California Wildfires: August & September 2009 Edition

Yes, parts of California are burning again — and the map makers are at work. Fires are often breaking out, so at the top of the story, maps to places currently in the news. Below that, general resources to check since this page was last updated.

Update: September 1

• Los Angeles area fires: Mount Wilson, La Canada Flintridge, Altadena, La Crescenta, Glendale, Pasadena, Acton, Agua Dulce from the Los Angeles Times covers the fire area in the Angeles National Forest, actions to protect the Mt. Wilson Observatory, evacuation areas and much more. Zoom out to also see where the Pendleton Fire near Yucaipa and the Oak Glen fires are. This is the best, most detailed map I’ve currently seen out there.
• SoCal Fires from KCBS pinpoints fires in Southern California, including the Morris Fire in Azusa, the Rancho Palos Verdes Fire, the Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest,  the Hemet / Idyllwild Fire and the one near Yucaipa.
• Station Fire from the LA County Fire Department has information about the Station Fire.
• Official (but non-mapped) info from La Canada Flintridge covers evacuation areas and more in text format.
• Inland Wildfires Map from the Riverside Press Enterprise focuses more closely on the fires in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
• Riverside County Fire Department Incidents page lacks maps but has textual info about fires in the area.
• California Statewide Fire Map (PDF format) from the California Department Of Forestry & Fire Protection spots blazes across the state. You can also drill-down into the Incidents page to locate a specific fire. Select one of those, such as the Pendleton Fire. Then on the right-hand side of the page, in the “More Information” box, click maps. Now you can get a close-up map of the particular area in PDF format.
• InciWeb lets you select a fire by name, then get a map and more information. If one isn’t shown, look for the “Maps” link at the top of the page.

General Resources

• Los Angeles Times maps: Watch the LA Times Google Maps account where fire maps are often posted for Southern California.
• CBS 2 maps: Watch their Google Maps account where wildfire maps are often posted.
• Los Angeles CITY Fire Department maps: The city of Los Angeles Fire Department posts maps to its Google account here for some fires and evacuation areas. Note that general area also known as Los Angeles is far broader than the actual city, which is why the department might not have fire info for all of Southern California (for those who get understandably frustrated over this).
• Los Angeles COUNTY Fire Department maps: The county of Los Angeles covers much of Southern California (Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties are also part of the greater Los Angeles area). The LA County Fire Department serves unincorporated areas and cities without their own fire departments in LA County. So, a broader area is covered than the city of Los Angeles, but still not all fires will be listed, if they’re outside the county’s service area.
• Wildfire Today: Regularly posts maps of fires.
• Firefighter Blog: Regularly has maps of fires.
• Enplan Wildfire Viewer: An excellent resource that lets you see across California where major fires have been spotted by satellite. For more about the viewer, see this article about it from the Orange County Register.
• MODIS: Shows large fires across the US.
• California Department Of Forestry & Fire Protection map: Maintains a Google Maps account that often pinpoints some fires.
• GeoMAC Wildfire Information: Lets you see current fires and perimeters across the US, plus see historic information.
• Wildfire From Fetch: Pinpoints fires, and if you click on an incident, you get an update on percentage contained and other information.
• The California Fire Alliance maps: Has maps of fires across California and the Western United States.
• The Orange County Register: Watch the newspaper’s Google Maps account here for possible maps of future fires.

Update: August 30

• Yosemite’s Big Meadow fire still spreading to the north from Wildfire Today covers the blaze near Yosemite.
• NOTE: Other map sources listed on this day are still fresh and have been moved to the Sept. 1 area.

August 18 Fires

• Lockheed Fire Map from the Santa Cruz Sentinel has boundaries of the fire, the evacuation center location and photo slideshows from various areas.
• The Los Angeles Times has a basic map pinpointing the Lockheed Fire as well as the recent La Brea Fire.
• Wildfire Today has a nice map of the La Brea fire via the GeoMac service listed further above.
• The Orange County Register has a map of the Ortega Fire earlier this month.