In this week’s lab we were to create a slope/fuel hazard model for the area within and surrounding the Station Fire. The Station Fire of 2009 was the largest wildfire in modern Los Angeles County history. Located 15-20 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, the Angeles National Forest bore the brunt of the flames. With fire suppression being the norm, there was plenty of fuel for the fire that was a result of arson. Beginning on August 26, the fire quickly spread over the following days and eventually was responsible for the death of 2 firefighters, the destruction of 209 structures and over 160,000 acres of once forested land was burned.

The purpose of this map is to incorporate slope data with land cover data to determine the areas with the highest threat of fire. I first acquired a digital elevation model (DEM) from USGS, which was used to create a slope in percent that was then calculated and modeled. I reclassified this data into ten ranges. The land cover (fuel) data, acquired from atlas.ca.gov, was reclassified into 10 categories, based upon the highest threat of fire (flammability). These two layers were used to create a slope/fuel model using the raster calculator. I then added additional information such as major roads and the perimeters of the 2009 Station Fire.

Upon analyzing the completed model it is apparent that the area within the previous Station Fire does in fact have a higher slope/fuel hazard. However, I also noticed that to the east of the fire there appears to be an even higher risk of potential fire. I must ask myself if the method I used for classifying the vegetation types might have been flawed. The vegetation shapefile used did not have the same breakdown of vegetation as the breakdown shown on the tutorial that I used as a guide. Thus, it is possible that my reclassification was incorrect. I would seek out a different shapefile that aligns better with the National Fire Protection Association’s NFPA1144 if I were to create this map again, and then compare it to this completed map.