Lab 7

On August 26, 2009, a massive fire broken out in Los Angeles, California. The fire took the lives away from 2 men, as well has wiping out over 160,000 acres of land and destroying over 200 structures. Nearly two months later, the consuming fire was finally contained on October 16, 2009. This fire is know as the Los Angeles Station Fire.
To create my hazard map for the area of Los Angeles, California, I downloaded elevation data, fire perimeter data, and vegetation/land cover data online. Unfortunately, a last-minute computer malfunction has inhibited me from including my perimeter data and my reclassified items to my map. I was forced to only use with my first two maps; land cover and reclassified slope.
The Station Fire consumed the area of the Angeles National Forest in the City of Los Angeles. This area is shown on the map above as consisting of mostly light brush, medium brush, chaparral, and hardwood. They are depicted by the red, blue, light blue, and pink on the top map. All of this land cover in the area of the fire makes for great fuel for any fire. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much green and/or maroon on this section of the map. Green stands for rock and maroon stands for water. Both of which are not flammable and would help contain a fire of this mass.
The slope map shows us that the area where the fire took place is high in elevation, compared to the rest of the map. This must have helped the fire for two reasons. First, high elevations experience tougher climates like wind, which is detrimental for any fire. Second, the high elevation makes it tougher for fire trucks and other aid from getting to the fire. On a lighter note, the urban part of the map was located outside of the fire location so no neighborhoods were taken by the fire.