Happy Camp Fire Complex upgrades their maps

The Happy Camp Fire Complex has been burning for more than three weeks. A few days ago they began producing and making available maps of the fire that are more useful for the public. An example is the one above showing, graphically, the evacuation areas.

I don’t know why, but it is rare for incident management teams (IMT) to provide good maps of evacuation areas. It could be because the process of evacuation is a shared responsibility. The IMT is usually responsible for identifying and recommending which areas are to be evacuated, but local law enforcement in most cases implements the evacuation. Perhaps the IMT does not want to step on the toes of the folks in charge of enforcing the order by making a high quality map, and law enforcement does not usually have the capability of producing and distributing maps on short notice. In most cases, law enforcement would be thrilled, I imagine, to have the IMT make good quality, current, evacuation maps.

The next step in providing good information to the public is to get IMTs to provide better data about the pictures they post on InciWeb and other sites. Public Information Officers REALLY need to provide at least four pieces of information about each photo:

1. photographer’s name,
2. date taken,
3. location,
4. description.

The Happy Camp Complex of fires has burned almost 72,000 acres and the IMT is calling it 15 percent contained. Today the area is under a Red Flag Warning.

InciWeb has more information about the fire.

Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire. View all posts by Bill Gabbert