Homework 8: Mapping the Station Fire in ArcGIS

The Station Fire, which started on August, 26, 2009, is considered to be the most environmentally devastating fire of L.A.County's modern history. In addition to blazing over 160,577 acres of the Los Angeles National Forest and severely polluting the air in the L.A. valleys, the fire also claimed 18 homes and the lives of two firefighters. What's surprising and unusual about the Station Fire is that it was not wind-driven, and in this lab, I tried to uncover an alternate explanation for the fire spread.

The map below shows the Station Fire dynamics from late August to early September. The L.A. county major freeways and DEM are also included for reference. Looking at the map, we can see that the Station Fire broke out in the middle over the course of 5 days, the fire spread northward and outward.

The thematic map below provides just one explanation as to why the fire spread in the direction that it did. The map illustrates the location of fire hydrants in the L.A. county, and as we can see below, at the time the Station Fire broke out, nearly the entire southern perimeter of the fire is met by hundreds of fire hydrants. However, there are none in the middle of the fire. Given this, it is reasonable to conclude that one of the reasons why the Station Fire didn't spread south was because numerous fire-protection resources were already established there. As a result, the firefighters were much better equipped to handle the spread of fire in that direction.

References

Bloomekatz, Ari. "L.A. NOW." Station Fire Is Largest in L.A. County's Modern History. N.p., 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 15 June 2012. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/station-fire-is-largest-in-la-county-history.html>.
Garrison, Jessica, Alexandra Zavis, and Joe Mozingo. "Station Fire Claims 18 Homes and Two Firefighters." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2009. Web. 14 June 2012. <http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/31/local/me-fire31/>.
"InciWeb - Incident Information System." InciWeb the Incident Information System: Station Fire. N.p., 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 15 June 2012. <http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1856/>.
KTLA News. "Firefighters Honor 2 Comrades Killed in 'Station Fire'" KTLA News. KTLA News, 4 Sept. 2009. Web. 14 June 2012. <http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-firefighters-bio,0,7708207.story>.
"Local News." Dailynews.com. N.p., 30 Aug. 2009. Web. 15 June 2012. <http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13235062>.