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Lick Observatory, the historic telescopes under the majestic white steel dome atop Mount Hamilton, narrowly escaped being consumed by wildfire Wednesday, as fire crews worked overnight to beat back flames in the foothills above east San Jose.
UC Observatories, which operates the observatory, posted dramatic “time-lapse” video of the flames on Twitter Thursday.
“So very grateful to CALFire for the incredible efforts to save the community at Lick,” University of California Observatories said Thursday.
So very grateful to CALFire for the incredible efforts to save the community at Lick. Terrifying time-lapse video created by UCO Director's Advisory Council volunteer Loren Kinczel. We will update as we learn about all of the historic and scientific structures on Mt. Hamilton. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/A37ULF5jHY
— UC Observatories (@UCObservatories) August 20, 2020
But the 132-year-old observatory isn’t safe yet. UC Observatories said that firefighters have set up a command post at the observatory’s main building with a half dozen engines on site.
“That’s good news,” UC Observatories said, but added ominously: “Based on latest information, the fire is on Observatory property and is moving quickly.”
Fire crews saved most of the structures atop the observatory’s Kepler Peak, UC said Thursday, but one vacant residence was destroyed and other suffered smoke and water damage.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Thursday that the lightning-sparked series of wildfires in the region they call the SCU Lightning Complex has burned more than 137,000 acres in Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties, and is only 5% contained. It is threatening 6,200 structures.
Scientists have studied the heavens for more than a century at Lick, the first mountaintop observatory with one of the largest refractor telescopes on earth.
Completed in 1888, the observatory was bankrolled by James Lick, a Gold Rush era entrepreneur whose real estate investments in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Lake Tahoe and even Catalina Island had made him one of California’s richest men.
It houses nine telescopes, though only four get regular use: the Shane reflector, its workhorse; the 1-meter Nickel; the automated KAIT, which looks for supernovae; and the 36-inch Giant Refractor, the 57-foot-long, 25,000-pound showpiece that is the second largest of its kind in the world.
Lick, buried under the observatory, died nearly a dozen years before the Giant Refractor’s completion. The observatory in 2016 celebrated the 125th anniversary of its official consignment to the University of California on June 1, 1888.
A walk-through safe at the observatory was built so astronomers could remove and save the valuable 36-inch refractor telescope’s lenses in case of wildfires.
Lick Observatory superintendent Kostas Chloros said the firefighters were the difference between the facility staying historic and becoming history.
“There were many close calls,” Chloros said, as a melted garbage can lay on the ground as a reminder of the intense heat that came through the site. “The way this fire behaved, how it moved and how quickly, it was undescribable.”
Chloros shared his “extreme gratitude” for the firefighters who spared the observatory from a fiery fate.
Cal Fire station captain Gene Parks, a South Bay native, said protecting the area around the observatory felt personal.
“This is my area. It’s under my watch, and I’m not going to let anything happen,” he said.
But Parks also warned that given the fire conditions, there’s not time to get comfortable.
“It’s not over yet,” he said, pointing to a nearby canyon with visible flames and heavy smoke..
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