Eaton Fire: A rebuilding journey

A modified Martin Mars seaplane tanker aircraft drops water trying to contain a fire threat to the observatory on Mount Wilson (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) HIgh temperatures and low humidity today began to subside, aiding firefighters in controlling the Station Fire, now 127,513 acres, nearly 200 square miles, in size. The blaze is now 22 percent contained, according to Forest Service officials. However, a change in weather could again downgrade containment and begin to threaten...

Despite an on-air interview with KNX1070 earlier today stating the Station Fire was human-caused, officials with the Angeles National Forest said that was premature. "Confusion has arisen around the cause of the huge wildfire burning North of Downtown Los Angeles," the radio station wrote in an update. "The US Forest Service has retracted earlier statements made on KNX that the fire was 'human-caused'. Speaking on KNX, a spokesperson for the Service now says it's...

Officials with the U.S. Forest Service are "convinced" the Station Fire was human-caused, but are not precisely sure how, reports KNX1070 on air. Basically, they know it was not caused by lightning--it could have been arson, a spark from equipment, a cigarette butt or any other possibility on a long list that investigators will narrow down. The fire began around mile marker 29 on the Angeles Crest Highway, where a car turnout is located....

Photo of the Haines Canyon neighborhood by write-pudding via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr This afternoon the monstrous Station Fire continued its slowed-burn of the Angeles National Forest and San Gabriel Mountains, moving east towards communities to the north of Pasadena, as predicted earlier today. "The eastern flank is burning in the San Gabriel Wilderness Area near Devil's Canyon, said Nathan Judy of the U.S. Forest Service," and "in Altadena, the fire...

Photo by musique nonstop via LAist Feautured Photos on Flickr As firefighters get an upper hand on the Station Fire in portions of Acton, officials with the L.A. Department of Water & Power feel relieved enough to announce a decreased threat to two of their 500 KV lines. If those lines were to be cut off from the city's power grid, there was the potential of blackouts due to the mixture of hot weather...

The two fires burning in San Bernardino County grew slightly over night, but are keeping firefighters on edge. "The Oak Glen fire has now consumed 1,012 acres and is currently 40 percent contained and the Yucaipa fire [named the Pendleton Fire] measures 640 acres and is 45 percent contained," reported the Press-Enterprise around 9:15 a.m. Thousands of homes, mostly in Oak Glen, are threatened and one has been damaged. Officials are hoping to let...

Imagine this if you will. A fire in a forest finds itself near a rodent, whose fur lights on fire. Still alive, the little guy flees to another part of the unburned forest only to light dry brush, thus spreading the fire. That's what firefighters are dealing with in the Oak Glen III Fire out in San Bernardino County, according to a brief in the Press-Enterprise. Rodents are trying to flee the fire and...

Although authorities were hoping to keep the Oak Glen III Fire in the San Bernardino Mountains to at least 600 acres before knocking it down, last night it flared up aggressively, burning 900 acres, according to the Fire Information Line at the San Bernardino National Forest. It remains at zero percent containment. The blaze, east of Yucaipa, began yesterday around 1:45 p.m. south of Oak Glen, prompting a mandatory evacuation of some 2,000 homes...

Firefighters at the Station Fire | AP Photo/Philip Scott Andrews Officials with the Los Angeles County Fire Department released the names of the two firefighters who lost their lives in the Station Fire earlier today. Captain Tedmund “Ted” Hall, 47, and 35-year-old Firefighter Specialist Arnaldo ”Arnie” Quinones went over the edge of a mountainside road south of Acton as they were overrun by the fire while driving a vehicle. Hall, a 26-year veteran of...

As the Station Fire consumes most resources and attention, here's a look at the three other major fires burning in the greater Los Angeles region. Morris Fire It began early Monday evening last week in the Angeles National Forest north of Asuza and Glendora, but has stayed out of harms way for the most part, save for a mandatory evacuation at Camp Williams. As of tonight, the conflagration is 95 percent contained after burning through 2,260 acres. Full containment is expected tomorrow by 6 p.m.