SSO Fire Problem

[Astropleiades]

Wow, bad news!
This observatory must be saved... we can hope he won't be destroyed.

Astro-frendly,
Astropleiades

[iceman (Mike)]

More updates this morning from Dr Amanda Bauer.

http://amandabauer.blogspot.com.au/2...day-after.html

Incredible vision. I hope the telescopes survived. Glad everyone was evacuated safely.

[Scorpius51 (John)]

Hi folks

My day job is as an electronic engineer with Mt Stromlo Observatory. As many of you know, the SSO is our (the ANU's) principal observing facility, along with the AAO's 3.9m. It is 10 years this week since the fires destroyed most of our MSO facility. We will be having an All School (Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics) meeting at 1100 today to get an update on the situation at SSO.

Here's hoping ...
John

[Suzy]

Paula (Forgey) post this on facebook-
See the link for the updates from Brian Schmidt & Rob McNaught and pics of the damage.

http://alankerlin.blogspot.com.au/20....html?spref=fb

Just a note to let folks know that I and all the other staff atSiding Spring Observatory are safe and well, following the major bushfire that went through it this afternoon. I was unaware of the threatand only became aware when I heard helicopers flying over my houseon the Timor Road some 10km from the observatory. Very quickly after,the smoke plume became obvious and was massive within minutes. Muchof our view is obscured by trees! Tanya and I evacuated with our dogswithin minutes and are currently staying in Coonabarabran.We are aware of damage to the Observatory. Apparently the Visitor'sCenter has been damaged (some reports say lost) and other buildings(specifically the Lodge as Dave said) have also been damaged. I haveno news about telescopes, but note that I can login to computersin the Uppsala office and the 2.3m building. The AAT should beunaffected as it is a very secure and well defended building. It isin fact the evacuation area on the mountain.Two houses on the Timor Road are known to be be lost. I understandthe fire went through our property so we can only hope. A highproportion of the Observatory staff have houses along this road andI met many of them in the evacuation center this afternoon orheard reports that they were safe. Once again, many hold fears thattheir houses are lost. We heard a lot of hair raising stories fromthe last few to drive down the Timor Road as it became engulfed inflames.I'll try to post an update tomorrow.Cheers, Rob

[grantch (Grant)]

Story in SMH this morning, some amazing photos... scary how close!

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/we...114-2co8t.html

[gary]

Faulkes South video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26dyM...&feature=share

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

I seriously can't believe we have had another of the world's best astronomical research facilities damaged by fire for the sake of saving a few hundred of the 400 billion plus trees in the world.

Whilst I am all for conserving the environment and nature, it gets to a point where sometimes common sense has to prevail and I think it is ludicrous that a facility like this can be exposed to such fire risk for the sake of conserving a few hundred trees amongst 10's of thousands, or more, in that National Park. The trees are replaceable, the facility isn't. This was a case of when it was going to suffer fire damage, not if.

Cheers,
John B

[gary]

New photos from air and ground on RFS Facebook page this morning
(need to log in)

http://www.facebook.com/nswrfs#!/nswrfs

At first glance, it may not be too bad.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by ausastronomer

I seriously can't believe we have had another of the world's best astronomical research facilities damaged by fire for the sake of saving a few hundred of the 400 billion plus trees in the world.

Whilst I am all for conserving the environment and nature, it gets to a point where sometimes common sense has to prevail and I think it is ludicrous that a facility like this can be exposed to such fire risk for the sake of conserving a few hundred trees amongst 10's of thousands, or more, in that National Park. The trees are replaceable, the facility isn't. This was a case of when it was going to suffer fire damage, not if.

Cheers,
John B

Absolutely. Ludicrous. Frankly, stupid.

[gary]

Astronomer's lodge and director's residence destroyed.

Some will not immediately mourn the loss of the lodge because it was not the
most comfortable place to have to stay.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by gary

Faulkes South video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26dyM...&feature=share

It's amazing that anything came out the other side after that. Trees should be lopped short out to a 200m radius I think. This is too important to lose just for the sake of a few thousand of the zillions of trees on this continent. Damned ludicrous that this facility is considered expendable. Re-zone the immediate area to standard crown land and protect it for goodness' sake.

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Firstly, i feel for the people who have lost their homes.

Secondly, if the fire prevention works are deemed inadequate, particularly after what happened to Stromlo, someone needs to be held accountable. It's inexcusable to fail to adequately safeguard such an important, expensive international asset. Waiting to discover how effective the fire prevention measures were and whether more should've reasonably been expected will be interesting.

Cheers

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by gary

Astronomer's lodge and director's residence destroyed.

Some will not immediately mourn the loss of the lodge because it was not the
most comfortable place to have to stay.

My thoughts too Gary. Many will be thinking "nice new accommodation coming up".

[rogerg (Roger)]

Seems from what I am seeing that the lessons learned from Stromlo and steps taken to make the AAO site safer is what has saved so many of the buildings. There's always a balance and if they only lose a few supporting buildings when the site was completely evacuated left to servive on it's own as the fire passed, I think that's quite a good outcome and they should be thanked for their forward planning. I wouldn't judge how prepared or unprepared they were at this stage, seems unfair.

