April 11, 1999
Blue Light Special
By Ramon Renteria
El Paso Times
Up close, El Paso's famous weather flame resembles a murky teardrop.
The weather flame on the El Paso skyline still changes colors, still tells the world whether the weather will change tomorrow.
But more and more, people sometimes don't pay attention, do not remember that the color-changing flame told us each evening whether to bundle up long before cable television and round-the-clock weather forecasting.
"It's a great feature, one of those great oddities about El Paso, like the star on the mountain," Channel 7-KVIA weather forecaster Rick Glancey said.
And El Paso definitely loves its oddities. Remember Puffy the weather dog or the lethargic gators in San Jacinto Plaza?
Glancey lived out at the east end of town as a kid, so he rarely got a chance to glance up at the weather flame atop the 18-story El Paso Natural Gas Building and wonder whether blue meant cold or what.
"I'd look at it every once in a while, but to say that I ever used it, not really," Glancey said. "We would just read about the weather or listen to the disc jockey on the radio. And there was always Ted Bender and Howell Eurich."
Bender and Eurich were El Paso weather forecasting icons at Channel 9-KTSM and Channel 4-KDBC long before the weather guy or gal could get all the latest weather patterns straight out of a computer screen.
The weather flame was erected on top of the El Paso Natural Gas Building in 1955 as a symbol of the eternal flame that once served as the gas company's logo.
This spring marked the flame's 44th anniversary, a footnote in El Paso history that went mostly unnoticed.
The 21-foot flame is made of Plexiglas and stainless steel and weighs more than 5 tons. It sits atop a 23-foot steel tower. An aircraft warning beacon is at the flame's tip.
It wasn't until the El Paso Independent School District inherited the building a couple of years ago that people made any noise about whether the flame would remain lighted.
It did.
An operator in a noisy 17th-floor control room still calls the National Weather Service each evening to determine what color to light the flame.
For years, the gas company circulated a little verse reminding everyone what the colors meant: blue (no significant change), red (warmer weather) and gold (cooler weather).
Long ago, a flickering flame warned El Paso of impending wind, rain or snow. Not anymore. The flickering flame is no longer used.
Maybe the simple verse is worth repeating.
"I look at the flame sometimes but I don't really know what the colors mean," said Teresa Souza, an El Paso Electric Co. spokeswoman who works in an office building a stone's throw from the famous flame.
The flame gets an overhaul every three or four years. The weather never has damaged the flame.
A company brochure once called it a "lighted spectacular."
"A glowing 21-foot high flame will change color in sequence with the changing weather patterns ... to notify all within seeing distance of approaching warmer or cooler weather, or rain or snow," the brochure said.
"The flame - depicting natural gas - will be constructed of Plexiglas which will be frosted to cause it to glow by the light of the cold cathode units installed inside."
John Ed Robbins, the official keeper of the flame, has been up there in the lofty perches of the building since the 1960s, when the gas company still housed hundreds of employees in what was once billed as El Paso's tallest skyscraper.
Robbins stuck around as building manager when the school system took over the building.
"People are used to seeing this. It's a part of downtown El Paso," Robbins said. "It's still a sound structure."
Robbins talks about how the company once wanted to tear the flame down and then backed off after citizens protested.
Alberto Mena, a building operator, is among those responsible for making sure the flame is always in working condition.
"People always want to know about it, especially children." Mea said.
Kari Hutchison, the school district's spokeswoman, still hears stories from El Pasoans who have fond memories of growing up without radio and television and relying on the flame to dictate what they would wear the next day.
Is the district committed to keeping the flame lighted?
"As far as I know," Hutchison said. "Every city has to have one or two icons. When I lived in San Antonio, we had the Hemisphere Tower and big cowboy boots at a mall."
Liz De Leon, comptroller for the law firm of Mounce, Green, Myers, Safi and Galatzan, sees the flame day-in and day-out from her 17th-floor office in the nearby Paul Kaiser Building.
"I'm right in front of it. That's like all you see from my office," De Leon said. "It's dirty and unpleasant to look at. And the scariest thing is when it's windy. That thing just sways back and forth, back and forth."
De Leon grew up in El Paso and has seen the blue flame at night but never knew what the different colors meant.
"I guess it's one of those interesting things about El Paso that we sort of take for granted," De Leon said.
Flame history
Built: The weather flame was erected in 1955 on top of the El Paso Natural Gas Building at Texas and Stanton.
Dimensions: The flame is 21 feet tall and sits atop a 23-foot-tall steel tower. It is operated manually from a control panel in the equipment room on the 17th floor.
Parts: The flame is made of Plexiglas with a stainless steel skeleton and weighs about 5 tons.
Remember the verse
El Paso Natural Gas Co. published this verse to help El Pasoans remember the signals on its lofty weather flame.
When the flame is BLUE, no change is due.
When the flame is RED, warmer weather's ahead.
When the flame is GOLD, cooler weather foretold.
A FLICKERING flame means wind, snow or rain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lPDe9pF9CU
I recall the flame atop the EPNG building from as early as the late 1950s when my father went to work for the company. I hope the flame continues as it is part of El Paso for many people who not only live there, but even for travelers who simply pass through the downtown area.
One other relic of the EPNG days, not seen by many EL Pasoans is/was a massive ship bearing the name of the man who founded El Paso Natural Gas Company, Paul Kayser. My YouTube link shows a short film I made when this ship first entered US waters when she brought her first load of LNG in from Algeria.
Posted by: Sterling Brooks | August 23, 2009 at 08:49 PM
The weather globe on top of the building is what I remember most of El Paso. During the summer that beautiful globe looked like a color diamond in the sky. It meant so much to me. I hope it is still there? I live in California now but grew up in the Segundo Barrio during the 50's. Mickey
Posted by: Miguel Rodriguez | March 21, 2011 at 12:03 PM