http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=40118
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06037.html
http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/20LACRES.pdf
The two maps here provide information on the extent and possible consequences of the 2009 Los Angeles County Station Fire. The first map provides a look at L.A. County and the extent of the fire over its entire course from August 29th until its containment on September 2nd. The second map shows a closer look at the area around the fire, specifically it's proximity to major L.A. County hospitals. Both maps include a digital elevation legend in meters as well as a reference overview of the station fire parameters within the Los Angeles County border.
The Los Angeles Station Fire of 2009 is the 10th largest California wildland fire with 160,557 acreage burned over the course of just five days.(1) Furthermore, it is the largest fire ever in the Los Angeles National Forest, which demolished nearly 209 structures and took the lives of two firefighters working to contain the blaze.(2)
What made the station fire particularly difficult to contain is the fact that the fire burned in an area littered with steep cliffs and canyons.(3,4) Firefighters struggled to deal with the difficult terrain of the LA National Forest as the fire continued to edge closer to local urban communities of Los Angeles, one of the most populous urbanized areas with nearly 10,000,000 inhabitants.(5)
The second map here shows the proximity of the fire to Los Angeles hospitals in order to assess how the fire could have effected those health centers closest to the L.A. National Forest. The three closest health centers (Verduga Hills Hospital, the Pasadena Impact Drug and Treatment Center, and Pacifica Hospital of the Valley) all fall within a range of 1.289 to 4.789 miles to the closest point of the blaze. The map shows just how close these hospitals were to the fire, which would have had catastrophic consequences should the blaze have forced an evacuation of patients and medical personnel.
The Los Angeles Station Fire proved to be one of the largest and most destructive wildfires in the history of Southern California. The maps above show just how catastrophic the blaze could have been to the greater Los Angeles community had the fire not been contained as quickly as it was.
(1) "20 Largest California Wildfires". Accessed December 6, 2012. http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/20LACRES.pdf
(2) "Station Fire". Accessed December 7, 2012. http://inciweb.org/incident/1856/
(3) "Fires in Los Angeles County". Accessed December 6, 2012. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=40118
(4) "Station fire claims 18 homes and two firefighters". Garrison, Jessica. Zavis, Alexandria. Mozingo, Joe. Los Angeles Times. August 31, 2009. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/31/local/me-fire31
(5) "Los Angeles County, California". Accessed December 7, 2012. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06037.html
