LOS ANGELES FIRES & BROADCASTING

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LOS ANGELES FIRES & BROADCASTING

I've been keeping an eye on the wildfires in Southern California. I lived there for 18 years and as a former Dir. of Ops for a radio station, I'm very familiar with Mt. Wilson and our station had (still has) an antenna there. Mt. Wilson is where a lot of television and radio stations have their antennas, as it offers a wonderful point for broadcasting, being that it is so high and overlooks Los Angeles.

If the fires which are raging there, and I've been through many more than my share, reach Mt. Wilson it could be tough...especially should an earthquake happen on the heels of widespread damage to such a dense communications site as Mt. Wilson. As of the writing of this blog entry, the L.A. Times online reports:

"The Station fire, which has destroyed 21 homes and killed two firefighters, was burning within a quarter of a mile of Mt. Wilson as firefighters prepared for another long, hot day.....At the bottom of Mt. Wilson Road early this morning, firefighters bedded down in the ash-flecked open air, the forest pitch black except for the flames lighting ridgelines in the near distance. The head of the fire appeared to be across a broad and deep canyon from the Mt. Wilson compound.

Smaller flare-ups could be seen closer to the thicket of communications towers alongside the Mt. Wilson observatory, where five engine crews were posted overnight.

The blaze already had raced up to the winding stretch of Angeles Crest Highway that leads to Mt. Wilson Road. Road signs had melted, guardrails were burned free of their wood moorings, and the switchbacks were choked with fire-loosened boulders and scorched tree limbs."

Our prayers are offered up for those affected by these fires in any way. Should the fire destroy the communications site (many L.A. radio and TV stations have their antenna's at Mt. Wilson due to its excellent vantage point), the concern I would have is if an earthquake were to happen. Communication is paramount in times of disaster and if Mt. Wilson is severely damaged, it could greatly impede broadcasting in the Los Angeles area.

(Thanks to the Los Angeles Times online for the quote above and for there fine reporting on this fire.)