Religion, SF, and Other Speculative Fictions.


Mind on Fire random header image
← →

Southern California Fires.

Posted by John on October 23rd, 2007 at 6:26 am · 5 Comments



SoCal Fires., originally uploaded by mind on fire.

I was frustrated by the fire maps available on the web. The LA Times site had a link to this interactive Google map, which let you know vaguely where the fires were occurring but gave no sense of scale. Others gave the area ravaged by various fires but included no urban information.

I created this mashup of a map produced by NASA and the US Forest Service (showing conditions at 3am this morning)with a Google hybrid street/satellite map of Southern California. Seeing the burn areas and their relationship to the cities and freeways gives me a better sense of their locations and massive size, and adds to my understanding of the threat they are posing to our communities. Hopefully it will do the same for some of you.

Yellow = previous burns since Jan. 1st.
Orange = active burns in the last 24 hrs.
Red = active burns in the last 12 hrs.

If I had the time, I’d create a few that were zoomed in. If I really had the time, I’d try to create a real-time app that mashed up the two services. But I’ve got to get to work.

Tags: Current Events

5 responses so far ↓

  • 1 JoeR // Oct 24, 2007 at 4:29 am

    Hey, I was wondering how you were doing. Been lots of news about the fire over here on the east coast.

    Hows it look for you where you’re at?

  • 2 xJane // Oct 24, 2007 at 7:20 am

    red. The sun is rising like a bloody dawn. It’s beautiful, but I know its price.

  • 3 johnr // Oct 24, 2007 at 9:06 pm

    Doing all right, though the poor air quality is discouraging any sort of active lifestyle. How about them Red Sox? :)

  • 4 xJane // Oct 27, 2007 at 9:04 am

    yesterday, except it wasn’t fog.

  • 5 xJane // Oct 23, 2007 at 6:03 pm

    hey, I was just looking for such a map! My mom just called to make sure I’m okay and, you know, breathing (*hack* *hack*), which I assured her I was not (outdoors at least). When I told her I thought the Malibu fire was closer to me than the San Bernardino one, she gave me “you think that, do you?” sort of grunt and confused me, despite the fact that she later attempted to argue the point that I was not that close to Griffith Park (since it’s in LA and I live in Burb-Ankh).

    So! Thank you for the map, I apresiate it. Hope the Irvine fires aren’t near enough to you to cause discomfort or evacuation.

Leave a Comment