Lab7: Mapping The Station Fire In ArcGIS

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_California_wildfires#Los_Angeles_County)

(http://www.massobserver.com/tag/station-fire/)

     On August 26, 2009, a fire (believed to be arson) started in the Angeles National Forest near a ranger station. Fifty-one days later, the fire was fully contained and extinguished with the help of the Los Angeles Fire Department and the California Department of Corrections along with moderate rainfall. The Station Fire is classified as the tenth largest fire in modern California history. Twelve thousand structures were at risk of being destroyed by the fire (http://inciweb.org/incident/article/9360/). However, only two hundred and nine structures (eighty nine of which were homes) were destroyed (http://inciweb.org/incident/article/9640/). Mandatory evacuations and the dedication of those who fought the flames, helped minimize the extent of devastation from the 160,557 acre fire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_California_wildfires#Los_Angeles_County).

     The framed geographical images above titled "2009 Los Angeles County: Station Fire" reflect the burn patterns between August 29th and September 2nd 2009. August 29th was the single most devastating day with 57,160 acres destroyed, over half of the 94,000 total acres destroyed thus far. The next day, the fire only spread an additional 7,638 acres. August 31 saw about twice that amount at 13,644 acres. The first of September was another significantly high burn day with 21,400 acres burned, but luckily the second of September showed a drastic reduction in the number of acres burned with only 7,302 acres destroyed by the fire. Although the entire area destroyed by the fire was over 160,000 acres, sixty seven percent (107,144 acres) were burned during the 5 day time frame represented (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:StationFire4Sept.jpg).

     Surprisingly, the fire spread to the northeast; into the mountains as opposed to down into the heavily populated valley. The two dimensional overview of the spread shows that the only real interstate affected by the fire was Interstate 2. The 210 and 710 were at risk but not seriously affected by the burn pattern (http://Gis.ats.ucla.edu). Additionally, the images of highly populated areas in Los Angeles County, show just how small of a percentage of these areas were burned (http://planning.lacounty.gov/gis/download).

     I believe that although the fire occurred about 25 miles from the coast, the winds from the ocean are what pushed the fire into and across the mountains. I’m sure the strategy of the fire department was to deter the fire from the highly populated areas and so they focused a great amount of their efforts to controlling the fire from the west and southwest border. However, there is only so much that humans can do to contain a fire that size.

     A supplemental theory to the Station Fire burn pattern could be that along with the wind directing the inland, that the wind directed the flames towards luscious wooded areas on the Angeles National Forrest which fueled the fire. The winds blew just enough to direct the path upward and inward form the coast to cause damage to the wilderness, but not citizens of California.

 Reference

"2009 California Wildfires." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 27 Sept. 2009. Web. 29
     Nov. 2010.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_California_wildfires#Los_Angeles
     _County>.
GIS Section of the Department of Regional Planning. "Maps & GIS | Data | DRP."
     Department of Regional Planning. 2009. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. <http://planning.
     lacounty.gov/gis/download>.
Molina, Genaro. "Mass Observer | Station Fire." Mass Observer | Eyes Wide Open. Los
     Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2009. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. <http://www.massobserver.com
     /tag/station-fire/>.
UCLA. GIS at UCLA. 2008. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. <http://Gis.ats.ucla.edu>.
U.S. Forest Service. "File:StationFire4Sept.jpg." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.
     4 Sept. 2009. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Station
     Fire4Sept.jpg>.
U.S. Forest Service. "InciWeb the Incident Information System: Station Fire News
     Release." InciWeb the Incident Information System: Current Incidents. 26
     Sept. 2009. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. <http://inciweb.org/incident/article/9640/>.
U.S. Forest Service. "InciWeb the Incident Information System: Station Fire News
     Release." InciWeb the Incident Information System: Current Incidents. 31
     Aug. 2009. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. <http://inciweb.org/incident/article/9360/>.