Maybe because I saw the smoke live when it began and/or because my friend Carolyn lives near it but I've been following the Griffith Park Fire with extra interest. Or perhaps, come to think of it, it's because of that great day Carolyn and I recently spent up there at the L.A. Zoo, feeding the hippos. Whatever, when I awoke this morning, my first thought was to rush to the TV and see how containment is doing and to make sure the zoo is not in harm's way. At this moment, the fire is 40% contained and the zoo is fine. It's also not threatening the newly-refurbished Observatory, despite what the above photo would suggest.
I got this info from Good Day L.A., the morning show on Fox Channel 11, which is following the fire as, it would seem, their "B" story today. They have reporters on the scene and they cut to them occasionally…but considerably more air time is going to the latest updates on American Idol, a show that has yet to snag my interest…and don't think I'm not happy about that.
Last night after the 11:00 news shows were over, I watched some live coverage of the fire on RawNews, an HD-digital channel that the local NBC station offers. It features unstructured footage and live broadcasts and last night, what it had on was the raw feed that some of the station's mobile units were sending back to the station…fascinating, informative stuff. But this morning, for some reason, they're just showing video of the newsroom crew sitting around, discussing what they're covering today…and their website suggests they're about to start airing a camera feed from the Phil Spector trial. One of these days, some local station will turn one of its extra HD channels into All News, All the Time, and we'll all be glued to it when something like the Griffith Park Fire occurs. For now, we have to take it where we can get it.