The map above is reference map of the Station Fire. It outlines Los Angeles county and illustrates the spread of the fire between August 29th, 2009 and September 1st, 2009. Below is a thematic map that illustrates the California Department of Forestry Fuel Ranking for the land in LA County. The map also includes major population centers and highways.
The Los Angeles Station Fire started on August 26th, 2009 and burned over 160,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest (Station Fire Release, 09/26/09). Investigations regarding the cause of the fire determined that arson was the cause. Due to the fact that two firefighters were killed fighting the blaze, a homicide investigation was launched as well (LA Times, 09/03/09).
The reference map above illustrates the spread of the fire over the course of four days. The fire started in the Angeles National forest near La Canada Flintridge. From there, the fire expanded north before spreading out in all directions. The temporal expansion map shows how the fire was constantly expanding in changing directions. Originally, the fire spread north, but as of the evening of August 30th, 2009, the fire had moved east. The next morning, conditions had changed, and the western border of the fire was being expanded. During this time, erratic winds constantly changed the direction of the fire, which explains the expansion pattern mapped out above.
The thematic map above examines the fuel ranking of the land burned in the fire. It is immediately apparent that the burn area of the Station Fire was a high burn risk/high fuel area. Prior to the Station Fire, the Angeles National Forest near La Canada Flintridge hadn't burned in a long time. Because of this, there was lots of dried out vegetation and high trees, which fueled the Station Fire. It is no surprise that this fire happened because of the fact that the vegetation was the perfect fuel. Almost all of the burn area was given a high fuel rank, while the remainder was given a moderate fuel rank. Areas outside the fire burn area have low rankings, so it makes sense why the fire burned where it did.
Also included on the map are highways and populated areas in Los Angeles County. One can see that only one highway goes through the burn area, Angeles Crest. This highway was shut down during the fire and for 18 months after due to severe damage. On June 3rd, 2011, Angeles Crest Highway was finally reopened (LA Times, 06/05/11). Aside from Angeles Crest Highway however, no other major highways went through the burn zone. While parts of the 210 freeway were shut down during the fire, there was no damage to Los Angeles' major highways. Furthermore, there were no majorly populated cities within the burn area. The fire started just north of La Canada Flintridge and burned away from the city. While there were nearly 100 structures lost in the fire, there were no major losses in populated areas.
All in all, it is no surprise that the Station Fire grew to be the devastating fire it was. The conditions were perfect. The fire started in an area where the fuel rank is high and the erratic winds and hot temperatures perpetuated the fire's intensity and expansion. Fortunately, the area burned wasn't highly populated and Los Angeles' infrastructure was protected.
Works Cited:
"Anger Fire Roars Across 100,000 California Acres". CNN. http://articles.cnn.com/2009-08-31/us/california.wildfires_1_mike-dietrich-firefighters-safety-incident-commander?_s=PM:US
Bloometkatz, Ari. "Fans Can't Wait to Hit Reopened Road". Los Angeles Times, http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/05/local/la-me-0605-angeles-crest-20110605
Bloomekatz, Ari. "Station Fire Was Arson, Officials Say". Los Angeles Time, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/station-fire-was-arson-homicide-investigation-begins.html
California Department of Fire and Forestry Protection. http://www.fire.ca.gov/index.php
InciWeb. "Station Fire Update: September 27th, 2009". http://inciweb.org/incident/article/9640/
Los Angeles County GIS Data Portal. http://egis3.lacounty.gov/dataportal/?tag=lar-iac
UCLA GIS Data Archive. http://gis.ats.ucla.edu/
