Station Fire

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The Los Angeles Station Fire, which began on August 26, 2009 and lasted until October 16, 2009 burned approximately 160,577 acres in the Angeles National Forest in the San Gabriel Mountains. This fire is the worst wildfire in the history of Los Angeles County and was labeled as an arson fire. The Station fire burned for over a month and caused many evacuations as well as threatened many buildings and structures in the surrounding communities and National Forest. This brief report summarizes the proximity of the Station fire from August 29, 2009 to September 2, 2009 to: populated areas, such as suburbs and cities, Los Angeles landmarks, such as the Hollywood sign, and parks located in Los Angeles County. These maps are provided to aid in the visualization of how the fire spread during those five days and in which direction they seemed to affect as well as areas that many people tend to visit or live.

Being a native to San Diego County, I have seen my fair share of terrible fires. In 2003, San Diego County was ravaged by the Cedar fire which was labeled California’s worst fire in history. This fire not only wrecked homes, it managed to kill 15 people and jump large freeways, such as the I-5. What made the Cedar fire so severe to people was the proximity it had to populated areas. In 2003 I was made to evacuate my home. It burned down toughly 2,200 homes and caused schools to shut down for a week. The Station fire on the other hand was widely out of most densely populated areas. As you can see , the Station fire resided mostly in the Angeles National Forest. The buildings most affected there were park buildings, and a handful of outlying homes.

Next you will notice that the areas designated landmarks were mainly out of harm’s way because of their correlation to populated areas. Many iconic areas in Los Angeles that were man built were able to avoid direct fire contact because the vicinity in which the fire took place was a National Forest. However, when it comes to parks in Los Angeles County you will notice that they were directly impacted, mainly the national forest in which the fire took place because so many acres were burned. When the Cedar fire burned, it went straight through inland San Diego County which is a very densely packed and highly populated area.

What this tends to mean for people is a loss of property due to any fire damage done to their homes or physical being. However, the forest itself will now have to undergo succession in order to claim back the flora burned. Tom Gillespie, Professor of Geography here at UCLA has discussed over and over again the perils that come with preventing natural fire from occurring in human populated areas. Gillespie has said that the reason California has such intense fires is due to our prevention of natural fires which cause fuel to build up on the ground in forested areas. According to Gillespie, once the fuel which is composed of leaves and detritus materials has accumulated year after year, it allows for any small flame to go from what naturally would be a ground fire to a very difficult to manage crown fire.

The Station Fire initial area of containment was a lot smaller than the September dates on the map. Over the course of only five days (remember the fire lasted over a month) the fire managed to spread northward, luckily away from mostly populated areas. However, on August 31 you will notice a shift in the fire which caused it to make a slight shift westward. As you look at the fire perimeter in relation to populated areas, think about what the fire’s long lasting effects have been such as air and water quality, as well as vegetation succession in the Angeles National Forest.

References:
"Quick Facts," U.S. Census Bureau, May 24, 2010.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06037.html

GIS Data, Los Angeles County GIS, May 18, 2010.
http://gis.lacounty.gov
(site went down and I could not acquire the full URL)

Incident Information, California Webpage, May 24, 2010.
http://www.fire.ca.gov/cdf/incidents/Cedar%20Fire_120/incident_info.html

"Cedar Fire and Memorial," Lakeside Historical Society, May 24, 2010.
http://www.lakesidehistory.org/CedarFire/cedar_fire_memorial.htm

Los Angeles Times Blog, Los Angeles Times, May 24, 2010.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/08/la-county-fire-doubles-in-size-more-homes-list-mt-wilson-threatened.html

Lecture 14, May 12, 2010., Geography 111: Forest Ecosystems, Professor Tom Gillespie.