latimes--2020-09-15--Bobcat fire within 500 feet of famed Mt. Wilson Observatory as firefighters mount a defense

After crossing containment lines overnight , the Bobcat fire moved within striking distance of the Mt .
Wilson Observatory , the U.S. Forest Service said Tuesday , with firefighters mounting an aggressive defense from the air and on the ground .
The fire continued to push in multiple directions Tuesday , with firefighters stationed at the observatory ready to do battle and multiple aircraft making water drops through the day .
The observatory is one of the crown jewels of astronomy , and officials vowed to save the historic complex .
Officials at the 116-year-old observatory Monday night that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” noting that all observatory personnel had been evacuated .
But shortly after noon Tuesday , forest officials tweeted the blaze was less than 500 feet from the observatory .
Fire crews “ are in place ready to receive the fire , ” officials said , noting that strategic firing was taking place to the south , where air operations were strengthening bulldozer lines .
“ They are in a firefight right now , because it is so close , ” L.A. County Fire Capt .
David Dantic said of crews positioned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the observatory ’ s iconic structures , there are several communications towers atop Mt .
Wilson that are threatened by the blaze .
“ There ’ s major infrastructure for radio , television and cell towers up there , ” Dantic said , “ so there might be possible disruptions.
” Progress on the fire has been slow .
After hovering at 6 % containment for several days , the blaze , which started Sept. 6 and grew to more than , is now only 3 % contained .
“ It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dantic said Tuesday morning .
“ Before , we had 6 % containment when it was about 30,000 acres , but now the fire has gotten bigger .
It ’ s a bigger footprint .
That ’ s why the containment is down.
” Mt .
Wilson is a major site in the development of astronomy .
The by George Ellery Hale in 1904 , and its first telescopes — weighing hundreds of pounds each — were transported in pieces up the nine-mile Mt .
Wilson toll road on the backs of burros @ @ @ @ @ @ @ space through its 60-inch telescope , which has been in place since 1908 .
When the gathered its first light on Nov. 1 , 1917 , it overtook its 60-inch neighbor and became the largest telescope in the world — a position it held for more than three decades .
Other observatories — in the high plains of Chile , in orbit around the Earth — have rendered Mt .
Wilson obsolete , but the campus is still a destination for astronomers and stargazers , who for decades have been drawn by its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ term of appreciation for the quality of light that defines Los Angeles .
The famed 100-inch and 60-inch telescopes remain destinations for tour groups and the site a venue for concerts .
A number of universities , however , maintain smaller and private telescopes at Mt .
Wilson , including Georgia State University , which manages the CHARA array .
Completed in 2004 , CHARA — Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy — is an optical interferometer , six telescopes positioned across the campus whose images are coordinated and digitized by computer , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ star systems thousands of light years away .
The Bobcat fire is approaching the Mt .
Wilson Observatory from its most vulnerable front : the steep eastern slopes that rise precipitously from canyons cut by creeks flowing into Big Santa Anita Canyon beside Chantry Flat .
The terrain can not be defended by cutting a fire break , leaving airdrops and backfires as the only strategies .
“ If the fire does arrive , I suspect it will come first hit the ground near Echo Point , ” said Robert Anderson , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a nonprofit that operates and maintains the historic campus .
“ The terrain allows no stopping that without the air support.
” Anderson is most concerned about the nearly 100-year-old dormitory , known as the Monastery , where astronomers would sleep during the day before working the night shift at the observatories .
“ The Monastery is perched on a ridge , a finger of granite , that is exposed on three sides with steep walls , ” he said .
“ That whole ridge down to the Monastery could easily to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The home of the 20th century ’ s most celebrated astronomers is on the line.
” Additional personnel have been added to the fire crew , which has been stymied by the for days , but the fire crossed the contingency line and was burning along the east side of Little Santa Anita Canyon — the closest it had been to the observatory and threatened communities , Dantic said .
“ We were in the process of making a containment line around the whole fire , but unfortunately , with the steep terrain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ got over a contingency line that we were trying to make , ” he said .
Contingency and containment lines are barriers made by bulldozers and hand crews that help reduce fire fuel , but they ’ re not foolproof .
“ When flame lengths get so big , ” Dantic said , “ there ’ s always the possibility of an ember starting another fire outside of the containment line.
” In the forest ’ s Big Santa Anita Canyon , officials said they feared 80 historic cabins , along with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ burned as flames swept through the area Sunday and Monday .
“ These are historic buildings made of wood and rock and preserved as such under Forest Service rules , ” said Ben Fitzsimmons , president of Big Santa Anita Canyon Permittees Assn .
“ It is unlikely that this 100-year-old community has survived unscathed.
” Fitzsimmons said he didn ’ t know the extent of damage in the area but mourned the possibility that many of the historic structures “ may no longer exist.
” The cabins , built between 1907 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Owners are issued a “ special use permit ” to lease the land from the U.S. Forest Service , according to the .
Cabins can ’ t be purchased using a mortgage , and owners can ’ t use them as their primary place of residence .
The result , Fitzsimmons said , is a small , close-knit community of people who often spend every weekend together — people who “ gather to work on each other ’ s cabins and socialize together , bonded by our shared experience and love for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community since the early 1900s.
” Dantic , the L.A. County fire captain , couldn ’ t confirm whether the fire had reached the Big Santa Anita cabins , but community members braced for bad news .
“ We think we lost most of it , ” said Deb Burgess , a cabin owner .
Burgess was doubtful that the Forest Service would allow any burned cabins to be rebuilt , noting that she was previously told that structures more than 50 % destroyed could not be rebuilt .
Even small work on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ materials , size and other historic characteristics .
As the fire continues to move toward foothill neighborhoods , evacuation orders for residents north of Elkins Avenue and east of Santa Anita Avenue in Arcadia and Sierra Madre remain in place , as do for residents north of Foothill Boulevard .
Bad air caused by the Bobcat fire and the El Dorado fire in San Bernardino County also continues to be a problem .
Three COVID-19 testing sites in L.A. County will be because of smoke , and a from the South Coast Air @ @ @ @ @ @ @ throughout the day .
Air quality readings in Los Angeles remain in the , which is considered unhealthful by the Environmental Protection Agency .
“ There has been a strong smell of smoke for a few days now , and it definitely feels highly unhealthy to be outside right now , ” said 10-year West Hollywood resident Pascal Guyon .
“ L.A .
has , on average , already had a higher level of air pollution than lots of other major cities , ” Guyon said .
“ Getting too often to worrisome @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me to move out of this city.
” Angelenos eager to get outside may be wondering how much they can push the limits when it comes to air quality .
EPA officials said it ’ s important to rely on official readings , but also to listen to your body .
“ It ’ s about how you feel as a person because we all react differently to wildfire smoke , ” said Meredith Kurpius , an air manager from EPA ’ s Region 9 Office .
“ Perhaps you go outside when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feel symptomatic .
... You would want to curtail your exertion and your outdoor activity at that time.
” But EPA experts also said people should start taking precautions once readings passed 150 , and noted that less strenuous activities , such as walking instead of running , could help reduce the risk of heavier breathing , which leads to sucking in more unhealthful air .
“ On some level , it ’ s a personal choice , ” EPA environmental scientist Kathleen Stewart said .
“ But once you ’ re in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if you ’ re making a choice for kids , you would want to know that you are exposing them to a level that is not necessarily healthy for them.
” Some improvement to the air quality in areas farther away from the fire , thanks to south winds , but smoke will likely be trapped in valleys and basins into the night .
The continuation of southerly winds Wednesday should also help to improve conditions , the Forest Service said , although “ communities north of the fires are not expected to @ @ @ @

