Matt Roe Intro To GIS: Lab 1D: Lab 8

Station Fire Near Acton Courtesy of the LA Times

This report examines the 2009 Station Fire in Los Angeles County during August and September of 2009. The extent of the fire totaled 251 square miles (160,577 acres) and ultimately destroyed 209 different structures, 89 of which were households (InciWeb). As seen in the reference map of the greater Los Angeles area in Figure 1, the Station Fire burned in the Los Angeles National Forest on the slopes of Mount Wilson just north of Los Angeles. As evidenced by the Digital Elevation Model provided by USGS, the fire resided primarily in higher elevations above 1,500 ft. The station fire is the 10th largest fire in Californian history and the largest fire on record for Los Angeles County. The fire was ultimately proclaimed by officials to be caused by arson (Winston).

Although the Station Fire was not 100% contained until October 15th, 2009, my temporal presentation follows the fire from its inception at 08/29/2009 until 09/02/2009 during which the fire reached its peak extent. As shown in Figure 1, the fire spread expanded primarily in a northern direction and also expanded both westerly and easterly over the examined period. Although the fire is often assumed to be wind-driven much like other Southern California fires, Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman has reported that the fire was not due to infamous Santa Ana winds (Gleeson). Upon closer temporal examination, it is evident that fire traveled along the highest elevations in the region and expanded along greater elevations rather than travelling in a topographic direction downslopes.

Furthermore in Figure 2, I analyze the ultimate spread of the fire in the context of the aspect of the region. In regards to temporal analysis, I compare the station fire perimeter on 08/29/2009 to its peak extent on 09/02/2009. The spread of the fire appears to have been unaffected by aspect as the fire was able to expand across slopes facing multiple directions. Upon further examination of the aspect presentation, one is able to recognize the force of the fire as it traversed multiple ranges.

Figure 3 assesses what communities were at risk given the spread of the fire and is presented in the form of buffer analysis overlay against population density of nearby communities. In my analysis I performed a multiple ring buffer analysis at distances of .1, .25, .5, 1, 1.5 and 2.5 miles to elucidate the communities put at risk by the Station Fire. Upon immediate investigation one notices that the cities of La Crescenta, Montrose, La Canada Flintridge and Altadena all fell within 1.5 miles of the fire's southern perimeter. Additionally, as the fire traveled north the city of Acton ultimately fell within a 2.5 miles of the northern perimeter. During the period study these communities faced mandatory evacuations and the fire threatened 12,000 structures as previously stated. The fire ultimately was responsible for the destruction of 89 homes (InciWeb).

In addition to the general communities that were threatened by the blaze, Figure 3 also investigates the type of community that was threatened by analyzing population density. As seen in the map, the fire predominately threatened sparsly populated areas. When one compares this to the temporal analysis in Figure 1 it becomes clear that the fire north away from highly dense communities towards less dense areas.

In Figure 4, I supplement Figure 3 by addressing the major roads and parks that were threatened by the fire. As with Figure 3, I utilize a multiple buffer analysis to present what types of communities were at risk. The map highlights how the nearly the entire fire occurred within the bounds of Angeles National Forest and that several smaller parks fell within the projected buffer to the south of the fire. This finding is consistent with the fact that the main portion of the Angeles forest was closed during the duration of the burn. Furthermore, the map demonstrates that multiple major roads were directly threatened by the fire. These roads include the Angeles Crest Highway, Upper Big Tujunga Canyon Road, and the Angeles Forest Highway as these roads traveled directly within the fire extent. All of these roads remained closed during the studied period and incurred significant destruction. For instance, Caltrans dedicated over $30 Million dollars to the reconstruction of the portion of the Angeles Crest Highway that was damaged (Phillips).

As a final measure of analysis, Figure 4 presents the distribution of hospitals in the fire's surrounding area. This distribution is significant due to the potential danger presented by the fire to both residents and firefighters. In fact, two firefighters died during the course of the blaze as their truck fell down a hill while evading flames. From the distribution present in Figure 4, it becomes apparent that the distribution of hospitals closely resembles the population distribution as one would expect. However, as the majority of the fire burned in more remote locations, hospital access could have proven to be difficult given the large hospital distance from much of the fire's extent.

References:

1) Gleeson, Gene. "Station Fire Teaches Fire Department Lessons." ABC News, JUNE 10, 2010. <http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7484272>

2) Incident Information System, "Station Fire Final Update Sept. 28, 2009." SEPT 28, 2009. <http://www.inciweb.org/incident/article/1856/9647/>

3) Winton, Richard. "Substance found near Station fire ignition point is key evidence in arson probe." Los Angeles Times, SEPT 09, 2009. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/station-fire-ignition-arson-investigation.html>

4) Pringle, Paul. "L.A. County fire doubles in size; more homes destroyed; Mt. Wilson threatened." Los Angeles Times, 08 31, 2009. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/08/la-county-fire-doubles-in-size-more-homes-list-mt-wilson-threatened.html>

5) InciWeb: Incident Information System, "Station Fire." <http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1856/>

6) Phillips, Darsha. "7-mile stretch of Angeles Crest Highway reopens ." ABC News, JUNE 03, 2011. <http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=resources/traffic&id=8168328>