88b9f08daa

Unbelievable! That's like the entire SGW going up in smoke. Ugh...I feel ill.