Hayley Smith, Thomas Curwen, Louis Sahagun, Matthew Ormseth

The Bobcat fire continues to blaze in the mountains above Monrovia. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A worker installs a street camera along North Azusa Avenue as smoke covers the sky from the Bobcat fire. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Claudia Alcaino walks her dogs along Highland Oaks Drive as crews continue to battle the Bobcat fire in the nearby Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A line of California fire engines head to the flaming Santa Anita Canyon as the Bobcat fire burns near Arcadia. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A firefighting helicopter refills in a reservoir on Grand View Ave. as crews continue to battle the Bobcat fire. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Mormon Lake, Ariz. Hotshot Squad team member Jessy Twin looks over charred hillsides after clearing brush. Twin said his crew is on their sixth day of cutting line. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles County firefighters, using only hand tools, keep flames from jumping a fire break in the Angeles National Forest north of Monrovia. (David McNew / Getty Images)
A Coulson 737 firefighting tanker jet drops fire retardant to slow Bobcat fire at the top of a major run up a mountainside in the Angeles National Forest. (David McNew / Getty Images)
Firefighters keep watch from an overlook on Mt. Wilson as the Bobcat fire burns in the Angeles National Forest near Pasadena. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)
Firefighters look on from Sawpit Canyon as a controlled fire burns on a hillside overlooking the San Gabriel Valley. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Curious deer look on as firefighters watch the progress of the Bobcat fire as it continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Flames from a control burn are used to reduce fuel near homes in Monrovia as the Bobcat fire continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Road Runners hand crew from the Angeles National Forest walk single file as they head for breakfast at the Bobcat fire command post at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Park in Irwindale. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
After spending night at camp Pasadena, firefighters Christina Terrazas, left, and Jason Van Vlymen have their breakfast standing next to their fire truck. Hundreds of firefighters from different agencies fighting Bobcat Fire in San Gabriel mountains above Arcadia, Monrovia and Duarte camp overnight in Santa Fe Dam Recreation Park in Irwindale. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles County firefighters standing on outlook as they monitor the Bobcat fire burning in a canyon near the Mt. Wilson Observatory in Angeles National Forest. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
Flames crest a hill a few miles from Juniper Hills Rd. as the Bobcat fire advances north into the Antelope Valley. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A fire engine drives into air thick with smoke along Juniper Hills Rd. as the Bobcat fire advances north into the Antelope Valley. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
LaVerne engine 761 arrives to offer defense as the Bobcat fire burns near homes in Monrovia. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The LA County Fire Camp 9 hand crew rests on Big Pines Highway after working the north flank of the Bobcat fire near Mile High. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Castle Snider, 8, looks on as flames from a control burn are used to reduce fuel near homes in Monrovia as the Bobcat fire continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Bear Divide Hotshots cover a U.S. Forestry Department information center Sept. 19 in Wrightwood to protect it from the Bobcat fire. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
A smokey sunset as the Bobcat Fire continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Mike Gregoryan is frustrated as he is asked to leave his home on Cruthers Creek as Bobcat fire closes in on structures. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
A house on Cima Mesa Road in Juniper Hills burns Sept. 18 as the Bobcat fire continues to rage. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
A statue sits on top of a house that burned to the ground in Juniper Hills. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
The view from Big Pines Highway as the Bobcat fire continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Horses are spooked by the approaching Bobcat fire on 106th Street in Juniper Hills on Sept. 18. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
The Bobcat fire continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest as seen from the Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles on Sept. 21. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Smoke and ash filter the sunset looking west from Angeles Crest Highway as the Bobcat fire continues to burn. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Blue Ridge Hot Shots crew members from Arizona join forces with firefighters from Northern and Southern California on a backfire operation north of Mt. Wilson on Angeles Crest Highway. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
After crossing containment lines overnight, the Bobcat fire moved within striking distance of the Mt. Wilson Observatory, the U.S. Forest Service said Tuesday, with firefighters mounting an aggressive defense from the air and on the ground.
The fire continued to push in multiple directions Tuesday, with firefighters stationed at the observatory ready to do battle and multiple aircraft making water drops through the day. The observatory is one of the crown jewels of astronomy, and officials vowed to save the historic complex.
Officials at the 116-year-old observatory tweeted Monday night that the fire was “knocking on our door,” noting that all observatory personnel had been evacuated.
But shortly after noon Tuesday, forest officials tweeted the blaze was less than 500 feet from the observatory. Fire crews “are in place ready to receive the fire,” officials said, noting that strategic firing was taking place to the south, where air operations were strengthening bulldozer lines.
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“They are in a firefight right now, because it is so close,” L.A. County Fire Capt. David Dantic said of crews positioned at Mt. Wilson.
In addition to the observatory’s iconic structures, there are several communications towers atop Mt. Wilson that are threatened by the blaze.
“There’s major infrastructure for radio, television and cell towers up there,” Dantic said, “so there might be possible disruptions.”
The #BobcatFire is within 500 ft of the Mt. Wilson Observatory & crews are in place ready to receive the fire. Strategic firing is taking place in the south where air operations are strengthening dozerlines. Crews are working a spot fire that crossed Hwy 2 near Buckhorn. pic.twitter.com/33rI3dNet2 — Angeles_NF (@Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times_NF) September 15, 2020
Progress on the fire has been slow. After hovering at 6% containment for several days, the blaze, which started Sept. 6 and grew to more than 41,000 acres , is now only 3% contained.
“It’s a bigger area now,” Dantic said Tuesday morning. “Before, we had 6% containment when it was about 30,000 acres, but now the fire has gotten bigger. It’s a bigger footprint. That’s why the containment is down.”
Mt. Wilson is a major site in the development of astronomy. The observatory was founded by George Ellery Hale in 1904, and its first telescopes — weighing hundreds of pounds each — were transported in pieces up the nine-mile Mt. Wilson toll road on the backs of burros. Now the observatory lets visitors view space through its 60-inch telescope, which has been in place since 1908.
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When the 100-inch Hooker telescope gathered its first light on Nov. 1, 1917, it overtook its 60-inch neighbor and became the largest telescope in the world — a position it held for more than three decades.
Other observatories — in the high plains of Chile, in orbit around the Earth — have rendered Mt. Wilson obsolete, but the campus is still a destination for astronomers and stargazers, who for decades have been drawn by its famed “seeing,” a shared term of appreciation for the quality of light that defines Los Angeles.
California Photos: Bobcat fire rages in the Angeles National Forest Fears of a significant spread of the Bobcat fire dissipated as Santa Ana winds failed to materialize, but foothill communities remain on high alert.
The famed 100-inch and 60-inch telescopes remain destinations for tour groups and the site a venue for concerts. A number of universities, however, maintain smaller and private telescopes at Mt. Wilson, including Georgia State University, which manages the CHARA array.
Completed in 2004, CHARA — Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy — is an optical interferometer, six telescopes positioned across the campus whose images are coordinated and digitized by computer, giving astronomers details and precise information about star systems thousands of light years away.
The Bobcat fire is approaching the Mt. Wilson Observatory from its most vulnerable front: the steep eastern slopes that rise precipitously from canyons cut by creeks flowing into Big Santa Anita Canyon beside Chantry Flat. The terrain cannot be defended by cutting a fire break, leaving airdrops and backfires as the only strategies.
“If the fire does arrive, I suspect it will come first hit the ground near Echo Point,” said Robert Anderson, a docent with the Mount Wilson Institute, a nonprofit that operates and maintains the historic campus. “The terrain allows no stopping that without the air support.”
Anderson is most concerned about the nearly 100-year-old dormitory, known as the Monastery, where astronomers would sleep during the day before working the night shift at the observatories.
“The Monastery is perched on a ridge, a finger of granite, that is exposed on three sides with steep walls,” he said. “That whole ridge down to the Monastery could easily to be lost without fire suppressant on it. The home of the 20th century’s most celebrated astronomers is on the line.”
Additional personnel have been added to the fire crew, which has been stymied by the aggressive, fuel-driven blaze for days, but the fire crossed the contingency line and was burning along the east side of Little Santa Anita Canyon — the closest it had been to the observatory and threatened communities, Dantic said.
“We were in the process of making a containment line around the whole fire, but unfortunately, with the steep terrain and the fuel there, the fire got over a contingency line that we were trying to make,” he said.
Contingency and containment lines are barriers made by bulldozers and hand crews that help reduce fire fuel, but they’re not foolproof.
“When flame lengths get so big,” Dantic said, “there’s always the possibility of an ember starting another fire outside of the containment line.”
In the forest’s Big Santa Anita Canyon, officials said they feared 80 historic cabins, along with the 1893-built Sturtevant Camp, might have been burned as flames swept through the area Sunday and Monday.
“These are historic buildings made of wood and rock and preserved as such under Forest Service rules,” said Ben Fitzsimmons, president of Big Santa Anita Canyon Permittees Assn. “It is unlikely that this 100-year-old community has survived unscathed.”
Fitzsimmons said he didn’t know the extent of damage in the area but mourned the possibility that many of the historic structures “may no longer exist.”
The cabins, built between 1907 and 1936, are not typical real estate. Owners are issued a “special use permit” to lease the land from the U.S. Forest Service, according to the group’s website . Cabins can’t be purchased using a mortgage, and owners can’t use them as their primary place of residence.
The result, Fitzsimmons said, is a small, close-knit community of people who often spend every weekend together — people who “gather to work on each other’s cabins and socialize together, bonded by our shared experience and love for this unique place that has been a community since the early 1900s.”
Dantic, the L.A. County fire captain, couldn’t confirm whether the fire had reached the Big Santa Anita cabins, but community members braced for bad news.
“We think we lost most of it,” said Deb Burgess, a cabin owner.
Burgess was doubtful that the Forest Service would allow any burned cabins to be rebuilt, noting that she was previously told that structures more than 50% destroyed could not be rebuilt. Even small work on the cabins must follow strict guidelines about materials, size and other historic characteristics.
As the fire continues to move toward foothill neighborhoods, evacuation orders for residents north of Elkins Avenue and east of Santa Anita Avenue in Arcadia and Sierra Madre remain in place, as do evacuation warnings for residents north of Foothill Boulevard.
Bad air caused by the Bobcat fire and the El Dorado fire in San Bernardino County also continues to be a problem. Three COVID-19 testing sites in L.A. County will be closed Tuesday because of smoke, and a smoke advisory from the South Coast Air Quality Management District will remain in effect throughout the day.
Air quality readings in Los Angeles remain in the 150-200 range , which is considered unhealthful by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“There has been a strong smell of smoke for a few days now, and it definitely feels highly unhealthy to be outside right now,” said 10-year West Hollywood resident Pascal Guyon.
“L.A. has, on average, already had a higher level of air pollution than lots of other major cities,” Guyon said. “Getting too often to worrisome levels of air pollution would definitely get me to move out of this city.”
Angelenos eager to get outside may be wondering how much they can push the limits when it comes to air quality. EPA officials said it’s important to rely on official readings, but also to listen to your body.
“It’s about how you feel as a person because we all react differently to wildfire smoke,” said Meredith Kurpius, an air manager from EPA’s Region 9 Office. “Perhaps you go outside when it’s ‘ orange ’ and you feel symptomatic. ... You would want to curtail your exertion and your outdoor activity at that time.”
But EPA experts also said people should start taking precautions once readings passed 150, and noted that less strenuous activities, such as walking instead of running, could help reduce the risk of heavier breathing, which leads to sucking in more unhealthful air.
Climate & Environment Your questions about air quality answered The air around Southern California feels like smoke soup because of wildfires. What does that mean for your health and daily routines?
“On some level, it’s a personal choice,” EPA environmental scientist Kathleen Stewart said. “But once you’re in the ‘red’ category, especially if you’re making a choice for kids, you would want to know that you are exposing them to a level that is not necessarily healthy for them.”
Some improvement to the air quality in areas farther away from the fire is expected Tuesday , thanks to south winds, but smoke will likely be trapped in valleys and basins into the night.
The continuation of southerly winds Wednesday should also help to improve conditions, the Forest Service said, although “communities north of the fires are not expected to see improvement.”


