Lab 8 - Fire Station

Land Use Urbanization

The Station Fire started in August 26 at the Angeles National Forest near the U.S. Forest Service ranger station on the Angeles Crest Highway. It burned through an area of 650 km square, resulting in the death of two fire fighters. As shown in the reference map, the fire spread northwards from the original starting point. The fire progression rate intensified on August 30, but the fire barely progressed for the next two days before exhausting itself a few days later.

The theme I’ve decided to focus on is on how urbanization and terrain(slope) would affect the path and rate of fire progression. I’ve created maps that shows details on the progression of the fire in relation to the slope and land usage. The theme map on land use clearly shows that the urban area lies in the relatively flat areas south and west of Los Angeles. The north area is hilly and uninhibited. I chose this theme because I’m curious on how the spread of the fire can be affected by urbanization and terrain.

My first hypothesis is that urban areas acts as an effective barrier to the flames as modern concrete and steel structures that characterizes buildings in Los Angeles does not burn easily, depriving the fire a medium for progression. My second hypothesis is that the rate of progression of wildfire increases with a even terrain (where the slopes are more gentle). This is because the a rough terrain with steep slopes also acts as an barrier to the progression of flames. Flames spreads up-slope easily, but it is more difficult for a fire to spread down-slope.     

My first hypothesis is confirmed by the land use map I’ve generated. The land use map clearly showed that the fire just affected the fringes of the urbanised area. It did not spread far into the urbanized area. This is important information as it allows city planners to design effective fire breaks by developing infrastructure in between forested areas with a high fire risk. Though it's questionable on who will buy properties in such areas.

However, my second hypothesis is inconclusive. While the terrain(slope) map did show that the fire progressed at an increased rate on August 30, where the slopes are more gentle, it also showed that the rate of fire progression slowed drastically on the following days, where the land is relatively more flat. Hence, other factors may have caused the rate of fire progression to increase on August 30.

References:

1. “Current Fire Information.”, Californian Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Web. 6 Dec. 2011

<http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_maps?incident_id=361>

2. "How Fire Works." How Stuff Works. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

<http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/fire1.htm>

3. "2009 Californian Wildfires." Wikipedia. Web. 6 Dec 2011. <http://earthsci.org/flooding/unit3/u3-03-04.html>.

4. Homes. "Angry fire' roars across 100,000 California acres" CNN-US. 31 August 2009. Web. 6 Dec 2011. <http://articles.cnn.com/2009-08-31/us/california.wildfires_1_mike-dietrich-firefighters-safety-incident-commander?_s=PM:US.>

5. Adam Housley. "California’s Station Fire Surrounds Homes" Home - Fox News. 11 Sept 2009. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. <http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/09/01/californias-station-fire-surrounds-homes/>