Geog 7 Lab 8 (Final Project

            The Station Fire, which stormed across the Angeles Forest between August 26, 2009 and October 16, 2009, was the largest fire in the history of Los Angeles County.  The fire burned 160,557 acres and led to the destruction of 209 structures, including 89 homes (“Station Fire”).  In addition to the properties damaged, two firefighters were killed in the struggle, and 22 residents were injured by the flames (“Firefighters honor two comrades killed in ‘Station Fire”).  The fire was determined to be arson, after a suspicious item was found at the location where the fire ignited (“Station Fire”).  The collection of very hot temperatures around L.A. County and the severe lack of precipitation during the time leading up to the fire led it to expand out of control, reaching its largest extent on September 2.

            The conditions within the station fire made it very susceptible to extreme burning.  For one, there had not been a fire in this area in 40 years, allowing tall shrubs and fire-susceptible vegetation to grow out of control (Thompson, Kaplan and Gomberg).  In addition, the huge slopes of the area, totaling between 2,000 and 6,000 feet above sea level made it very difficult to contain (Thompson, Kaplan and Gomberg).  Compared to standard levels, precipitation levels leading up to the fire were 30% lower than usual and humidity was under 10%, leading to extremely dry conditions which are ideal within essentially all California wildfires (Thompson, Kaplan and Gomberg).  This fire managed to be the largest in the history of Los Angeles County, without any significant winds fuelling it, indicating that huge winds are not necessary to fuel a massive wildfire (Thompson, Kaplan and Gomberg).

            The reference map shows the area of the fire on August 29 on top, and the area of the fire on September 2, which is obviously far larger.  In addition, local highways and major streets for this area are displayed on this map, as well as the thematic map.  As can be displayed by this reference map, the Angeles Crest Highway, a section of the 2 Highway running within the heights of the Angeles National Forest, is the only major road running through the area of the fire.  As the fire grew larger, the Angeles Crest Highway was shut down, closing off the main escape route for people in this area (Weikel).  However, this highway will be opening again June 3, after nearly two years of being closed (Carpenter).  Luckily, the range covered by the fire is not very densely populated, so this did not have as adverse an effect as it would have in a much more densely populated area.

            The thematic map deals with the issue of analyzing how local hospitals might have been affected.  As is displayed in the thematic map, there were really only a couple of close hospitals in this region, the closest being Verdugo Hills Hospital, about 2 miles from the edge of the fire, and close to the 2 Highway.  The issue with having the hospitals so close is that they could have possibly been put in danger of evacuation because of the fire, which would have been disastrous because of all the ill patients a hospital must carry.  Luckily, there were no indications of any hospital evacuations from any resources researched.  However, because of the huge extent of the fire, the smoke would extend to greater distance, so it is very likely that hospitals experienced an increase in walk-in patients dealing with breathing-related issues during this time.  Despite the large amount of hospitals throughout the affected regions, it is still likely than some became overcrowded and had to divert patients to other surrounding medical centers.

            The other issue that arises with this thematic map is examining how much access people in the area of the fire had to hospitals.  As mentioned before, the range of the Angeles National Forest burnt in the Station Fire was not densely populated.  And for the people living there, most escaped early due to mandatory evacuations in the region, which was helpful (“Station Fire”).  However, with the closure of the Angeles Crest Highway, it is unlikely that local people would have had sufficient access to local hospitals.  They would have had to take local streets to get out of the fire zone, which can often be difficult within mountainous areas, because all the roads are generally so windy.  All in all though, because of the low population density and quick evacuations, injuries for this massive wildfire were limited.

           

Bibliography

Carpenter, Susan. “Angeles Crest Highway to Reopen Friday.” Los Angeles Times. 2        June 2011. Web. 2 June 2011.

“Firefighters Honor 2 Comrades Killed in Station Fire.” KTLA. 4 Sept. 2009. Web. 1        June 2011.

“Station Fire.” Incident Information System. 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 1 June 2011.

Thompson, Richard, Curt Kaplan and David Gomberg. “The Station Fire: An Example of             a Large Wildfire in the Absence of Significant Winds.” National Oceanic and   Atmospheric Association. Web. 2 June 2011.

Weikel, Dan. “Angeles Crest Highway closed indefinitely because of fire.” Los Angeles    Times. 4 Sept. 2009. Web. 2 June 2011.