latimes--2020-09-15--Smoke from California wildfires reaches  the East Coast and Europe

The wildfires that have choked California ’ s skies with smoke in recent weeks — littering cities with ash , wreaking havoc on regional air quality and transforming the sun into an ominous red orb — have now stretched their sooty tendrils to the other side of the country and beyond .
Plumes from deadly and record-breaking fires burning up and down the West Coast are being caught in the atmospheric jet stream and carried across the United States , according to the National Weather Service .
There is enough smoke to partially shroud the sun in parts of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Satellite images this morning show smoke aloft moving over much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic , ” the weather service ’ s Baltimore-Washington office tweeted Tuesday morning .
“ This smoke is obscuring the sun , and will keep temperatures a few degrees cooler today than what would be observed if the smoke was not present.
” Smoky and hazy conditions have been reported this week in New York , Boston and even Maine .
The U.S. wildfires have even become an unwelcome expatriate in Europe — with West Coast-originating smoke being reported @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hamburg , Germany .
The massive fires are also throwing off significant amounts of pollutants .
Satellite readings taken over the last week show high-altitude concentrations of carbon monoxide that are more than 10 times above normal , according to NASA .
“ The intense heat from the wildfires lofted the carbon monoxide high into the atmosphere .
...
The jet stream then blew the carbon monoxide plume eastward across the U.S. and over the Atlantic Ocean , ” officials wrote in a statement .
Carbon monoxide “ can persist in the atmosphere @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transported great distances , ” officials added .
“ At the high altitude mapped in these images , the gas has little effect on the air we breathe ; however , strong winds can carry it downwards to where it can significantly impact air quality , ” the statement continued .
“ Carbon monoxide plays a role in both air pollution and climate change.
” The effects have been most profound , however , along the West Coast .
A smoke advisory was in effect for a swath of Southern California through Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Air Quality Management District , and air quality remained unhealthful for much of the state — particularly its central and northern thirds .
Thick , acrid smoke also hung over the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday from some of the largest wildfires in Oregon ’ s history and from blazes in Washington state , forcing many people indoors in a region known for clean air , clear water and environmental purity .
“ Without question , our state has been pushed to its limits , ” Oregon Gov .
Kate Brown said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ constant reminder that this tragedy has not yet come to an end.
” Portland continued to have the worst air quality of any city in the world Tuesday afternoon , with an Air Quality Index of 273 .
As bad as that was , it had improved from the city ’ s all-time record of 477 , set Sunday .
“ This is Oregon ’ s prime season , when it ’ s normally sunny and in the 70s , and you want to be out enjoying summer , ” said Harry Esteve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Environmental Quality .
“ Instead , we ’ re all forced indoors.
” Downtown Portland was virtually deserted Tuesday afternoon , as dirty air hung amid stores boarded up because of protests or the coronavirus .
The occasional hardy , or foolhardy , cyclist rode by .
But the region got some relief as winds turned westerly overnight Monday , pushing smoke east and producing occasional patches of clear sky Tuesday along the Oregon coast .
“ We even had people tweeting us photos of blue sky , which everyone was fawning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a National Weather Service meteorologist in Portland .
Forecasters say that a lower-pressure system moving in from the Pacific Ocean could bring rain showers , but more smoke could push north from California .
Heavy rain can actually worsen smoke , much as pouring water on a campfire causes evaporation that releases a billowing white cloud , Muessle said .
“ On some of the larger fires , if we see a significant amount of rain in a short amount of time , we could see a period of increased smoke , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , arid conditions are still expected in the near future .
“ With no significant precipitation in sight , California remains dry and ripe for wildfires , ” according to the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection .
The devastating toll of this year ’ s fire season goes far beyond air quality .
As of Tuesday , the recent firestorm had killed 25 people in California .
More than 3.2 million acres have burned across the state this year , the largest amount on record .
The fires have also destroyed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 60,000 people from their homes .

The Los Angeles skyline is shrouded in smoke from the Bobcat fire as seen from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Haze from the Bobcat fire looms over Azusa as it burns in Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Despite the unhealthful air quality, Fabian Ortez of Riverside enjoys an afternoon of fishing off the pier in Seal Beach. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)
A hazy sun is seen behind the Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
An upbeat message on the South Coast Cinemas marquee in Laguna Beach is dimmed by the smoky air. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
A man walks his dog past the historic lifeguard tower in Laguna Beach as the sun is obscured by smoke from wildfires. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The sky is gray over the Santa Monica Pier as a family plays in the breakwater. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
A crow on a cypress tree in Garden Grove is silhouetted by a sun obscured by ash from Southland wildfires. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Smoke from the Bobcat fire burning in the Angeles National Forest blankets the Southland. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
Two people get ready to surf as a hazy red sun sets off Hermosa Beach. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
Visitors check their photos at Griffith Observatory with a smoky view of the Hollywood sign behind them. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
An aerial view of Dodger Stadium and the downtown Los Angeles skyline at sunset is obscured by smoke, ash and smog on Sept. 14. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Elijah Simpson practices shooting hoops against a backdrop of smokey skies from the Bobcat Fire at Angel’s Gate Park in the San Pedro on September 16, 2020. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Brooks Hubbard with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers takes photos from the historic North Broadway Bridge over the Los Angeles River Tuesday morning as smoke and ash from the Bobcat fire cloak the area. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
The wildfires that have choked California’s skies with smoke in recent weeks — littering cities with ash, wreaking havoc on regional air quality and transforming the sun into an ominous red orb — have now stretched their sooty tendrils to the other side of the country and beyond.
Plumes from deadly and record-breaking fires burning up and down the West Coast are being caught in the atmospheric jet stream and carried across the United States, according to the National Weather Service.
There is enough smoke to partially shroud the sun in parts of the East Coast, forecasters said.
“Satellite images this morning show smoke aloft moving over much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic,” the weather service’s Baltimore-Washington office tweeted Tuesday morning. “This smoke is obscuring the sun, and will keep temperatures a few degrees cooler today than what would be observed if the smoke was not present.”
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Smoky and hazy conditions have been reported this week in New York, Boston and even Maine.
Notice that hazy, milky sky this morning? That is a result of smoke (well above our heads) from wildfires across the Western US. Notice that the smoke originates across the west and then gets pulled to the east due to the jet stream aloft. The haziness may increase later today. pic.twitter.com/wBOQHfpcmM — NWS Wakefield (@NWSWakefieldVA) September 15, 2020
The U.S. wildfires have even become an unwelcome expatriate in Europe — with West Coast-originating smoke being reported as far away as the Netherlands and Hamburg, Germany.
The massive fires are also throwing off significant amounts of pollutants. Satellite readings taken over the last week show high-altitude concentrations of carbon monoxide that are more than 10 times above normal, according to NASA.
“The intense heat from the wildfires lofted the carbon monoxide high into the atmosphere. ... The jet stream then blew the carbon monoxide plume eastward across the U.S. and over the Atlantic Ocean,” officials wrote in a statement.
Climate & Environment Your questions about air quality answered The air around Southern California feels like smoke soup because of wildfires. What does that mean for your health and daily routines?
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Carbon monoxide “can persist in the atmosphere for about a month and can be transported great distances,” officials added.
“At the high altitude mapped in these images, the gas has little effect on the air we breathe; however, strong winds can carry it downwards to where it can significantly impact air quality,” the statement continued. “Carbon monoxide plays a role in both air pollution and climate change.”
The effects have been most profound, however, along the West Coast. A smoke advisory was in effect for a swath of Southern California through Tuesday afternoon, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and air quality remained unhealthful for much of the state — particularly its central and northern thirds.
Thick, acrid smoke also hung over the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday from some of the largest wildfires in Oregon’s history and from blazes in Washington state, forcing many people indoors in a region known for clean air, clear water and environmental purity.
“Without question, our state has been pushed to its limits,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said. “The smoke blanketing the state is a constant reminder that this tragedy has not yet come to an end.”
Portland continued to have the worst air quality of any city in the world Tuesday afternoon, with an Air Quality Index of 273. As bad as that was, it had improved from the city’s all-time record of 477, set Sunday.
“This is Oregon’s prime season, when it’s normally sunny and in the 70s, and you want to be out enjoying summer,” said Harry Esteve, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality. “Instead, we’re all forced indoors.”
Downtown Portland was virtually deserted Tuesday afternoon, as dirty air hung amid stores boarded up because of protests or the coronavirus. The occasional hardy, or foolhardy, cyclist rode by.
But the region got some relief as winds turned westerly overnight Monday, pushing smoke east and producing occasional patches of clear sky Tuesday along the Oregon coast.
“We even had people tweeting us photos of blue sky, which everyone was fawning over,” said Rebecca Muessle, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Portland.
Forecasters say that a lower-pressure system moving in from the Pacific Ocean could bring rain showers, but more smoke could push north from California. Heavy rain can actually worsen smoke, much as pouring water on a campfire causes evaporation that releases a billowing white cloud, Muessle said.
“On some of the larger fires, if we see a significant amount of rain in a short amount of time, we could see a period of increased smoke,” she said.
In the Golden State, arid conditions are still expected in the near future.
“With no significant precipitation in sight, California remains dry and ripe for wildfires,” according to the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The devastating toll of this year’s fire season goes far beyond air quality. As of Tuesday, the recent firestorm had killed 25 people in California.
More than 3.2 million acres have burned across the state this year, the largest amount on record. The fires have also destroyed at least 4,200 structures and forced more than 60,000 people from their homes.


