Firefighters in southern California have been able to control the flames that reached the to of Mount Wilson on Thursday, the broadcast hub for Los Angeles.
An announcement on the Mount Wilson Observatory’s X feed Thursday evening announced the portion of the Eaton Fire that threatened the summit was “under control.”
We are relieved to report that the flare-up of the Eaton Fire near the Observatory seems to be under control for now. We are grateful to firefighters & mountain staff for their dedication to keeping the mountain safe. We will monitor the situation as things can change quickly.
Dennis Doty, RF engineer for KNBC(TV) in L.A., explained the importance of Mount Wilson during the station’s coverage Thursday. He said that while the frightening fire appeared close, preparations have been underway for days.
The current strategy involved allowing light fuels to burn off before aggressively combating the fire. Doty said L.A. County Fire, Cal Fire and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department are involved with the effort to manage the Mount Wilson fire.
Refuel Concerns
Radio World spoke with Doug Irwin, iHeart’s Los Angeles engineering lead, who monitored the situation all day Thursday as the fire suddenly jumped from Altadena. Irwin said late Thursday afternoon local time that the fire has not impacted any of the stations that transmit from the summit. From observing cameras, he believes the fire made it to the edge of the service road but did not cross it as of that time.
The summit has been without power since Tuesday as part of an area-wide temporary shutoff, Irwin said. His main concern was ensuring generator fuel refills can be conducted, as the service road had been closed. However, he expected it to reopen Thursday evening.
Live Webcam
KTLA(TV)’s live webcam captured the frightening scene Thursday afternoon as the Eaton fire spread toward one of the summit’s towers. Both KTLA on its TV feed and KNX on its radio feeds mentioned that their over-the-air signals could be affected.
#BREAKING: The #EatonFire has reached the broadcast transmission towers atop Mt. Wilson. Watch live: https://t.co/BlfaWcD2TJ pic.twitter.com/ZHAgtAtAr8
— KTLA (@KTLA) January 9, 2025
Mount Wilson is home to nearly every Class B FM signal serving L.A.; 21 FM signals in all broadcast from there. The 5,700-foot peak is also home to the Mount Wilson Observatory and Park. In addition, TV stations KCBS, KNBC, KTLA, KABC, KCAL, KTTV, KCOP, KMEX, KVEA and KDOC use the site.
The summit is no stranger to fires, including the Bobcat fire in 2020.
The Eaton fire that started on Tuesday has claimed five lives and consumed 10,600 acres so far, according to Cal Fire. As of Thursday Evening it remained 0% contained but winds had lightened earlier in the day. Forecasters are worried weather conditions may support another strong Santa Ana wind event Monday night into Tuesday.
On the radio, Audacy’s KNX(AM/FM) and iHeart’s KFI(AM) have been anchoring continuous coverage since the fires started with the Palisades Fire on Monday morning.
