NYCLA*

Calif. fire to reach mountain's TV transmitters

(AP) – 1 hour ago

LOS ANGELES — Authorities say flames from a major wildfire north of Los Angeles are about to reach Mount Wilson, home to a historic observatory and transmitters for every major television and radio station in the area.
Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Mark Savage tells KABC-TV Sunday that "it's not a matter of if it impacts Mount Wilson, it's a matter of when," and estimated that the flames could leap to the top of the mountain within a few hours.
Savage says firefighters could be pulled at any moment if the situation becomes dangerous.
Television stations say if the antennas burn, broadcast signals will be affected but satellite and cable transmissions should not be.
Two giant telescopes and several multimillion-dollar astronomy programs are also located at the observatory.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Aaron62

That's the first I've seen of this story. Thanks, I'll try to come on here and update if we lose signals here

NYCLA*

Live view of transmission towers as fire approaches:

Mt. Wilson Transmitters

O-O

They're probably getting too much traffic on that site because the link is really slow to load now and I'm not getting any picture.

NYCLA*

I'm getting picture...right now you can really see the flames. Give it time to load.

Aaron62

The just gave a preview of the fire on local news here. Looks pretty bad it sounds like there is a definite potential to knockout broadcast towers.

Trip

It had worked the last few times I tried it, but it was timing out a moment ago. It's working, slowly, right now.

- Trip

TVTom51

That's terrible! It must have progressed from earlier today. I saw an update on it earlier today and it didn't look that bad. Those fires wreak havoc not only on plant life but wild life too. Aaron, do you have OTA and cable?

NYCLA*

Two TV stations say their transmitters are threatened by Station fire

August 30, 2009 | 7:29 pm

Two TV stations said tonight that their transmitters are threatened by the Station fire, which is burning near the communications center atop Mt. Wilson.

KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KABC-TV Channel 7 said that viewers with cable and satellite TV will still be able get the signal if the transmitters are damaged. Those without cable or satellite might lose their signal.

"If you receive ABC7 by off-air antenna, you could lose our ABC7 signal," KABC said in a e-mail bulletin.
Most TV stations and many radio stations have transmitters on Mt. Wilson, as do some cellphone carriers

Station fire likely to hit historic Mt. Wilson observatory, fire officials say

August 30, 2009 | 5:42 pm

The fire burning in Angeles National Forest is approaching the historic solar observatory and television transmission towers atop Mt. Wilson, according to Los Angeles County fire officials.

The communications towers house transmitters for every major television station in Los Angeles.

“We expect it to get there in the next two to four hours,” said county fire Capt. Mark Savage.

Crews were clearing brush around the structures, but fire officials were not sure if they could leave personnel on the mountain to fight the flames because of the danger and limited escape routes. The fire is less than two miles away.

“It’s a serious situation,” said Bob Shindelar, operations branch director of California Incident Management Team 5. “Is the observatory going to make it? We’re doing everything in our power. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it is impacted by fire today or tomorrow.”

-- Joe Mozingo

Aaron62

OTA and DirecTV. Still looking getting good reception on both right now.