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	Vandenberg Fire Wont Delay Launch By Andrew Bridges Pasadena Bureau Chief posted: 08:57 pm ET 13 September 2000

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A stubborn brush fire that blackened more than 11,000 acres of Vandenberg Air Force Base will not delay the September 20 launch of a weather satellite aboard a Titan 2 rocket, officials said Friday.

Although the Harris fire never threatened any of the launch pads at the oceanside California base, officials feared the blaze would tie up firefighters required to be present for the fueling of the powerful rocket.

However, as of Friday more than 900 firefighters had succeeded in containing 75 percent of the fire. That allowed fueling of the Titan 2 to begin, albeit a day after its scheduled Thursday start, a program official said.

The rocket is scheduled for a 6:22 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (10:22 GMT) launch on Wednesday from the SLC-4W launch pad.

The rocket will hoist the NOAA L weather satellite into orbit. The NOAA L is the latest model in four generations of Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) built for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The satellites operate as pairs, with each orbiting the planet in nearly north-south paths.

As Earth rotates, the entire globe, one swath at a time, rolls into view of the satellites' instruments. The instruments continually sense the entire depth of the atmosphere and report on a variety of weather generating factors, including cloud cover and heights, atmospheric temperatures, sea- and land-surface temperatures and incoming and radiated heat.

Vandenberg, located along the Central Californian coast 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, is used by the U.S. Air Force Space Command's 30th Space Wing to launch pilotless government and commercial payloads into polar orbit, as well as intercontinental ballistic missiles on test flights.

Vandenberg is no stranger to fires. The Dec. 20-21, 1977 South Vandenberg fire burned more than 9,000 acres, killing the base commander, both fire chiefs and a civilian bulldozer operator.

The current fire has caused no injuries, nor has it damaged any structures on the base, said Sr. Airman Paul Grove. The fires cause is still under investigation.