GIS and the Spread of the Station Fire

GIS and the Spread of the Station Fire

GIS is an important tool that allows individuals to pose and answer question. The presentation of information visually further allows individuals to analyze information. These important aspects of GIS can be applied to numerous possible questions regarding the Station Fire in Southern California. One such question is what factors enabled the fire to spread quickly without containment? As one may see, some basic aspects of GIS may enable amateur analysis of this question.

One aspect that may have lead to the rapid progression of the station fire was the lack of roads within the area. First, the major freeways of the region completely enclose the region (www.maps.google.com). Only a couple of highways, mainly State Highway 2, lead up to the affected area. Secondly, major roads of the region follow this pattern similarly. When comparing the density of roads of more urban areas to the affected areas, one can easily distinguish that the affected area has a lower density of roads. Lastly, as predicted, local streets snake into the burned areas minimally. In relation to the Station Fire, streets could easily be a contributing factor to the fires propagation. The lack of streets within the affected areas may have allowed the fire to proliferate. Had there been additional infrastructure, one can hypothesis that firefighters may have combated the fire more effectively. Thus, the lack of roads within the areas affected by the Station Fire may have contributed to the fire’s uncontrollable growth.

In our modern world, helicopters and planes are additional resources used to combat fires. The main method helicopters fight fires is by picking water up at local reservoir. The only immediate reservoir helicopters had access to in fighting the blaze was The Big Tujunga Reservoir (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5n1RZpXLBs, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_Fire_(2009)#Los_Angeles_County). Additional reservoirs are found within surrounding areas but are quite distant. Additionally, helicopters must constantly refuel at the nearest heliport or airport. These are quite distant as displayed. Consequently, one may expect longer times between water drops allowing for rapid propagation of the fire. Furthermore, air tankers also battled the fire (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0IK31DXnLc&feature=related). Unlike helicopters, they must land in order to refill the fire retardant. Similar to helicopters, these actions must take time allowing for the fire to propagate. Therefore, the distance of reservoirs and airports may have contributed to the spread of the Station Fire.

In the thematic 3-dimensional rendering map, one can see the terrain that increased the difficulty of containing the fire (http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1856/). First, one can easily see how the terrain may have affected the firefighter’s ability to strategically battle the fire. Additionally, the terrain definitely would have affected the helicopters and more so, the air tankers. In a mountainous terrain, aerial vehicles have difficulty making water drops closer to the surface. Thus, water drops must be done at higher altitudes reducing their effectiveness. Consequently, the 3-dimensional rendering clearly displays the difficulty of battling the fire in all aspects.

The progression of the Station Fire can be attributed to many factors pertaining to the region. By displaying the data using GIS, one can easily distinguish how factors may have possibly caused the fires progression. By incorporating the information into multiple maps, GIS presents the data in an organized manner. However, the 3-dimensional rendering displays some limits of GIS. The color overlay of the fire’s progression is irregular. Overall, GIS allows one to present the information visually in order to analyze what factors may have contributed to the spread of the Station Fire.

Works Cited
2009 California Wildfires. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_Fire_(2009)#Los_Angeles_County.

GoogleMaps. Web. 23 Nov. 2009. www.maps.google.com.

InciWeb Incident Information System. Web. 23 Nov. 2009. http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1856/.

Los Angeles County Enterprise GIS. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. http://gis.lacounty.gov/eGIS/?cat=11.

Mapshare. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm.

The National Map Seamless Server. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. .