latimes--2020-09-15--Earthquake: Magnitude 3.1 quake strikes near Desert Hot Springs, Calif.

A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was reported Tuesday at 8:09 a.m. three miles from Desert Hot Springs , Calif. , according to the U.S. Geological Survey .
The earthquake occurred four miles from Palm Springs , eight miles from Banning , 12 miles from Cathedral City , Calif. , and 13 miles from Yucca Valley , Calif .
In the last 10 days , there have been no earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby .
An average of 234 earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.0 occur per year in California and Nevada , according to a recent three @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at a depth of 10.4 miles .
Did you feel this earthquake ?
Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS .
Even if you didn ’ t feel this small earthquake , you never know when the Big One is going to strike .
Ready yourself by following our five-step earthquake preparedness guide and building your own emergency kit .
This story was automatically generated by Quakebot , a computer application that monitors the latest earthquakes detected by the USGS .
A Times editor reviewed the post before it was published .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ more about the system , visit our list of frequently asked questions .

A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was reported Tuesday at 8:09 a.m. three miles from Desert Hot Springs, Calif.
A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was reported Tuesday at 8:09 a.m. three miles from Desert Hot Springs, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake occurred four miles from Palm Springs, eight miles from Banning, 12 miles from Cathedral City, Calif., and 13 miles from Yucca Valley, Calif.
In the last 10 days, there have been no earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.
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An average of 234 earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.0 occur per year in California and Nevada, according to a recent three year data sample.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10.4 miles. Did you feel this earthquake? Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS.
Even if you didn’t feel this small earthquake, you never know when the Big One is going to strike. Ready yourself by following our five-step earthquake preparedness guide and building your own emergency kit.
This story was automatically generated by Quakebot, a computer application that monitors the latest earthquakes detected by the USGS. A Times editor reviewed the post before it was published. If you’re interested in learning more about the system, visit our list of frequently asked questions.


latimes--2020-09-15--Is California serious about environmental justice? This water fight is a test

On a barren stretch of Monterey Bay , in a region desperate for fresh water , an oft-overlooked town has little say in whether a big water company can build a desalination operation right on its shore .
Here in Marina , where one-third of the town is low income and many speak little English , industrial facilities have long burdened the landscape .
This desalination project would replace a century-old sand mine that has stripped shorebirds and rare butterflies of their home — and the community of an open space where anybody could cool off during a heat wave @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Not a drop of this treated water — which would be piped to other cities , businesses and farmers in need — would even be for Marina .
“ Why would anyone think they could get away with that ?
Why ?
” said Kathy Biala , a resident who was furious when she first learned of these plans .
“ Because we ’ re small .
Because we have a lot of people who don ’ t even speak English .
Because our city coffers could never stand up to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This proposal by California American Water has become one of the most complicated and fraught issues to come before the California Coastal Commission , whose long-awaited vote on Thursday could determine not only the contentious future of water on the Monterey Peninsula — but also the role of government in undoing environmental inequity .
Almost a decade in the making , the project has pitted an overtapped river against an overburdened city and prompted a flurry of private meetings with lobbyists , the governor ’ s office and numerous state officials at odds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outcome could set precedents on which environmental priorities win out when shaping the future of the state .
A key test this week will be the coastal commission ’ s new power to review not only harm to the environment when making decisions , but also harm to underrepresented communities .
As the nation continues to reckon with systemic injustice , many are waking up to the patterns of relegating industrial projects to certain parts of the coast while others get gentrified .
“ Who ’ s got the garbage ?
Who ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s got all of it ?
Marina .
That ’ s what we ’ re doing to these communities .
You want to build something that nobody else wants ?
Put it in Marina , ” said Sara Wan , a former chair of the commission who is now helping Marina make its case .
“ If the commissioners can ’ t see that now , their environmental justice policy is meaningless.
” Water politics is rarely easy , but along Monterey Bay , it ’ s particularly fraught : The region , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has limited water options .
A few communities like Marina tap their own groundwater , but most rely on Cal Am , an investor-owned company that has pumped the Carmel River for decades — providing some of the most expensive water in the country to cities that could not flourish without it .
But the river , where 10,000 steelhead trout once spawned , has suffered from the region ’ s water demands .
Cal Am was pumping more than three times its legal limit and by 1995 , the State Water Resources @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the overdraft — a deadline that has since been extended to December 2021 .
Only 129 steelhead were observed in 2019 .
During the last drought , zero .
The lower 9.5 miles of the river are seasonally dry in most years due to continued illegal diversions , water officials said .
A number of alternate supply projects have been proposed over the years , including a new dam and a desalination plant at the Moss Landing power plant .
Voters rejected the dam ’ s financing plan , and environmentalists balked at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ harmed by sucking water directly from the ocean .
So Cal Am went back to the drawing board and came up with the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project , a smaller desalination plant that would use a new slanted well technique that pulls less directly from the ocean .
They picked a new site — a sand mine that is shutting down — that was already impacted by industrial use .
This downsized project would give shareholders less return on investment and requires relying on a new public recycled water project to fulfill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offered to provide water at a reduced rate to Castroville , a nearby farming community in dire need of clean water .
“ We feel like we are the Boy Scout of desal projects .
We have followed all the rules … we ’ ve listened to stakeholders , we ’ ve listened to regulators , we ’ ve listened to concerns , ” said spokeswoman Catherine Stedman , who noted that Cal Am has spent about $ 100 million trying to get an alternative supply project to the finish line .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feel like we have come up with a project that most closely meets all of those interests and is feasible.
” The project has the support of steelhead conservationists , major farming and business groups , as well as hotels and developers in the region who for years have been unable to expand without more water .
Cal Am has met privately with some of Gov .
Gavin Newsom ’ s top officials , including Secretary of Environmental Protection Jared Blumenfeld , who says it ’ s imperative to save the Carmel River @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2018 also signed off on Cal Am ’ s plan , but Marina rejected it and has spent more than $ 1 million of its small operating budget to fight the project .
Cal Am appealed the city ’ s opposition , which now puts the ball in the coastal commission ’ s court .
After more than a year of analysis , the commission ’ s staff urged their board in a 154-page report to deny the project .
They pointed to the new recycled water project , Pure Water Monterey , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ environmentally conscious way of meeting Cal Am ’ s needs for at least the next few decades .
Expanding this other project — a joint effort by local public agencies that didn ’ t exist a decade ago when Cal Am first presented its options — would require less energy and infrastructure .
Many have held up this project , and its fast turnaround , as a recycled water model for more Californians to follow .
Both projects would supply more than enough water — but desalination would cost ratepayers about $ 1 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to David Stoldt , general manager of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District , which oversees the region ’ s water needs .
Jonas Minton , a former deputy director of the California Department of Water Resources who led the state ’ s desalination task force , also examined the numbers and concluded the “ proposed ocean desalination project is lose-lose-lose .
The climate would lose .
The coast would lose .
And the ratepayers would lose.
” Now a water policy advisor for the Planning and Conservation League , Minton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seemed to be no other option to save the Carmel River .
But now with an alternative that requires less greenhouse gases and no harm to the coast , “ expanding this existing water recycling project would truly be a real win-win-win.
” Still hotly debated is whether enough wastewater exists to expand recycling as a reliable water supply — especially during drought years ( Cal Am says there ’ s not ; Stoldt says there is ) .
Also in dispute is just how much water the region actually needs in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slant well technology would damage local groundwater aquifers that communities like Marina rely on .
Others question the wisdom of building expensive infrastructure that would likely need to be relocated as the sea continues to rise .
As for environmental justice , Cal Am officials say they have significantly reduced the project ’ s visible footprint on Marina ’ s coast , and that the actual processing plant is farther inland just outside the city .
They also point to their discounted rates to low-income customers and a new , much needed water @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t buy this argument , which they say falsely pits one underserved community against another .
That ’ s what happens when a big water company controls so many pieces of the chessboard , said Melodie Chrislock , who spearheaded a public effort to buy out Cal Am after water bills kept going up .
Despite using way less water than in years past , her bill last month was $ 873 .
“ We figured out years ago that the only solution to our water situation — our water supply shortage , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is to get rid of Cal Am , ” said Chrislock , a longtime resident of Carmel and managing director of the advocacy group Public Water Now .
“ They ’ re not responsible to the community.
” State Assemblyman Mark Stone ( D-Scotts Valley ) , who represents all the communities and opposes the project , noted that Cal Am “ has every incentive to invest and push on ratepayers the most expensive , infrastructure-heavy solution possible.
” “ Once they get a community to agree to that investment , it becomes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ already paid for this , we need to expand it , we need to do maintenance , ’ ” he said , “ and the ratepayers are now stuck in this cycle of the most expensive solution.
” Back in Marina , Monica Tran Kim has spent many late hours , in between four jobs , to help the city ’ s large refugee community understand what ’ s at stake .
Kim , whose parents fled Vietnam and forged a new life fishing off Marina ’ s open shore , said many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the government and a company as politically powerful as Cal Am .
“ Without Marina ’ s beaches , my family wouldn ’ t have anything .
These beaches fed them , kept them alive , ” said Kim , who urged decision-makers to see that true justice isn ’ t helping some communities at the expense of others .
“ If we want people to live here and survive , we need to protect the resources that allow all of us to thrive .
”

