Station Wildfire Explodes on Eastern Boundry

The fire was active again today in the Bare Mountain area. Firefighters were supplemented with plenty of air support. The two largest air tankers in the world, the DC-10 and the 747 made drops today in addition additional air tankers and helicopters. Dozer lines have been completed from Chilao north to Bare Mountain and crews are trying to take advantage of every opportunity to thin vegetation around Newcombes Ranch and Chilao.

The fire gained ground in the San Gabriel Wilderness and made a run up Chileno Canyon above Cogswell Reservoir. Large plumes were visible around 3PM. Fire behavior analyst expect that there will likely be more of the same in that area and cautioned crews to be vigilant. Crews will continue line construction, holding fire spread, and conducting burn operations if possible and as needed. The public may continue to observe smoke and occasional flame pockets during operation.

In the Mt Wilson area conditions allowed crews to go directly on the fire. Hand crews hiked in and were supported with water drops from helicopters. Progress was made in building fire line along the Rincon trail system to help prevent the fire from turning south into more populated areas.

It has been determined that the cause of the Station Fire is arson and is now a homicide investigation If you have any information or questions please contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at 323-573-2387.

The Station Fire, named because of its proximity to a nearby USFS Ranger Station has burned over 230 square miles of land within the Angeles National Forest and near surrounding foothill communities of La Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Acton, Soledad Canyon, Pasadena, Glendale and Sierra Madre. The goal of the Incident Management Team is to keep the fire west of Highway 39 and Angeles Crest Highway, east of Interstate 5, south of Highway 14, Pearblossom Highway, and Highway 138, and north of the foothill communities and the Angeles National Forest Boundary. The fire is moving into areas of the forest with no recorded fire history. If you have Google Maps, you can access the fire perimeter at CA-ANF-E5VL Station 9-3-2009 0327.kml

Tonight weather will be mostly clear with temperature between 64 - 74 degrees. Tomorrow will be in the low to mid nineties and 80 to 88 degrees in the upper elevations. The weekend should bring an increasing onshore flow and a cooling trend.