The 121,762-acre Station fire is eating up acreage at a slower pace today, giving firefighters a chance to make a little more progress in corralling this megafire. At 3 p.m. the temperature was 93 and the humidity was 26%, which compares to 94 degrees and 19% yesterday at the same time. The wind yesterday was blowing at 11 mph, while today at the same time it was measured at 5 mph.
The order of the day was to burn out the fuel between the edge of the fire and the urban interface in the front country on the south side of the fire in the La Crescenta, Montrose, and Altadena areas. Many firefighters were committed to this effort which put up a lot of smoke but helped to secure some of the fire perimeter.
On Mt. Wilson firefighters were able to access the area again after having to leave earlier due to safety concerns. They conducted some burnouts near the communications facilities to construct a buffer for when the main fire approaches.
For most of the day dense smoke around Mt. Wilson prevented air tankers from making drops in the area, but the 7,200-gallon, water-scooping Martin Mars was ordered from its Lake Elsinore base with the assignment of “making it rain” around Mt. Wilson. And at 4:15 p.m. it made a drop, dodging the communications towers.
We will post an updated map of the fire if new fire perimeter data becomes available later today.
