Week 8- Los Angeles Station Fire

      

      The Los Angeles Station Fire occurred in the mountains of Los Angeles County between the dates of August 29, 2009 and September 2, 2009. It cost $83.1 million to contain, and the lives of two firefighters were lost in the process (KTLA).This 250 square mile blaze (Associated Press) located to the northeast of downtown spread in a generally northern direction, up into the mountains and away from the more urbanized regions of the county. The photo above was taken from the south, looking north toward downtown with the pluming smoke from the Station Fire behind it.

     

     The map below shows the progressive location of the Station Fire in Los Angeles County, laid over a digital elevation model. The perimeters of the fire are mapped over the course of the five days in which it was burning. We can see here that the fire started off in the relatively low elevations and progressively spread more to the mountainous north, east and west. The perimeters of the fire lie mainly along the mountain ridges.The perimeters of the fire at the specific times mapped were as followed:

8/29/09, 2:48 am- 12.78 miles

8/29/09, 2:55 pm- 22.62 miles

8/30/09, 9:14 pm- 84.68 miles

9/02/09, 12:39 am- 118.89 miles

On September 2, the extent of the fire was as followed:

Top: 1,981,813.86 feet

Bottom: 1,899,073.57 feet

Left: 6,458,073.78 feet

Right: 6,569,853 feet

     The map below shows the perimeters of the Station Fire, hospitals, and major highways of Los Angeles County, all laid over a digital elevation model. This map provides us with a general idea of where the more urbanized areas (where there are higher concentrations of highways and hospitals) of the county are in relation to where the fire was. My main focus is the proximity of the fire to hospitals and the impact caused by it.

     The two closest hospitals to the fire were Verdugo Hills Hospital and Impact Drug Treatment Center. They lie just south of the fire perimeters. Verdugo hills Hospital was only 1.34 miles away from the closest flames while the Impact Drug Treatment Center was 2.26 miles away. To the north, the main direction in which the fire spread, the nearest hospital  was the Lancaster Community Hospital at 17.1 miles from the largest perimeter. To the west, the nearest hospital to the fire was the Olive View Hospital, part of the UCLA Medical Center, at 6.6 miles away. In the minutes of a Sylmar town meeting, the town in which Olive View Hospital is located, the debris from the fire was brought up, that the amount from it was unprecedented (DL). Also, just a year earlier, Governor Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for another wildfire, and the hospital was evacuated (Schwarzenegger).

     Luckily, the Station Fire did not necessarily cause damage upon any of the hospitals in the surrounding area and none had to be evacuated. On average, there are twenty-one hospital evacuations per year, and six percent occur due to the threat of an external fire (Westchester).

Bibliography

     Associated Press, "Road Named For Firefighters Killed In Station Fire." November 15, 2010.http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2010/11/15/road-named-for-firefighters-killed-in-station-fire/ (accessed November 29, 2010). 

     DL, "Minutes (to be approved) of the SYLMAR NElGHBORHOOD COUNCIL (SNC) TOWN HALL MEETING." September 30, 2010.http://www.sylmarneighborhoodcouncil.org/minutes-board/2010-0930-minutes.pdf (accessed November 29, 2010). 

     KTLA News, "Report: Number of Firefighters Reduced Before Station Fire." October 2, 2009.http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-angeles-fire,0,5292469.story (accessed November 29, 2010). 


     Schwarzenegger, Arnold. "Gov. Schwarzenegger Proclaims State of Emergency in Los Angeles County Due to Wildfire." November 15, 2008.http://gov.ca.gov/press-release/11045/ (accessed November 29, 2010).

     Westchester Medical Center, "Hospital Evacuation." www.gnyha.org/304/File.aspx (accessed November 29, 2010).