Seal Beach Daily

Update Tuesday, Sept. 1, 4:49p.m. “Firefighters made significant progress today in the Station fire, but a tense battle was underway this afternoon to save the communication centers atop Mt. Wilson from flames.” Read more at L.A. Now.

Update Monday, 2:20 p.m. KPCC-FM radio sent an e-mail to subscribers at 2:22 p.m. saying that the fire was just one-half mile from the station’s radio transmitters on the peak of Mt. Wilson. The station said it has increased its online capacity at kpcc.org to accommodate more listeners streaming the station’s programs via the internet. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that ground-based firefighters have left the mountain top. The fight is now “in the hands of pilots who are dropping flame retardant in the area,” writes Louis Sahagun in the L.A. Now blog.

Update Monday, 9:28 a.m. From the Los Angeles Times L.A. Now blog: “Mt. Wilson was believed doomed last night, but inspector Edward Osorio of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said aggressive brush clearance by crews and drops of fire retardant from the air seem to have helped… “At this point, I don’t think it suffered any serious damage. We’ll probably get some flare-ups or threatening flame activity, but we don’t think it’s going to be a major problem,” he said. Read more at L.A. Now.

Monday morning update: The Los Angles Times reports that the fire doubled in size overnight to 85,000 acres, but had still not overtaken the structures atop Mt. Wilson. Firefighters are working to protect the observatory and radio and television towers, but “area remains highly vulnerable,” the paper reports. Read more here. Get fire updated via Twitter at twitter.com/latimesfires.

From last night: Television and radio communications towers at Mt. Wilson and the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory will likely be overtaken by fire Sunday night, U.S. Forest Service Incident Commander Rick Dietrich said in a press conference.

Abc7.com says its transmitter — and those of all other major television stations in Los Angeles — is threatened by the fire. Viewers who get TV from cable or satellite should experience no interruption, but those who get their television signals “over the air” via antenna could lose signals, the station says. FM radio signals could also be affected. ABC-TV and KPCC-FM radio are suggesting users turn to the stations’ websites for streaming programing if the transmitters go down.

City News Service says “hundreds of public safety radio repeaters that reach from Tijuana to Santa Barbara” could also be taken out by the fire.

Dietrich said crews of firefighters spent Sunday clearing brush around the Mt. Wilson structures and that aircraft had dropped fire retardant in the area.

More sad news from the Sunday evening press conference: Two Los Angeles Firefighters died in a vehicle accident near Acton. The Station Fire grew 7,000 acres on Sunday to 42,500 acres. It has destroyed at least 18 homes, a number expected to increase as full damage reports for Sunday are not available.

Click here for the continuously updated Los Angeles Times Station Fire map.