Lab 8 - Station Fire Map

The "Station Fire" is the wildfire started from August 26^th, 2009, in Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles. It was 100% contained on October 16^th, due to moderate rainfall in the San Gabriel Mountains. Caused by arson, the wildfire influenced 160,577 acres of land and is the largest wildfire in the modern history of Los Angeles County. 209 structures destroyed, including 89 homes, and two firefighters were killed during the accident. The neighbors affected were angry about fire station’s failure to control the fire within the 48 hours from origin.

The first two maps I produced present the progression of the fire. The first map presents the fire with roads and high ways of grey lines, and the second map presents the fire with retail centers of black dots. The fire is presented in a series of red of polygon. The darkest red presents the land influenced by the fire on Aug 28^th, and the larger circles successively represent that on Aug 29^th, Aug 30^th, Aug 31^st, and Sep 1^st. We can see that the fire was completely manageable in the first two days, but because of the failure to control it, the fire expanded dramatically on the third day.

We can see from the first two maps that the origin of fire is a place with few retail centers and roads, which indicates that people are seldom living there and that may explain why the fire was discovered late and the fire station doesn’t put all the efforts into the fire suppression. However, as the fire expanded, it started to influence neighborhoods in the vicinity of the forest. Residences were complaining and that drew mass media’s attention. And because of the death of the two firefighters, homicide investigation was brought in.

The third map shows the fire with fire hazard severity zones in DEM slope version. PRC 4201-4204 and Govt. Code 51175-89 direct the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) to map areas of significant fire hazards based on fuels, terrain, weather, and other relevant factors. These zones, referred to as Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ), then define the application of various mitigation strategies to reduce risk associated with wildfires. State Responsibility Area (SRA) was originally mapped in 1985 and has not been updated since, except with respect to changes in SRA boundaries. Local Responsibility Areas (LRA) were originally mapped in 1996, and also has not been updated since. We can see from the map that the station fire area wasn’t included in the severity zone, and that may explain the lack of fire suppression ability then. The fire reminds us that the disaster zoning should be revised regularly and the real-time satellite monitor should be brought in.

In conclusion, although the wildfire could be largely due to the unusual weather, there’re still lots of reasons why fire stations and government should be blamed. The disaster response and policy in California should be reconsidered to avoid the similar case from happening, and we also should pay attention to the post-disaster recovery.

Reference:

[1] Fire Hazard Severity Zone Re-Mapping Project, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, 2008

[2] CalFire incident information, Incident Information System, 2009

[3] 'Angry fire' roars across 100,000 California acres, CNN, August 31, 2009

[4] Station Fire Recovery, United States Department of Agriculture, 2011

[5] US Senate Station Fire Investigation, 2009

Note: references are from government and media internet, with unknown writers.