In the news about the Station fire near Los Angeles:
Cause of the Station fire
Investigators found a “substance” near the point of origin that they have sent to a lab for analysis. It was not a device, but according to an LA Times source:
There was material that didn’t belong there. It was clear evidence that the fire was intentionally set.
Life in fire camp
An excerpt from the Missoulian:
“Good morning!” Capt. Chip Paulson shouts from the canvas deck chair beside his fire engine. Never mind that it’s just shy of 4 p.m.
With smoke from wildfires turning day into night, flame burning night into day, the Escondido firefighter figures he might as well call it morning. And at the massive incident base camp outside Los Angeles, half the population is always beginning another long day of fighting fire.
Clinging to the sere foothills overlooking the massive Hansen Dam, the camp is a military-style bivouac whose itinerant residents are battling back the flames from the largest wildfire that has ever threatened the “City of Angels.”
“This is a city,” U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Barbara Rebiskie says as she looks out over the mass of trailers and the clusters of dome tents that have sprouted like mushrooms on the soccer and baseball fields above the dam. “It’s like you watch it grow overnight.”
There are 4,700 people working the Los Angeles fires, with crews from as far away as Canada and New Mexico. And every one of them has to be paid, fed, showered.
On the main street of the camp, trailers line the tarmac like concessions on a carnival midway. There’s one for timesheets, another for equipment check-out, and others for communications, logistics and emergency medical care.
“You name it,” says Rebiskie, “it’s here.”
In the 100-degree heat, the stew of odors from diesel fuel, portable toilets, frying meat and burning wood is almost overpowering at times. In some places, the carbon monoxide from idling vehicles was so thick that the Department of Health cordoned off areas with police tape.
In the dirt parking lot where the crews park their engines, tankers rumble up and down spraying water in a seemingly futile effort to keep down the dust. But life at the camp is far from spartan.
Procession for fallen firefighter Ted Hall going on now
A procession is moving Ted Hall, one of the two firefighters killed on the Station fire, from West Hollywood to Victor Valley. According to Google Maps, it should take from 2-4 hours, depending on traffic. HERE is a map showing the route.
It’s hard to tell exactly, but it began around noon PT. As of about 12:15 PT, the vehicles were “exiting Valley from SB 605 heading towards FS43”. LA County FD is providing frequent updates about their location via their TWITTER account.
Cause is arson, homicide investigation begins
If anyone is killed on an arson-caused fire in California, the arsonist can be charged with murder. Here is an excerpt from an article in the New York Times:
A wildfire in the foothills north of Los Angeles that has claimed the lives of two firefighters, ravaged more than 250 square miles and destroyed more than 60 homes was caused by arson, the federal Forest Service said.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has begun a homicide inquiry looking for the person or people responsible for the wildfire, which continues to burn.
The blaze, known as the Station Fire, has burned for over a week in the Angeles National Forest outside Los Angeles. After a forensic investigation, officials with the U.S. Forest Service determined on Thursday that the fire was started intentionally, and they labeled the firefighters’ deaths homicides, the Associated Press reported.
The authorities did not say where precisely the fire is believed to have begun and whether they had identified any suspects.
State highway department workers angered at the loss of their homes near Mt. Wilson
From the Los Angeles Times:
For decades, an enclave of Caltrans workers has lived in a group of 80-year-old homes alongside Angeles Crest Highway, about 10 miles northeast of the Mt. Wilson Observatory. It is their job to keep the highway free of debris, rocks and snow for the benefit of thousands of people who travel to the top of the Angeles National Forest year round.
At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, those residents –- who include four families, some of whom have lived here for more than a quarter century — were taking stock of their losses. Three of four historic homes were destroyed adjacent to a relatively new $4-million Caltrans maintenance center.
[Updated, 8:41 p.m. The center, which was constructed with fire-resistant materials, was largely unscathed.]
The California Department of Transportation employees who lived at the remote location known as Chilao were deeply embittered by having been, as they put it, abandoned by firefighting crews as flames bore down on them Monday afternoon.
Some were too angry to talk about it. But equipment operator Robert Torres, whose home was the only residence spared, offered a few comments on their behalf.
“We were left on our own here,” he said. “At one point, there was a helicopter flying overhead with a bladder full of water and not dropping. What does that tell you?”
“Before we evacuated, we were waiting for a strike team to arrive or an aerial drop of water or fire retardant,” Torres said. “That never happened.”
Late Tuesday afternoon, it seemed especially upsetting to the residents that an extraordinary amount of attention was being paid to saving property at nearby camping facilities and the Mt. Wilson complex.
“The U.S. Forest Service knows we’re here,” Torres said.
Thanks Dick and Kelly