On a barren stretch of Monterey Bay, in a region desperate for fresh water, an oft-overlooked town has little say in whether a big water company can build a desalination operation right on its shore.
Here in Marina, where one-third of the town is low income and many speak little English, industrial facilities have long burdened the landscape. This desalination project would replace a century-old sand mine that has stripped shorebirds and rare butterflies of their home — and the community of an open space where anybody could cool off during a heat wave or enjoy a day by the sea.
Not a drop of this treated water — which would be piped to other cities, businesses and farmers in need — would even be for Marina.
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“Why would anyone think they could get away with that? Why?” said Kathy Biala, a resident who was furious when she first learned of these plans. “Because we’re small. Because we have a lot of people who don’t even speak English. Because our city coffers could never stand up to the wealth of a major American corporation.”
This proposal by California American Water has become one of the most complicated and fraught issues to come before the California Coastal Commission, whose long-awaited vote on Thursday could determine not only the contentious future of water on the Monterey Peninsula — but also the role of government in undoing environmental inequity.
Almost a decade in the making, the project has pitted an overtapped river against an overburdened city and prompted a flurry of private meetings with lobbyists, the governor’s office and numerous state officials at odds over what is most important. The outcome could set precedents on which environmental priorities win out when shaping the future of the state.
A key test this week will be the coastal commission’s new power to review not only harm to the environment when making decisions, but also harm to underrepresented communities. As the nation continues to reckon with systemic injustice, many are waking up to the patterns of relegating industrial projects to certain parts of the coast while others get gentrified.
“Who’s got the garbage? Who’s got the landfill? Who’s got all of it? Marina. That’s what we’re doing to these communities. You want to build something that nobody else wants? Put it in Marina,” said Sara Wan, a former chair of the commission who is now helping Marina make its case. “If the commissioners can’t see that now, their environmental justice policy is meaningless.”
Water politics is rarely easy, but along Monterey Bay, it’s particularly fraught: The region, isolated from state and federal aqueducts, has limited water options. A few communities like Marina tap their own groundwater, but most rely on Cal Am, an investor-owned company that has pumped the Carmel River for decades — providing some of the most expensive water in the country to cities that could not flourish without it.
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But the river, where 10,000 steelhead trout once spawned, has suffered from the region’s water demands. Cal Am was pumping more than three times its legal limit and by 1995, the State Water Resources Control Board had ordered an end to the overdraft — a deadline that has since been extended to December 2021.
Only 129 steelhead were observed in 2019. During the last drought, zero. The lower 9.5 miles of the river are seasonally dry in most years due to continued illegal diversions, water officials said.
A number of alternate supply projects have been proposed over the years, including a new dam and a desalination plant at the Moss Landing power plant. Voters rejected the dam’s financing plan, and environmentalists balked at all the marine life that could be harmed by sucking water directly from the ocean.
So Cal Am went back to the drawing board and came up with the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project, a smaller desalination plant that would use a new slanted well technique that pulls less directly from the ocean. They picked a new site — a sand mine that is shutting down — that was already impacted by industrial use.
Cemex, a Mexico-based company, has for decades dredged sand away from Marina’s shoreline. After years of controversy, the operation is set to close by the end of this year. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
This downsized project would give shareholders less return on investment and requires relying on a new public recycled water project to fulfill the demand gap. Cal Am also offered to provide water at a reduced rate to Castroville, a nearby farming community in dire need of clean water.
“We feel like we are the Boy Scout of desal projects. We have followed all the rules … we’ve listened to stakeholders, we’ve listened to regulators, we’ve listened to concerns,” said spokeswoman Catherine Stedman, who noted that Cal Am has spent about $100 million trying to get an alternative supply project to the finish line. “No project is perfect, but we feel like we have come up with a project that most closely meets all of those interests and is feasible.”
The project has the support of steelhead conservationists, major farming and business groups, as well as hotels and developers in the region who for years have been unable to expand without more water. Cal Am has met privately with some of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s top officials, including Secretary of Environmental Protection Jared Blumenfeld, who says it’s imperative to save the Carmel River.
The California Public Utilities Commission in 2018 also signed off on Cal Am’s plan, but Marina rejected it and has spent more than $1 million of its small operating budget to fight the project. Cal Am appealed the city’s opposition, which now puts the ball in the coastal commission’s court.
After more than a year of analysis, the commission’s staff urged their board in a 154-page report to deny the project. They pointed to the new recycled water project, Pure Water Monterey, as a cheaper, more equitable and environmentally conscious way of meeting Cal Am’s needs for at least the next few decades.
Expanding this other project — a joint effort by local public agencies that didn’t exist a decade ago when Cal Am first presented its options — would require less energy and infrastructure. Many have held up this project, and its fast turnaround, as a recycled water model for more Californians to follow.
Both projects would supply more than enough water — but desalination would cost ratepayers about $1 billion more over the next 30 years, according to David Stoldt, general manager of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, which oversees the region’s water needs.
Jonas Minton, a former deputy director of the California Department of Water Resources who led the state’s desalination task force, also examined the numbers and concluded the “proposed ocean desalination project is lose-lose-lose. The climate would lose. The coast would lose. And the ratepayers would lose.”
A Marina resident surf fishes on a foggy morning near the city’s natural dunes. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Now a water policy advisor for the Planning and Conservation League, Minton said he initially supported desalination when there seemed to be no other option to save the Carmel River. But now with an alternative that requires less greenhouse gases and no harm to the coast, “expanding this existing water recycling project would truly be a real win-win-win.”
Still hotly debated is whether enough wastewater exists to expand recycling as a reliable water supply — especially during drought years (Cal Am says there’s not; Stoldt says there is). Also in dispute is just how much water the region actually needs in the long term, and whether the new slant well technology would damage local groundwater aquifers that communities like Marina rely on.
Others question the wisdom of building expensive infrastructure that would likely need to be relocated as the sea continues to rise.
As for environmental justice, Cal Am officials say they have significantly reduced the project’s visible footprint on Marina’s coast, and that the actual processing plant is farther inland just outside the city. They also point to their discounted rates to low-income customers and a new, much needed water source for Castroville.
Many don’t buy this argument, which they say falsely pits one underserved community against another. That’s what happens when a big water company controls so many pieces of the chessboard, said Melodie Chrislock, who spearheaded a public effort to buy out Cal Am after water bills kept going up. Despite using way less water than in years past, her bill last month was $873.
“We figured out years ago that the only solution to our water situation — our water supply shortage, the cost of water, everything — is to get rid of Cal Am,” said Chrislock, a longtime resident of Carmel and managing director of the advocacy group Public Water Now. “They’re not responsible to the community.”
State Assemblyman Mark Stone (D-Scotts Valley), who represents all the communities and opposes the project, noted that Cal Am “has every incentive to invest and push on ratepayers the most expensive, infrastructure-heavy solution possible.”
“Once they get a community to agree to that investment, it becomes self-fulfilling: ‘Well you’ve already paid for this, we need to expand it, we need to do maintenance,’” he said, “and the ratepayers are now stuck in this cycle of the most expensive solution.”
Back in Marina, Monica Tran Kim has spent many late hours, in between four jobs, to help the city’s large refugee community understand what’s at stake.
Kim, whose parents fled Vietnam and forged a new life fishing off Marina’s open shore, said many have been reluctant to speak up against the government and a company as politically powerful as Cal Am.
“Without Marina’s beaches, my family wouldn’t have anything. These beaches fed them, kept them alive,” said Kim, who urged decision-makers to see that true justice isn’t helping some communities at the expense of others.
“If we want people to live here and survive, we need to protect the resources that allow all of us to thrive.”


