Gallery: Canton Lake – Oklahoma, August 29, 2009
(click on image for larger version)
The sun was setting in a sky laden with smoke particles from fire in the Los Angeles area. Canton Lake was the first stop on our 2nd trip of 2009.
The Station Fire (August 26 – October 16, 160,577 acres (251 sq mi; 64,983 ha), 209 structures destroyed, including 89 homes) started in the Angeles National Forest near the U.S. Forest Service ranger station on the Angeles Crest Highway (State Highway 2). Two firefighters were killed on August 30 while attempting to escape the flames when their fire truck plunged off a cliff. The blaze threatened 12,000 structures in the National Forest and the nearby communities of La Cañada Flintridge, Glendale, Acton, La Crescenta, Littlerock and Altadena, as well as the Sunland and Tujunga neighborhoods of the City of Los Angeles. Many of these areas faced mandatory evacuations as the flames drew near, but as of September 6, all evacuation orders were lifted. The Station Fire burned on the slopes of Mount Wilson, threatening numerous television, radio and cellular telephone antennas on the summit, as well as the Mount Wilson Observatory, which includes several historically significant telescopes and multi-million-dollar astronomical facilities operated by UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley and Georgia State University. A 40-mile (64-kilometer) stretch of the Angeles Crest Highway was closed indefinitely due to guardrail and sign damage, although the pavement remained largely intact.
See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.
