According to the report, the station
fire was a devastating wildfire that started on August 26th, 2009 in Angeles
National Forest (“Station Fire”). Until August 30th, the station fire had
claimed 18 homes and two firefighters (Garrison, Zavis, and Mozingo). The fire
was fully under control at 7:00p.m on Friday, October 16, 2009. Firefighters
were able to contain the fire in the San Gabriel wilderness area because of the
moderate rainfall earlier that week (“Station Fire”). The giant fire lasted for
about 50 days and caused huge loss. Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., said that “mistakes
were made but there is a valuable opportunity to learn and improve” (Quoted in
Blood).
The first map is a reference map of the
station fire and the second map is a thematic map. This reference map shows the
vegetation, the station fire perimeters, major highways, water features, and
elevation of the LA County. The vegetation information comes from the California
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The water feature and major highway
data come from UCLA Mapshare. The thematic map is about the relationship
between station fire and populated areas in LA County. The station fire
perimeters information in both maps comes from LA County Enterprise website and
the populated areas data come from UCLA Mapshare.
In the reference map, we can see that
although most major highways were not involved in the station fire, the fire
involved the Angeles Crest Highway and was quite close to the Interstate 210 Highway.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Angeles Crest Highway was a popular
road for campers and motorcyclists. However, the Los Angeles Highway was closed
because of the station fire and reopened three months later (Roe). As for the
Interstate 210 Highway, because people were evacuated timely, the fire did not
cause too much loss. We can also see that the water features were not involved
in the reference map.
As can be seen in the thematic map, the
purple areas are the most populated and the pink areas are the least populated.
Therefore, we can conclude that most populated areas are located south of the
station fire perimeters. People who were close to the station fire areas were
evacuated. Yet the station fire did not influence too many people because the most
populated areas were not involved in the station fire. In addition, the LA
elevation legend shows that the darker an area is, the higher the elevation is.
Therefore, most populated areas are located at lower elevations. The Northern
California Fire Behavior Assessment indicates that “in areas with steep
elevation gradients, shifting diurnal winds cause fires to continually change
directions” (ONC Support). As a result, the populated areas in LA County were relatively
safe. However, because the Angeles National Forest in which station fire
happened was located at higher elevation, the fire was hard to control.
Overall, the two maps reflect
demographic and topographic information of the station fire that happened in
2009. From these two maps, we can see the potential of GIS. Using GIS, people can
easily access data, integrate different data, and do spatial analysis. For example,
using GIS, people can find out the topographic and demographic condition of the
station fire and therefore predict the difficulty in fighting against the fire
and the loss that the fire would cause.
Works
Cited
Blood,
Michael R. “2009 Los Angeles Station Fire Report Reveals Foggy Policies In The
Forest Service.” Huffpost Los Angeles.
n.p., 16 Dec. 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.
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. 12 Dec. 2012.
ONC
Support. “Northern California Fire Behavior Assessment.” Battle Creek Watershed Conservancy. n.p., 7 July 2008. Web. 12 Dec.
2012.
Roe,
Lorraine. “Angeles Crest Highway Reopens: A Bittersweet Trip Through The Barren
San Gabriel Mountains.” Los Angeles
Times. Los Angeles Times, 7 Dec. 2009. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.
“Station
Fire.” InciWeb. Incident Information
System, 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.