Lab 7: Mapping the Station Fire in ArcGIS

The Station Fire in Los Angeles County started on August 26, 2009 and was fully contained on October 16, 2009 at at 7:00 p.m. The fire burned approximately 160,577 acres of land and destroyed 209 structures, including 89 homes. It was the largest fire in Los Angeles County and the tenth largest fire in California since 1933. The fire started in the Angeles National Forest and severely affected the cities around it.
The first map shows the perimeters of the Station Fire from August 29, 2009 to September 2, 2009 at many different times. The second map only shows the perimeters of the fire on August 29, 2009 at 2:48 a.m. and September 2, 2009 at 7:02 a.m. It can be inferred from the second map that fire tends to go up the slope by looking at the elevation changes. The fire went from the red perimeter upwards toward the purple mountain and its final position is depicted by the orange perimeter.

The Station Fire affected many of its surrounding cities which included La Cañada Flintridge, Glendale, Acton, La Crescenta, Littlerock, Altadena, Sunland, and Tujunga (Wikipedia). None of these cities are actually within the perimeters of the fire according to my second map, which shows how destructive the fire was as it could affect its surrounding cities as well. Many people in these cities were forced to evacuate and there were a lot of people in other cities that were affected by the smoke and the ashes in the air.
The theme of my map is the effects of the Station Fire on potential cities. Condor Peak is the only place that is fully within the perimeters of the fire, so I hypothesize that it would receive the most damage by the fire. The cities in the San Gabriel Valley below the fire would experience aftermath of the fire such as bad air quality caused by the smoke and ashes.

This week's lab is really interesting because I remember seeing the fire in the mountains from my home back in Arcadia, but I had never really thought about how the fire moved or how it affected its surroundings back then. I think it is incredible that ArcGIS can be used to analyze patterns and provide explanations for situations that happen in real life.

Works Cited

"2009 California wildfires." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.

Archibold, Randal C. "After a Devastating Fire, an Intense Study of Its Effects." New York Times. 2 Oct. 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2010. 

"How Did the Station Fire Start." Slate. 3 Sep. 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.

"State of the Climate Wildfires Annual 2009." U.S. Department of Commerce. 8 Jan. 2010. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.

"Station Fire." Incident Information Web. 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.