The Station Fire: Like an H-Bomb Hit North of Los Angeles

Metblogs L.A. author Lulu did her homework and came up with this stunning stat: The amount of energy released by the devastating Station Fire is equal to 3 megatons of TNT -- or an average-size H-bomb.

Yikes.

She writes:

Somehow the equivalence, however, makes me think of a point made by Thom Andersen, in Los Angeles Plays Itself, which I had the pleasure of seeing a few weeks ago at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, with live questions and answers with the writer/director. Andersen observes, among many things in his essay-as-film, how often Los Angeles plays the scene of post-apocalyptic disaster, and how well suited to this role are the desolate downtown neighborhoods such as Bunker Hill. Part of this type casting is, no doubt, a certain Weltanschauung of audiences and producers about Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, some good news from the fire: Newcomb's Ranch says that it survived the fires and will reopen once the Angeles Crest Highway reopens.

Also, the Mt. Waterman Ski Resort, near Newcomb's Ranch on the Angeles Crest, reports that it, too, has survived, and hopes to open this winter once the snows hit:

Caltrans has already awarded contracts to fix the road (guardrails, signs, etc.) and lets hope the road opens this winter so we can all enjoy the skiing this winter. Is this really going to be an El Nino year?

Also to note: The Angeles Crest Hwy is now closed from La Canada to Islip Saddle. No date has been set to reopen the road. Much work will need to be done before most of us will be able to enjoy Mt Waterman again.