Lab 7

 

For this lab I created a fire hazard map for the area in the region of the 2009 Station Fire in Los Angeles County. This map was created using a raster digital elevation model layer, a raster layer with fuel sources based on vegetation coverage, and a vector layer with a polygon outlining the greatest extent of the Station Fire.

First, I converted the DEM into a raster layer showing the slope of elevation. I then reclassified this into five different categories from very low slope to very high slope. Then, using the reclassification parameters described in the tutorial, I reclassified the fuel source layer again into five different categories from very low flammability to very high.

I now had one slope and one vegetation layer, each with five different risk categories. Using the raster calculator, I added these two layers. Again I reclassified the result into five categories ranging from very low risk to very high risk. Finally I put the vector polygon of the greatest extent of the Station Fire over this resulting layer. The final map now shows the fire risk in the area of the Station Fire based on slope and coverage type. I have also included a map of risk based just on slope and another just on coverage type. This lab was relatively straightforward and was completed with minimal difficulties. I believe I am becoming much more proficient at using ArcGIS. 

I spoke too soon - for some reason the layers in the first map I uploaded did not upload. Here is the correct and final map now.