August 2009 Archives
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First Class Fire Fighting
By Steve Proffitt
August 31, 2009
Fire officials are taking the Station Fire very seriously. So seriously that they flew in a 747 Supertanker for what was billed as its first drop over a fire in the continental United States. The plane is based near Sacramento and holds some 20,000 gallons of fire retardant.
Fox News caught the Supertanker during a drop.
SoCal Connected Wins 6 Emmys!
By SoCal Connected
August 31, 2009
SoCal Connected, KCET’s hard-hitting weekly news program, won a total of six Emmys in its premiere season at the 61st Los Angeles Area Emmy® Awards, including awards for Informational/Public Affairs Series (More than 50% Remote) and Information Segment for “Foreclosure Alley,” the first segment of the first show of the first season. SoCal Connected won in six of the seven categories in which it was nominated, also including wins for Feature Segment for “Guerrilla Gardeners” and Education for the SoCal Connected Special Edition “Inside Locke High.” The second season of SoCal Connected premieres on Thursday, October 8, at 8:00 p.m.
SoCal Wildfires: Twitter Feed
By SoCal Connected Staff
August 31, 2009
5PM Update
By Steve Proffitt
August 31, 2009
The Station Fire is now truly massive. Latest reports estimate the flames have burned through more than 105,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest. The fire zone has more than doubled in size since yesterday.
The winds are picking up, causing worries that the fire will spread toward residential communities to the south and west of the Forest.
Firefighters have set some goals. They're trying to keep the fire west of Highway 39 and the Angeles Crest Highway, and north of the foothill communities from Sunland to Altadena.
New evacuation orders have been issued for residents in Juniper Hills, La Cresenta and Tujunga. Some residents in Altadena are now being allowed to return to their homes.
Air quality remains a concern, with air rated Unhealthy to Hazardous thoughout the West San Gabriel Valley. Meanwhile, the hot weather is expected to continue tomorrow, with a slow cooling trend as the week wears on.
Season One Highlights
By Brian Frank
August 31, 2009
What If?
By Steve Proffitt
August 31, 2009
The Station Fire is threatening broadcast towers on Mt. Wilson. Most of LA's TV stations, including KCET transmit their broadcasts from the site. What happens if the fire damages or destroys the broadcast facilities on the mountain?
If you have cable or satellite you will continue to receive KCET and other local stations without interruption.
If you depend on over-the-air transmission, and the fire knocks out our transmitter, you may not be able to receive our signal. We're already working on a variety of plans to respond to that contingency. We may set up a temporary transmission facility, and offer streamed programming online, here at KCET.org.
These efforts may take some time, and require spending a good deal of money. KCET has always been committed to universal access. We hope the fire spares our transmission facilities. But if it doesn't, we'll do whatever it takes to make sure we are still there. For you.
From Too Much To Too Little?
By Steve Proffitt
August 31, 2009
In the past, some have criticized LA's commercial TV stations for their wall-to-wall coverage of major fires in the region. Now, some critics are wondering why the major TV stations failed to offer much in the way of live coverage of the most recent conflagrations.
At social gatherings, church parking lots and online, people were complaining about the dearth of information on TV about the fires. Used to full-on live TV coverage, many turned to online sources, some really for the first time. Once again, Twitter has shown its value as an information tool. And for some near the front lines, online journals such as The Altadena Blog were good places to find info - much of it located in the comments section where residents share tips and the latest intelligence.
As the Web sucks away TV viewers, the fire itself threatens the transmitting towers the TV stations have built atop Mt. Wilson. Folks with cable and satellite won't lose their signals if the fire takes down the transmitters. But the LA area still has millions of viewers who get their signal over-the-air. They could be out of luck for a nice, long time. TV engineers say it could take a year or longer to rebuild the towers and other broadcast infrastructure on the mountain after a blaze.
There is irony here. Wildfires are the very kind of event that used to drive live TV news coverage. Now they threaten to further erode a business that, it seems, some commercial television stations just don't really want to be in anymore.
Grunion Running Time Running Out
By Val Zavala
August 18, 2009
Grunion run between March and September. So there’s still some time to get your grunion hunting in.
Last year I went to the very fun and funky Santa Monica beach art event called “Glow”. It was an all-night happening. Tons of fun capped off by a really lucky event - the appearance of tons of tiny silver sparkling fish doing their spawning thing in the sand. Seems that grunion wanted in on the performance art and they were a hit.
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