The Station fire, while slowed by higher humidity, still increased by about 19,000 acres on Tuesday. Now mapped at 140,150 acres, most of the additional growth occurred on the east side of the fire in the Angeles National Forest.
Firefighters have been conducting burnouts, especially on the urban south side, fighting fire with fire to remove the fuel between the homes and the fire edge. This is primarily being done on the extremely steep slopes where it is difficult for crews to work safely and has helped to bring containment up to 22%.
Firefighters began to focus on the communications infrastructure on Mt. Wilson on Tuesday, as crews began burning to remove fuel around some of the structures. They are also cutting brush and limbing trees, and will be using foam and gel to treat the buildings if the main fire makes an intense run up the hill towards the facility.
As we reported on Tuesday, the Martin Mars, a 60-year old “flying boat”, made a drop on Mt. Wilson yesterday. It flew from its base on Lake Elsinore and may have dropped up to 7,200 gallons on the mountain.
The weather on Wednesday will be similar to that seen on Tuesday, but the temperature in the valley near the fire will be about 5 degrees higher at 99, and the humidity will be about the same,in the mid-20s in the afternoon. A southwest wind blowing at six to nine mph will be little stronger than yesterday, but will aid the burnouts planned near the houses on the south side. The fire may continue to spread on the east, pushed by the southwest wind, as it has for the last several days.