[grantch (Grant)]

You can see from some of the photos that those buildings with a reasonable concrete/bitumen zone around them seemed to do ok, whereas others had the fire go right up to them as the grass trees seems to literally go right up to the walls

[acropolite (Phil)]

I'm with Chris on clearing and properly maintaining around dwellings etc. National Park or not Safety has to be the number one priority.

Regarding the constant burning of bush in Hazard Reduction Burns, there is some evidence to suggest that hazard reduction burns actually increase the fuel load, in areas where such burns aren't carried out the understory vegetation is much more sparse and fires less prevalent and of lower intensity. I heard a program on the ABC where they talked about vegetation counts on two adjacent properties, one of which had been burned regularly, the other had not been burned for decades, the understory count for the regularly burned property was from memory ten times more dense than the unburned property.

Repeated burning enriches the soul and rejuvinates and envigorates the understory vegetation, low intensity burns often leave vegetation "cured" i.e. dead but not burned, perfect fuel for the next bushfire.

It's also not unusual for hazard reduction burns to get out of control and be the problem rather than the cure.

Also the practice of burning for plantation regeneration masqueraded as hazard reduction is rife, particularly in my state, it's little wonder that people are averse to being smoked out.

I'm not necessarily saying that hazard reduction burns are a waste of time, but there needs to be some serious unbiassed science performed before knee jerk "set it on fire because it might catch fire" strategies are used.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Originally Posted by rogerg

Seems from what I am seeing that the lessons learned from Stromlo and steps taken to make the AAO site safer is what has saved so many of the buildings. There's always a balance and if they only lose a few supporting buildings when the site was completely evacuated left to servive on it's own as the fire passed, I think that's quite a good outcome and they should be thanked for their forward planning. I wouldn't judge how prepared or unprepared they were at this stage, seems unfair.

You are kidding right? Losing a few buildings and millions of dollars worth of equipment at one of the world's leading astronomical research facilities is a good outcome? IMO it's not a good outcome at all, as it could have been totally avoided, but wasn't because of stupidity and some stupid greenie laws.

It has nothing to do with how prepared or unprepared anyone was. The AAO and it's staff do everything within their power to make the facility as fireproof as possible within the constraints of the law. The problem is the stupid laws prevent any of the trees on the Mountain and near the facility being cut down. The trees within the proximity of the facility which posed any form of fire risk to the facility should have been chopped to the ground when it was built, failing that, at least after the loss of Stromlo.

Cheers
John B

[icytailmark (Mark)]

5 buildings were destroyed or damaged in the fire. Unsure if main scope is damaged yet.

[Scorpius51 (John)]

We have just been informed at the Mt Stromlo RSAA meeting that the major damage so far has been the loss of the lodge, director's residence, and one of the staff residences. It appears that all the telescopes have survived the fire, with perhaps some minor damage to some support facilities, such as the main office, workshop and the AAO visitor's centre.

It is too early to say whether there has been damage due to heat, smoke, ash, etc, in any of the telescopes, but there appears to be life in the on-line monitoring systems in some of the telescope buildings. However, we will not know until there is a comprehensive on-site and on-line investigation and assessment.

It will be at least 2 weeks before normal access will be possible, maybe more. There are still spot fires, so it's not over yet - but it appears that the worst is over. Restoration/maintenance of power and water is essential.

[gary]

Originally Posted by rogerg

Seems from what I am seeing that the lessons learned from Stromlo and steps taken to make the AAO site safer is what has saved so many of the buildings. There's always a balance and if they only lose a few supporting buildings when the site was completely evacuated left to servive on it's own as the fire passed, I think that's quite a good outcome and they should be thanked for their forward planning. I wouldn't judge how prepared or unprepared they were at this stage, seems unfair.

Hi Roger,

Indeed, in talking to one colleague at the AAO, they had taken the lessons of
Stromlo to heart and lots of forward planning and preparation were in place.

When Dunham and Gascoigne investigated the site in 1957, they had to go
down a little country road, pass through a dozen gates and then climb up
to the top of the ridge through the scrub. Once the site was selected in the early
1960's, the sealed road was constructed at very considerable expense.

Since the site was in the bush, fire planning was considered during its construction
from the start. The area is buffeted by strong winds and during testing, the wind
gusts were so strong that instruments would be blown over. On the south west
side, the site is essentially on top of a cliff overlooking the park.

There is no doubt that the amenity provided by its spectacular views over the
neighboring park would have been in the back of the minds of some involved in
the original site selection process back in the late 50's and early 60's. It happens
to arguably have the best lookout view in the entire region.

There were other places in Australia considered that had better seeing, but the
fact that Coonabarabran was a nearby major service center was a key factor as well.

The AAT itself is raised 21m off the ground to minimize ground effects.
Wind, dust and lady beetles make their way in through the aperture.

Before Siding Springs was selected, Mt Kaputar was originally considered.
It is hard to imagine what a challenge it would have been building it atop Mt
Kaputar and then keeping it safe in the event of the inevitable fires.