Air Force base wildfire postpones hi-res satellite launch

An Atlas 5 rocket was to carry a satellite known as WorldView-4 into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

A wildfire burning near the Vandenberg Air Force Base delayed the launch of an Atlas V rocket on Sunday. No new date was set for the launch, Lt. William Collette said. Access to the South Base is limited to “mission essential personnel”, according to the 30 Space Wing (Vandenberg Air Force Base) Facebook page.

The Canyon Fire, which broke out on Saturday, reached 4,528 acres and was 0 percent contained as of Monday morning, according to a statement from Vandenberg.

An evacuation warning has been sent out to about 400 residents in San Miguelito Canyon, though no structures are threatened and authorities expect the fire to remain on the base.

The fire is burning in the canyon between Arguello and Santa Ynez Ridge Roads at the base north of Santa Barbara.

Although the fire did not pose an immediate threat to SLC-3 at the time, Col. Paul Nosek said it required the base to redeploy firefighters from stand-by at the launch site.

The WorldView satellites are some of the most powerful commercial Earth-imaging satellites in the world.

Wayne Seda, incident commander from the Vandenberg Air Force Base Fire Department, said the base has asked for additional resources in its effort to halt the fire that has grown to about 500 acres.

Almost 230 Vandenberg AFB, U.S. Forestry Service, CalFire, and Santa Barbara County firefighters are now battling the fire.

Officials said the satellite will be able to spot the make of a auto from almost 400 miles above Earth.