"Station Fire" Moves Away From Pasadena

Scott provides the following account of the fires burning in the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles ... and very near Pasadena! The fire has already burned nearly 242 square miles, making it one of the largest wildfires in southern California history.

---

"I just thought I'd share with you an interesting picture I found today. It's of the Station Fire (the one near me), taken on Sunday by a satellite and posted to a NASA website.

Monday morning was the worst day for smoke here, though Sunday was pretty bad too... you can see it in the picture! I've labeled the San Gabriel Valley and, more specifically, Pasadena/Altadena.

It's kind of funny at this point how it's named the "Station Fire." Last Thursday or Friday, while the fire had only been burning for a day or two, everybody was very concerned that it might burn a ranger's station in the forest. The station probably burned a loooong time ago.

That said, the fire has really moved on from the Altadena area near me. The news keeps saying that it's returning (but I'm not sure what fuel it's burning), though it must be in far eastern Altadena. After one more day, I think everything will be well east of here and well on its way to containment.

The air quality has improved significantly in the past few days and is not noticeably different from the (rather rare) high smog days. I believe that even the quantitative measurements of the air here back that up."