I'll put this here because it was a charater in the show.

Griffith Park in LA is going up in flames! They've evacuated the area, including the animals from the zoo.

Right now they're mostly concerned about lives and getting people and animals out of harms way and aren't reporting much on structural damage. Hope the Observatory survives.

Oh, they have someone in custody. They're saying now, this is a result of a cigarrette carelessly tossed.

OH OH OH!!

At first thought it looked like a fake picture. Not sure now. I hope the Observatory survives. They even filmed the fourth season of 24 there and even our Pilot episode.

*sigh* I hope the Observatory doesn't find it's doom there because of that.

sounds like it was teenagers too.

And they got winds fanning the flames and stuff.

Are there any updates on the Griffith Park Observatory? Has it survived? It would be a shame if such a beautiful location for the MacGyver Pilot was destroyed because of someone's carelessness.

That picture is scary... I heard it on the news - the police say they are questioning a "person of interest". Hope the fire can be controlled and put out before the observatory is damaged, or any animals are injured. If this person is guilty - I really do think that the punishment should fit the crime. This is a bad situation.

From what I've heard, the Observatory is safe. The fire got close and the wind kept blowing in it's direction, but the wind has changed now which makes it easier for the firemen to control it.

This morning on the news the building was still standing and the flames didn't get to it.
On the news someone declared it was started by a smoker....

Oh no!

I just checked their site and it seems like the place is okay since workers still need to report for their shift, although visitors can't go.

I hope this changes before I go to LA--the Observatory was on my list of things to visit there!!!

Mac

Last I heard the were laying down retardant to direct the fires around structures, just moved the animals inside at the zoo (instead of stressing them out further with a move) and that they got lucky with the winds and they're getting it under control.

I heard one house was lost, and for some reason I was thinking it was the house at the observatory, but I can't find anymore info on it.

As far as how it started, I heard one story it was a carelessly tossed cigarette by a golfer at the park and another story that some man was treated for second and third degree burns. That he had fallen asleep while smoking a cigarette and woke up with his shirt on fire. But that guy was treated, questioned and released.

*shrugs*

I'll look for more info since it seems to be "old news" now that it looks like it's under control.

So the fire's under control and the observatory is safe?

Here's the latest I can find. The information is kinda spotty but seems like landmarks are okay.

Firefighters get L.A. blaze under control

One intro shot of one of the video's is pretty scary. The one with the Observatory in front of what seems part of hell.

Luckily it's a little deformed, when they soom out, you can see the fire is not close enough.

Glad to hear they have it under control.

I watched the Pilot again last night with a friend that I'm trying to corrupt into a MacManiac (she's already pretty far gone on the RDA-lover scale) and I mused upon how attached I could become to a location that I've only seen in one episode. There's something about Mac living in an observatory that I find both charming and ironic (considering his work on StarGate).

California sure has more than its fair share of fires!

Hee! I saw the observatory in an episode of 24 (I'm finally watching this show, due to someone finally loaning me the DVDs). I was so tickled that I ignored the dialogue and had to skip back to pay attention to what was going on in THAT tv show!

scary!

Fortunately the blaze was brought under control before it reached the observatory.

Luckily!