latimes--2020-09-15--'Been shot in the head': Deputies' struggle to survive after Compton attack

A thick layer of blood covered her tan shirt , part of her Los Angeles County sheriff ’ s uniform .
She was bleeding from her face .
Minutes before , she and her partner working transit security were sitting in their patrol car at the Compton Metro station when a gunman approached and opened fire .
A bullet went through the 31-year-old deputy ’ s mouth , and she was hit in the arms .
Her male partner , 24 , was more badly wounded , shot in the head as well as the arm and shoulder , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attack and interviews .
But the deputy , the mother of a 6-year-old boy , managed to get out of the cruiser and help her partner hide behind a concrete pillar for safety , not knowing if the gunman was still in the area .
She then applied a tourniquet to her partner ’ s arm , which was bleeding profusely .
The video shows her partner collapsing to the ground , but she remained standing , looking out for the man who shot them .
“ These are some tough deputies , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Moments after the shooting Saturday at sundown , the female deputy called for help , her mouth so wounded her words came out garbled .
“ 998 Compton Pax , ” she said , using the code for a deputy-involved shooting .
“ Compton Pax , deputies down.
” A second voice , the male deputy , is heard on the radio call : “ Been shot in the head.
” Both deputies underwent surgery Saturday night and Sunday morning .
They are expected to recover but will probably require additional surgeries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Their names have not been released .
Fourteen months before , in July 2019 , the two deputies walked across a stage at East Los Angeles College and were presented with certificates as part of academy class 437 .
The class of 67 recruits reflected L.A. County ’ s rich tapestry of cultures .
Four were born outside the U.S. : in India , South Korea , China and Mexico .
A video of the graduation shows the female deputy smiling as she walks across the stage to her family ’ s cheers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the deputies ’ tactics in response to the shooting .
Sheriff ’ s Lt. Brandon Dean , who is leading the shooting investigation , said it made sense for them to get out of the vehicle , where they were vulnerable , and move to a more secure location .
“ They moved to a position of advantage , ” he said .
With a concrete wall behind them and pillars protecting them , they hunkered down .
As the partners huddled behind the concrete barrier , more officers arrived .
Deciding not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the wounded deputies to St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood .
The female deputy ’ s husband rushed to the hospital , as did the male deputy ’ s girlfriend and parents .
The Sheriff ’ s Department initially said both were fighting for their lives , and rumors swept the department that one had died .
But after the surgeries , it became clear they would recover .
Meanwhile , the search continues for the gunman .
Officials have not identified a suspect or suggested a motive .
On Monday , Villanueva @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to double a $ 175,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the assailant .
The reward grew by $ 25,000 as L.A. 's Metropolitan Transportation Authority contributed to the fund for the arrest of the shooter .
At the same time , there was growing scrutiny over sheriffs ’ decision to arrest a reporter for KPCC and LAist who was covering protests outside the hospital .
Video showed the reporter , Josie Huang , pinned by several deputies .
Huang received a citation for allegedly obstructing a peace officer .
L.A. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he has opened an investigation into the arrest , as well as an incident Friday in which deputies forced people to leave a parking lot after a press conference by critics of the department .
“ Those two incidents are of concern to us because 1st Amendment rights are absolutely critical to the public ’ s respect of law enforcement , ” he said .
“ And so we feel that requires immediate investigation.
” Times staff writers Alene Tchekmedyian and Laura Nelson contributed to this report

Sheriff Deputies surround a home on Carlin Avenue in Lynwood. A manhunt continued today for the gunman who shot two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.
A thick layer of blood covered her tan shirt, part of her Los Angeles County sheriff’s uniform. She was bleeding from her face.
Minutes before, she and her partner working transit security were sitting in their patrol car at the Compton Metro station when a gunman approached and opened fire. A bullet went through the 31-year-old deputy’s mouth, and she was hit in the arms. Her male partner, 24, was more badly wounded, shot in the head as well as the arm and shoulder, according to a surveillance camera video of the attack and interviews.
But the deputy, the mother of a 6-year-old boy, managed to get out of the cruiser and help her partner hide behind a concrete pillar for safety, not knowing if the gunman was still in the area.
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She then applied a tourniquet to her partner’s arm, which was bleeding profusely.
The video shows her partner collapsing to the ground, but she remained standing, looking out for the man who shot them.
“These are some tough deputies,” said L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villaneuva.
Moments after the shooting Saturday at sundown, the female deputy called for help, her mouth so wounded her words came out garbled.
“998 Compton Pax,” she said, using the code for a deputy-involved shooting. “Compton Pax, deputies down.”
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A second voice, the male deputy, is heard on the radio call: “Been shot in the head.”
Both deputies underwent surgery Saturday night and Sunday morning. They are expected to recover but will probably require additional surgeries, sheriff’s officials said. Their names have not been released.
Fourteen months before, in July 2019, the two deputies walked across a stage at East Los Angeles College and were presented with certificates as part of academy class 437.
The class of 67 recruits reflected L.A. County’s rich tapestry of cultures. Four were born outside the U.S.: in India, South Korea, China and Mexico. A video of the graduation shows the female deputy smiling as she walks across the stage to her family’s cheers.
Within the department, colleagues praised the deputies’ tactics in response to the shooting.
Sheriff’s Lt. Brandon Dean, who is leading the shooting investigation, said it made sense for them to get out of the vehicle, where they were vulnerable, and move to a more secure location.
“They moved to a position of advantage,” he said. With a concrete wall behind them and pillars protecting them, they hunkered down.
As the partners huddled behind the concrete barrier, more officers arrived. Deciding not to wait for paramedics, they took the wounded deputies to St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. The female deputy’s husband rushed to the hospital, as did the male deputy’s girlfriend and parents.
The Sheriff’s Department initially said both were fighting for their lives, and rumors swept the department that one had died. But after the surgeries, it became clear they would recover.
Meanwhile, the search continues for the gunman. Officials have not identified a suspect or suggested a motive.
On Monday, Villanueva challenged Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James to double a $175,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the assailant. The reward grew by $25,000 as L.A.’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority contributed to the fund for the arrest of the shooter.
At the same time, there was growing scrutiny over sheriffs’ decision to arrest a reporter for KPCC and LAist who was covering protests outside the hospital. Video showed the reporter, Josie Huang, pinned by several deputies. Huang received a citation for allegedly obstructing a peace officer.
L.A. County Inspector Gen. Max Huntsman said Sunday he has opened an investigation into the arrest, as well as an incident Friday in which deputies forced people to leave a parking lot after a press conference by critics of the department.
“Those two incidents are of concern to us because 1st Amendment rights are absolutely critical to the public’s respect of law enforcement,” he said. “And so we feel that requires immediate investigation.”
Times staff writers Alene Tchekmedyian and Laura Nelson contributed to this report


latimes--2020-09-15--L.A. community colleges will remain online-only through spring

The Los Angeles Community College District , the largest in the nation , will remain online-only for the rest of the academic year amid the region ’ s ongoing coronavirus public health crisis , the system ’ s chancellor has announced .
There will be a few exceptions for classes that support the “ essential infrastructure workforce , ” such as those training respiratory therapists , certified nurse assistants and electricians , among others .
“ We remain in a declared public health emergency at the national , state and local level , and , given the current health orders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ best health experts agree that we are still far from full recovery without a vaccine or responsive therapeutics , ” Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez said in a letter to faculty and staff Friday night .
Rodriguez ’ s announcement follows a similar one by the California State University system , as colleges across California and the nation grapple with COVID-19 outbreaks on campuses and in nearby communities .
The decision will affect mainly low-income students and students of color , who make up the majority of community college students in the district and who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ academic instruction , but also for food , healthcare , childcare , libraries and other support services .
Roughly one-quarter of these students lacked regular access to a computer and internet in the spring , according to a survey administered by the district , and an even larger share said they didn ’ t have a quiet study space .
With the absence of support services and technology compounded by economic troubles and fear and uncertainty about COVID-19 , more than 30,000 students across the district withdrew from spring classes .
The community @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provide students and faculty with laptops and to train faculty in distance education — as well as to encourage students to enroll or continue their course of education .
On average , enrollment across the district this fall is down by about 10 % compared to last year — roughly 270,000 students compared to 300,000 last year .
At the low end , enrollment at Los Angeles Southwest College stands at 75 % of where it was last fall , and at the high end , enrollment at Los Angeles City College is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Elsewhere in Southern California , the Glendale and San Bernardino community college districts have also announced plans to remain remote through the spring term of 2021 .
Riverside said it is planning to offer online instruction “ for the most part.
” The San Diego Community College District has not made a final decision , but Chancellor Constance Carroll has said the district is “ moving toward ” scheduling and offering most spring classes online , with a slight increase in the number of hybrid classes , especially in science laboratory , clinical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Pasadena City College and community college districts in Orange and Ventura counties do not yet appear to have made final decisions about academic terms in 2021 .
California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley supports the decision of community colleges that plan to remain online-only and has urged others to make similar announcements , a spokesman said .

