Palomar Observatory Is Spared as Fire Shifts

The Palomar Observatory was shut down Thursday as a stubborn wilderness fire that has charred thousands of acres burned within 3 miles of its grounds, but a nature sanctuary at Eagle Crag that is home for endangered eagles was spared.

Observatory spokesman Bob Thicksten announced the closure as hundreds of firefighters began setting up a bivouac around the two domes that house four telescopes, including one with a 200-inch mirror that is the world’s second largest and most famous. At 4 p.m., U. S. Forest Service officials announced that erratic winds had shifted the fire away from the observatory, in a westerly direction.

Nevertheless, Thicksten said the observatory will be closed to the public until further notice. The telescopes have not been used since Saturday because of ash in the air.

No Happy Scientists

“We decided to close to the public because of all the forestry personnel on our grounds. . . . But the telescopes have not been available to astronomers since last Saturday because of the ash,” Thicksten said.

Scientists usually reserve the telescopes months or years in advance. Thicksten said scientists who were unlucky enough to have reservations while the observatory is closed “will just lose their time.”

“We don’t have happy campers or scientists around here. They will just have to reschedule for next year. It’s frustrating,” he added.

Fire officials said Thursday that the fire had burned about 10,270 acres in rugged, mostly inaccessible terrain in the Cleveland National Forest. Manzanita bushes that had not burned in more than a century were feeding the flames. According to Forestry Service officials, about 400 acres of rare Douglas big cones, which grow to 100 feet, also burned.

The fire began Saturday at 11:30 a.m., south of Vail Lake, in Riverside County, by a recreational shooter who was in a legal shooting area, said U. S. Forestry spokesman Bill Bruggema. The fire quickly jumped into San Diego County.

The five-day cost of fighting the fire, which officials said was 57% contained, was put at $2.3 million on Thursday. Bruggema estimated that it will cost $5 million before the fire is brought under control. The fire line was manned by about 1,800 firefighters, who were helped by 11 air tankers from the California National Guard and the Forest Service, six helicopters and almost 100 pieces of equipment on the ground.

Firefighting crews from as far away as Alaska and Pennsylvania have been committed to the fire line. Several California prison inmates were also being used to fight the fire, officials said. Several minor injuries were reported, including one to a firefighter who was hospitalized with a broken collarbone Wednesday when a rock landed on him. Three structures have been reported destroyed.

On Wednesday, officials were concerned that high winds, accompanied by temperatures in the 90s and low humidity, would push the fire toward the Eagle Crag Sanctuary, which is in the Agua Tibia Wilderness. The sanctuary is home to golden eagles and, in the winter, to bald eagles. Phil Unit, an ornithologist with the Natural History Museum at Balboa Park, said the sanctuary is also home to spotted owls.

However, the sanctuary was saved by a ring of firefighters that was thrown around its boundary. Backfires were lighted to keep the flames away.

By the afternoon, flames were licking the northeast corner of the Pala Indian Reservation. Reservation Fire Capt. Robert Smith said about 100 acres had burned at the reservation’s Mission Reserve, an area of 3,000 acres of timber. Forestry Service officials had asked tribal leaders for permission to light backfires to stop the fire, Smith said.

Several areas and isolated settlements have been evacuated since Saturday.

The unpredictable fire suddenly changed direction again Thursday and headed northwest, toward its point of origin. The Butterfield Campground in Riverside County, which was one of the first areas evacuated on Saturday, was suddenly in the fire’s path again.

Irene Hotchkiss, 56, who lives about a quarter of a mile southeast of the campground, was evacuated, along with a son and daughter who live in separate trailers. Hotchkiss and her family watched in horror Thursday as the fire got as close as 200 yards from their homes before it was stopped.

“The firefighters are doing a good job fighting it. It’s just the wind whipping them,” Hotchkiss said.

Her daughter, Denise White, 29, said she lost her bookkeeping job in Temecula because she has not been able to get to work all week. She stayed home to guard her property against the fire. Her employer did not believe the fire posed a danger to her family’s homes and property, she said.

Contributing to this story from the scene was Times staff writer Lori Grange.