Vanessa G's Final Assignment

Figure 1

             On August 25, 2009 at 3:20 pm a wildfire began in Los Angeles that would take more than a month to contain, claiming two lives with 144,000 acres affected. It began in Angeles Nation Forest close to the U.S. Forest Service and spread to as far as Sunland and Glendale communities. On September 3rd the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department found a substance near the area they believe the  fire starting which launched a homicide investigation that has yet to be solved. 

             The reference map above illustrates the complete area of Los Angeles that were effected by the fire which included 89 homes. It also has the outlines of the major freeway systems that run through Los Angeles because the freeway system in one of the greatest attributes of Los Angeles. I wanted to highlight how the fire did not reach any of the freeways although Angeles Crest Highway (Highway 7) and Azusa Canyon Highway (Highway 29) where closed because of the debris. Lastly, the boxed area in red is what the map below magnifies so that it can be further examined of what school districts were affected by the fire.

Figure 2

              When fires break out in any community schools can be largely affected by closures, reformed schedules or being a place for refuge for the entire community. The map above depicts the borders of the school districts that the fire spread to and on which days it reached certain districts. For example, the Azusa school district had the fire slightly cross its borders on the first day of the fire, August 26. Also, the Sulpher Springs Union School District was reached significantly on August 31. La Canada, Action Agua Dulce and Los Angeles School Districts were hit the hardest by the wildfire covering large parts of their areas.

              

               Neighboring School Districts that were not as badly affected by the fire were used by the American Red Cross to care for people who had lost their homes by the fire. Specifically, "the Glendale-Crescenta Valley (CV) Chapter of the American Red Cross opened a shelter at Crescenta Valley High School on Saturday August 29 to receive for residents whose homes were under an evacuation order"("Glendale- Crescenta Valley Chapter" ). By August 31 all schools in the Glendale and La Canada School District where closed postponing the start of their fall semester. Moreover, Sunland and San Fernando Valley schools in Los Angeles Unified as well as Pasadena Unified schools have cancelled or altered their athletic practices.

View from La Canada on August 30th, 2009

                The last visual is a video clip of the fire over La Canada in collaboration with the maps gives life to the project because even with ArcGIS, the maps created are only pictures but this video highlights the great danger the fire had to the communities it crossed. From what we learned in class about Web 2.0 and neogeography it encouraged me to add a video to make this presentation more complete. It is one of many ways to utilize the advances in geographic technologies and online presentation formats. Furthermore, since the video is from an amateur camera person it makes the point that we can all be geographers and document history for anyone to use.


Bibliography


Bloomekatz, Ari. "Station fire was arson, officials say; homicide investigation begins." Los Angeles Times. N.p., 3 2009. Web. 09 Dec 2012. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/station-fire-was-arson-homicide-investigation-begins.html>.  

 La Canada Flintridge, CA wildfire, August 2009. 2009. Video. Youtube.com, La Canaga. Web. 08 Dec 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVGj7r3aGfs>.

"L.A. Now; Area Schools affected by fire in Angeles National Forest." Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles] 31 Aug 2009, n. pag. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/08/school-closures.html>.

Los Angeles County of Public Education. Los Angeles County Public Schools Districts. Los Angeles County: , 2010. Print. <http://schooldirectory.lacoe.edu/>. 

"Red Cross Shelter at Crescenta Valley High School." Glendale- Crescenta Valley Chapter. 2009: n. page. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://arc-glendale-temp.axxiomportal.com/article.aspx?a=7542>.

  "Station Fire Update, Sept. 29, 2009." InciWeb: Incident Information System. Bureau of Land Management, 27 2009. Web. 09 Dec 2012. <http://inciweb.org/incident/article/9640/>.