L.A. City College, along with eight others in the Los Angeles Community College District, will remain closed at least until summer 2021.
The Los Angeles Community College District, the largest in the nation, will remain online-only for the rest of the academic year amid the region’s ongoing coronavirus public health crisis, the system’s chancellor has announced.
There will be a few exceptions for classes that support the “essential infrastructure workforce,” such as those training respiratory therapists, certified nurse assistants and electricians, among others.
“We remain in a declared public health emergency at the national, state and local level, and, given the current health orders, safety protocols and restrictions, our best health experts agree that we are still far from full recovery without a vaccine or responsive therapeutics,” Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez said in a letter to faculty and staff Friday night.
Rodriguez’s announcement follows a similar one by the California State University system, as colleges across California and the nation grapple with COVID-19 outbreaks on campuses and in nearby communities.
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The decision will affect mainly low-income students and students of color, who make up the majority of community college students in the district and who rely on their campuses not only for academic instruction, but also for food, healthcare, childcare, libraries and other support services.
Roughly one-quarter of these students lacked regular access to a computer and internet in the spring, according to a survey administered by the district, and an even larger share said they didn’t have a quiet study space.
With the absence of support services and technology compounded by economic troubles and fear and uncertainty about COVID-19, more than 30,000 students across the district withdrew from spring classes.
The community college district has stepped up efforts to provide students and faculty with laptops and to train faculty in distance education — as well as to encourage students to enroll or continue their course of education.
On average, enrollment across the district this fall is down by about 10% compared to last year — roughly 270,000 students compared to 300,000 last year. At the low end, enrollment at Los Angeles Southwest College stands at 75% of where it was last fall, and at the high end, enrollment at Los Angeles City College is 98% of fall 2019 enrollment.
Elsewhere in Southern California, the Glendale and San Bernardino community college districts have also announced plans to remain remote through the spring term of 2021. Riverside said it is planning to offer online instruction “for the most part.”
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The San Diego Community College District has not made a final decision, but Chancellor Constance Carroll has said the district is “moving toward” scheduling and offering most spring classes online, with a slight increase in the number of hybrid classes, especially in science laboratory, clinical and career/technical areas.
Santa Monica College, Pasadena City College and community college districts in Orange and Ventura counties do not yet appear to have made final decisions about academic terms in 2021.
California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley supports the decision of community colleges that plan to remain online-only and has urged others to make similar announcements, a spokesman said.


latimes--2020-09-15--How the Bobcat fire grew into a unique menace that's evading firefighters

More than a week after the Bobcat fire ignited in the rugged terrain of the Angeles National Forest , it has emerged as an unusual menace that has evaded fire crews and threatened local communities — despite burning no homes and causing no injuries .
The fire has contributed to days of terrible air quality in Los Angeles , with “ mesquite-like ” smells and a “ powdery layer of haze ” amid smoke advisories from the South Coast Air Quality Management District .
It also has managed to outwit firefighters , even in the absence of powerful Santa Ana @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last week .
Instead , officials say , the Bobcat fire ’ s power lies in two factors : its location and an inadequate supply of firefighters .
But climate experts warn there are larger factors at play .
“ This fire was man-made on many levels , ” said Bill Patzert , a climatologist who spent several decades at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge .
Record heat , population growth , fossil fuels and other factors related to climate change have contributed not only to the state ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but also to the particular challenges of the Bobcat fire .
“ It took decades to build this disaster , ” Patzert said .
“ This didn ’ t come out of nowhere.
” By Monday night , the fire had burned more than 38,000 acres , according to the and the containment level dropped from 6 % to 3 % .
“ It has been evasive , ” Angeles National Forest spokesman Andrew Mitchell said Monday .
“ Where we ’ re trying to catch it , it ’ s still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the blaze have been pushed back by two weeks , to Oct. 30 , much to the disappointment of residents in the nearby foothill communities .
Parts of Pasadena , Altadena , Monrovia , Bradbury and Duarte have been contending with for more than a week , while some neighborhoods in Arcadia and Sierra Madre were ordered to evacuate Sunday when winds shifted .
“ It ’ s completely terrain-driven at this point , ” Mitchell said .
“ The area where the fire is situated hasn ’ t burned in 60 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of dried vegetation can act as fuel for a hungry fire .
“ Here ’ s the ecological bottom line , ” fire ecologist Richard Minnich said .
“ The more burns in a given area , the smaller and more manageable fires will be in the future.
” The blaze has also changed direction several times .
Last week , it appeared to be into the northeastern portion of the forest .
On Monday , it was creeping south and west again , toward Mt .
Wilson and the Chantry Flat area @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of deep concern is the 116-year-old Mt .
Wilson Observatory .
“ While we hope the Observatory makes it through relatively unscathed , the battle could go either way , ” Sam Hale , chairman of the Mount Wilson Institute Board of Trustees , wrote Monday .
“ We cherish the historic telescopes on the mountain that revolutionized humanity ’ s understanding of the Cosmos and hope they will be safe.
” David Cendejas , superintendent of the complex that houses 18 of the observatory ’ s astronomical wonders , watched as flurries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He and several other staffers spent the morning introducing more than three dozen firefighters to the emergency systems and backup electric generators strategically located on the property , which is perched on a 5,710-foot mountain shaded by pines and oak forests .
They included a water tank connected to a high-pressure pump built in 1970 and last used when the observatory was rescued from the snarling flames of the in 2009 after a firefight that lasted five days and four nights .
As billowing columns of smoke turned the sky orange and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ engines were girding for the arrival of the flames , which would trigger a screeching blare from large horns on the observatory ’ s gleaming white dome .
“ We ’ re not going anywhere , ” Capt .
Keith Stires with the Los Angeles County Fire Department said .
“ We are committed here.
” Beyond the worried neighborhoods and beloved observatories , the Bobcat fire is threatening the Cogswell Dam , which along with San Gabriel Reservoirs in the San Gabriel Mountains above Azusa is providing water for firefighters .
On @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Santa Anita Dam , less than a mile above Arcadia .
“ We ’ re approaching winter storm season , and that infrastructure is critical to protect downstream communities from potential flooding , ” said Kerjon Lee , a spokesman for the agency .
The Bobcat fire is one of more than two dozen blazes burning in California , and resources are stretched thin .
Although nearly 900 personnel have been assigned to the fire in the San Gabriel Mountains , officials say it isn ’ t enough .
“ The amount @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for this size of fire , ” Mitchell said .
“ And we ’ re spread thin throughout the state.
” Patzert said that although fire has always been part of the natural ecology of California , mass migration to the West Coast led to the development of areas that might otherwise have been less populous .
( The state ’ s population has nearly quadrupled since 1950 , according to the “ We ’ ve moved into areas where classically , we never built , because they were burn zones , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this great megalopolis of 20 million people [ in Southern California ] , you create your own heat.
” Last month proved to be the state ’ s and temperatures have spiked even higher in September .
“ We were set up for fire up and down the entire state , ” Patzert said .
“ Northern California had a dry winter , and these heat waves in August really set us up .
It just dried everything out.
” Conditions were so ripe for ignition that six of the largest fires on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And although the Bobcat fire has not yet claimed a structure or a life , many Angelenos , faced with another day of hazardous air , are beginning to despair .
“ It ’ s a boxed-in feeling , ” said Carole J. McCoy , an artist who lives in North Hollywood .
“ Not being able to go outside , because I have asthma and allergies , takes away the one thing that was a sense of freedom and peace.
” McCoy was one of many L.A. residents who relied on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ orders issued amid the COVID-19 pandemic .
But coronavirus , too , has proved no match for the fire : Smoke was so strong in parts of eastern L.A. that three coronavirus testing sites — the Pomona Fairplex , the San Gabriel Valley airport and Panorama City — will be closed Tuesday because of unhealthy air .
“ You could make a list of factors here that all came together , ” Patzert said of the myriad explanations for the Bobcat fire .
“ Some call it a perfect storm , but I @ @ @ @ @ @ @

