Crash kills two firefighters battling Los Angeles County wildfire. Fire threatens TV transmitters & other communications at Mt. Wilson observatory.
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Web cam showing Mt. Wilson around 8:30 PM PDT. Click here for the camera from the UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Announcement of 2 LODDs from Deputy Chief Mike Bryant
KCBS-TV (Live, when available)
KABC-TV (Live, when available)
Los Angeles County Fire Department
Los Angeles County firefighters identified. From KTLA-TV at 4:02 AM PDT:
The firefighters killed in the Station Fire have been identified by the department as fire Capt. Tedmund “Ted” Hall, 47, of San Bernardino County, and firefighter Specialist Arnaldo “Arnie” Quinones, 35, of Palmdale.Hall was a 26-year veteran, and Quinones had been a county firefighter for eight years.
Excerpts from KTLA-TV article at 8:20 PM PDT, Sunday:
Two firefighters were killed Sunday when their vehicle overturned, confirmed Chief Mike Bryant of Los Angeles County Fire.
At 2:30 p.m., two firefighters were working amid intense fire activity when their vehicle went over the side of a road near Mt. Gleason, just south of Acton, Bryant announced through tears.
Crash scene from KCAL-TV.
Firefighters have been pulled away from Mount Wilson, where critical broadcast towers for many television and radio stations are located, including KTLA.
Fire officials expect the mountain to be overrun with fire by 7:00 p.m. Sunday, indicating a probable outage for local broadcast news outlets.
“We expect it to get there in the next two to four hours,” said county fire Capt. Mark Savage.
Crews were clearing brush around the structures, but fire officials were not sure if they could leave personnel on the mountain to fight the flames because of the danger and limited escape routes.
According to Savage, a strike team of fire engines are attempting to find a safe staging area on Mt. Wilson.
“We are concerned that it will be overrun and we think it will burn, but we are not sure if the communication facilities will be overrun,” Savage said.
The fire is less than two miles away from the broadcast facilities.
