Hearing about a natural disaster that has caused destruction in people’s lives hits close to home in a figurative sense, but what happen if a natural disaster hit close to home in a geographical sense. Well in late August of 2009 it did. The Station Fire as it was named occurred in Los Angeles, just north of Pasadena. The fire is believed to have first begun on August 26, 2009, but did not reach its full potential until early September (Inci Web). This time of the year set up optimal conditions for fire spreading as the hot LA summer moths had just finished up. The “bone-dry conditions in an area that has not seen a major fire in more than 60 years pushed” the station fire to great extents (CNN.com).
This fire took quite a while to contain and left a devastating impact on the area and its people during its existence. By September 19th, over 20 days after the fire began, it was finally 93% contained (NASA.com). The fire was finally fully contained on October 16th, nearly two months after it began (Inci Web). The fire burned 160,577 acres which is equivalent to 250 square miles (Inci Web). In its path the Station Fire destroyed 89 homes and threatened countless others (Wikipedia). The biggest loss in this fire though was the lives of two firefighters, Arnaldo Quinones and Tedmund Hall (LATimes.com).
In my reference map one can see the sheer size of the station fires. Additionally we are able to see the where the fire spread from and how quickly it spread likewise. Originally confined to a small patch around the 2 highway, it is clear to see that in a matter of three days the fire had increased its size exponentially. The fire boarder many largely populated areas, with three of the four side of the fire nearing or engulfing a highway.
After taking 2 months to finally get the fire contained one can only wonder how much chaos the area would be in had they had lost large institutions, such as schools in the fire. This is of a particular threat in this situation due to the fire’s proximity to highly populated areas. In my thematic map I show which LA schools were threatened by the fire. To do this I mapped multiple fires perimeters from different times in the fire. I also mapped all the schools in the area and created a one mile buffer zone around them. Any schools that were within one mile of the fire perimeter were considered threatened. To see how many schools were threatened I intersected the area of the fire perimeters with the LA schools and their buffer zones. The thematic map only shows the schools that were considered threatened by the fire.
Fire is a powerful force of nature and should not be toyed with. In incidents like this GIS programs can become powerful tools for fighting fire. By mapping the current area of the fire and other things that factor into fire spreading such as wind and soil moisture, people can make educated guesses as to where the fire will extend to next. Additionally using intersections of layers and buffer zones can help give information to firefighters as to which areas should be more closely watched, such as schools.
Works Cited
“2009 California Wildfires.” Wikipedia.com. 2009. June 8 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_California_wildfires>
“Angry fire roars across 100,000 California Acres.” Cnn.com. 2009. CNN. June 8 2011. <http://articles.cnn.com/2009-08-31/us/california.wildfires_1_mike-dietrich-firefighters-safety-incident-commander?_s=PM:US >
Garrison, Jessica et.al. “Station Fire claims 18 homes and two firefighters.” Latimes.com 2009. LA Times. June 8 2011. <http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/31/local/me-fire31>
“Station Fire.” InciWeb.org. 2009. Incident Information Systems. June 8 2011. <http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1856/>
“Station Fire Burn Scar.” NASA.org. 2009. NASA. June 8 2011. <http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=40245>