The Bobcat fire continues to blaze in the mountains above Monrovia. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A worker installs a street camera along North Azusa Avenue as smoke covers the sky from the Bobcat fire. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Claudia Alcaino walks her dogs along Highland Oaks Drive as crews continue to battle the Bobcat fire in the nearby Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A line of California fire engines head to the flaming Santa Anita Canyon as the Bobcat fire burns near Arcadia. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A firefighting helicopter refills in a reservoir on Grand View Ave. as crews continue to battle the Bobcat fire. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Mormon Lake, Ariz. Hotshot Squad team member Jessy Twin looks over charred hillsides after clearing brush. Twin said his crew is on their sixth day of cutting line. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles County firefighters, using only hand tools, keep flames from jumping a fire break in the Angeles National Forest north of Monrovia. (David McNew / Getty Images)
A Coulson 737 firefighting tanker jet drops fire retardant to slow Bobcat fire at the top of a major run up a mountainside in the Angeles National Forest. (David McNew / Getty Images)
Firefighters keep watch from an overlook on Mt. Wilson as the Bobcat fire burns in the Angeles National Forest near Pasadena. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)
Firefighters look on from Sawpit Canyon as a controlled fire burns on a hillside overlooking the San Gabriel Valley. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Curious deer look on as firefighters watch the progress of the Bobcat fire as it continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Flames from a control burn are used to reduce fuel near homes in Monrovia as the Bobcat fire continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Road Runners hand crew from the Angeles National Forest walk single file as they head for breakfast at the Bobcat fire command post at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Park in Irwindale. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
After spending night at camp Pasadena, firefighters Christina Terrazas, left, and Jason Van Vlymen have their breakfast standing next to their fire truck. Hundreds of firefighters from different agencies fighting Bobcat Fire in San Gabriel mountains above Arcadia, Monrovia and Duarte camp overnight in Santa Fe Dam Recreation Park in Irwindale. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles County firefighters standing on outlook as they monitor the Bobcat fire burning in a canyon near the Mt. Wilson Observatory in Angeles National Forest. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
Flames crest a hill a few miles from Juniper Hills Rd. as the Bobcat fire advances north into the Antelope Valley. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A fire engine drives into air thick with smoke along Juniper Hills Rd. as the Bobcat fire advances north into the Antelope Valley. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
LaVerne engine 761 arrives to offer defense as the Bobcat fire burns near homes in Monrovia. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The LA County Fire Camp 9 hand crew rests on Big Pines Highway after working the north flank of the Bobcat fire near Mile High. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Castle Snider, 8, looks on as flames from a control burn are used to reduce fuel near homes in Monrovia as the Bobcat fire continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Bear Divide Hotshots cover a U.S. Forestry Department information center Sept. 19 in Wrightwood to protect it from the Bobcat fire. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
A smokey sunset as the Bobcat Fire continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Mike Gregoryan is frustrated as he is asked to leave his home on Cruthers Creek as Bobcat fire closes in on structures. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
A house on Cima Mesa Road in Juniper Hills burns Sept. 18 as the Bobcat fire continues to rage. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
A statue sits on top of a house that burned to the ground in Juniper Hills. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
The view from Big Pines Highway as the Bobcat fire continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Horses are spooked by the approaching Bobcat fire on 106th Street in Juniper Hills on Sept. 18. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
The Bobcat fire continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest as seen from the Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles on Sept. 21. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Smoke and ash filter the sunset looking west from Angeles Crest Highway as the Bobcat fire continues to burn. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Blue Ridge Hot Shots crew members from Arizona join forces with firefighters from Northern and Southern California on a backfire operation north of Mt. Wilson on Angeles Crest Highway. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
More than a week after the Bobcat fire ignited in the rugged terrain of the Angeles National Forest, it has emerged as an unusual menace that has evaded fire crews and threatened local communities — despite burning no homes and causing no injuries.
The fire has contributed to days of terrible air quality in Los Angeles, with residents reporting “mesquite-like” smells and a “powdery layer of haze” amid smoke advisories from the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
It also has managed to outwit firefighters, even in the absence of powerful Santa Ana winds that failed to materialize as predicted last week. Instead, officials say, the Bobcat fire’s power lies in two factors: its location and an inadequate supply of firefighters.
But climate experts warn there are larger factors at play.
“This fire was man-made on many levels,” said Bill Patzert, a climatologist who spent several decades at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge.
California Extraordinary heat, rare summer snow brought unprecedented West Coast firestorms To understand why so many fires are burning out of control in the West, you have to go back to Labor Day — and the freak snowstorm that hit Colorado.
Record heat, population growth, fossil fuels and other factors related to climate change have contributed not only to the state’s unprecedented fire season, Patzert said, but also to the particular challenges of the Bobcat fire.
“It took decades to build this disaster,” Patzert said. “This didn’t come out of nowhere.”
By Monday night, the fire had burned more than 38,000 acres, according to the U.S. Forest Service, and the containment level dropped from 6% to 3%.
“It has been evasive,” Angeles National Forest spokesman Andrew Mitchell said Monday. “Where we’re trying to catch it, it’s still jumping out a bit.”
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Containment estimates for the blaze have been pushed back by two weeks, to Oct. 30, much to the disappointment of residents in the nearby foothill communities. Parts of Pasadena, Altadena, Monrovia, Bradbury and Duarte have been contending with evacuation notices for more than a week, while some neighborhoods in Arcadia and Sierra Madre were ordered to evacuate Sunday when winds shifted.
Mormon Lake Hotshot Squad leader Jessy Twin, looks over charred hillsides after clearing brush near Chantry Flat Rd. near Santa Anita Dam as crews continue to battle the Bobcat fire. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
“It’s completely terrain-driven at this point,” Mitchell said. “The area where the fire is situated hasn’t burned in 60, 70 years.”
That decades-long buildup of dried vegetation can act as fuel for a hungry fire.
“Here’s the ecological bottom line,” fire ecologist Richard Minnich said. “The more burns in a given area, the smaller and more manageable fires will be in the future.”
The blaze has also changed direction several times. Last week, it appeared to be moving deeper into the northeastern portion of the forest. On Monday, it was creeping south and west again, toward Mt. Wilson and the Chantry Flat area in Santa Anita Canyon.
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One area of deep concern is the 116-year-old Mt. Wilson Observatory.
“While we hope the Observatory makes it through relatively unscathed, the battle could go either way,” Sam Hale, chairman of the Mount Wilson Institute Board of Trustees, wrote Monday. “We cherish the historic telescopes on the mountain that revolutionized humanity’s understanding of the Cosmos and hope they will be safe.”
David Cendejas, superintendent of the complex that houses 18 of the observatory’s astronomical wonders, watched as flurries of ash fell like snow Monday afternoon. He and several other staffers spent the morning introducing more than three dozen firefighters to the emergency systems and backup electric generators strategically located on the property, which is perched on a 5,710-foot mountain shaded by pines and oak forests.
They included a water tank connected to a high-pressure pump built in 1970 and last used when the observatory was rescued from the snarling flames of the Station fire in 2009 after a firefight that lasted five days and four nights.
A fire fighting helicopter refills in a reservoir on Grand View Ave. as crews continue to battle the Bobcat fire smoldering in the nearby Angeles National Forest. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
As billowing columns of smoke turned the sky orange and gray Monday afternoon, firefighters in 12 engines were girding for the arrival of the flames, which would trigger a screeching blare from large horns on the observatory’s gleaming white dome.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Capt. Keith Stires with the Los Angeles County Fire Department said. “We are committed here.”
Beyond the worried neighborhoods and beloved observatories, the Bobcat fire is threatening the Cogswell Dam, which along with San Gabriel Reservoirs in the San Gabriel Mountains above Azusa is providing water for firefighters. On Monday afternoon, flames also were approaching the Santa Anita Dam, less than a mile above Arcadia.
“We’re approaching winter storm season, and that infrastructure is critical to protect downstream communities from potential flooding,” said Kerjon Lee, a spokesman for the agency.
The Bobcat fire is one of more than two dozen blazes burning in California, and resources are stretched thin. Although nearly 900 personnel have been assigned to the fire in the San Gabriel Mountains, officials say it isn’t enough.
“The amount of personnel we have is very low for this size of fire,” Mitchell said. “And we’re spread thin throughout the state.”
Patzert said that although fire has always been part of the natural ecology of California, mass migration to the West Coast led to the development of areas that might otherwise have been less populous. (The state’s population has nearly quadrupled since 1950, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.)
“We’ve moved into areas where classically, we never built, because they were burn zones,” Patzert said. “When you create this great megalopolis of 20 million people [in Southern California], you create your own heat.”
Last month proved to be the state’s hottest August on record, and temperatures have spiked even higher in September.
“We were set up for fire up and down the entire state,” Patzert said. “Northern California had a dry winter, and these heat waves in August really set us up. It just dried everything out.”
Conditions were so ripe for ignition that six of the largest fires on record in California are burning right now.
And although the Bobcat fire has not yet claimed a structure or a life, many Angelenos, faced with another day of hazardous air, are beginning to despair.
“It’s a boxed-in feeling,” said Carole J. McCoy, an artist who lives in North Hollywood. “Not being able to go outside, because I have asthma and allergies, takes away the one thing that was a sense of freedom and peace.”
McCoy was one of many L.A. residents who relied on time outdoors as a respite from stay-at-home orders issued amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But coronavirus, too, has proved no match for the fire: Smoke was so strong in parts of eastern L.A. that three coronavirus testing sites — the Pomona Fairplex, the San Gabriel Valley airport and Panorama City — will be closed Tuesday because of unhealthy air.
“You could make a list of factors here that all came together,” Patzert said of the myriad explanations for the Bobcat fire. “Some call it a perfect storm, but I call it a perfect disaster.”