The 100" Telescope and an amateur site on Mt. Wilson appear to be ok, so far. A report about the Stoney Ridge Observatory, a very large amateur research site and the Hooker telescope, follows.

 

Thursday, September 3, 2009, 10:36 a.m.

I just spoke with Marian Swinney, Public Information Officer with the Bureau of Land Management,
who is working with the U.S. Forest Service and is currently answering the phone number I have for
the incident command center.

Stony Ridge has not been burned!

She said they have lost some small structures in the area, but Stony Ridge is still there.
She did caution, however, that it is in a current "hot spot." But at lease we know for now it is still standing.

Thank you, firefighters!  (recast from the Stoney Ridge Web Page http://stony-ridge.org/StationFire.html)

 

The latest, I could find on the Hooker telescope and 150' Solar Tower, is from the Chicago Tribune

 

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2009/09/chicagoans-know-about-fires-after-all-one-of-them-incinerated-a-broad-swath-of-our-city-in-1871-so-there-are-a-lot-of-us.html

   It's happened before in Australia to the Mt. Stromolo Observatory.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Mt_Stromlo_Obs1.jpg

LOS ANGELES September 5, 2009 (AP)

Mount Wilson — which holds a historic observatory and at least 20 television transmission towers, radio and cell phone antennas — appeared well-protected after flames came dangerously close earlier this week. ...

The tower cam is back on-line at Mt. Wilson Observatory. You can still see the fires below.

 

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm

      It looks like it's over; for now.

Mt Stromlo Observatory today

 

      It was rebuilt but some history has been lost.

 

http://scopemountstromlo.com.au/observatory.php

sad to see that. did you ever work in that area?

sad to see that. did you ever work in that area?

 

      No, nothing in Australia; Lagunna, Kitt Peak, STSci. All fun but nothing that burnt.