Geographic Information System (GIS) Emergency Support for the May 2000 Cerro Grande Wildfire, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
In May 2000 the Cerro Grande wildfire swept through Los Alamos, New Mexico, burning approximately 17,400 ha (43,000 acres) and causing evacuation of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the communities of Los Alamos and White Rock. An integral part of emergency response during the fire was the use of geographic information system (GIS) technology, which continues to be used in support of post-fire restoration and environmental monitoring. During the fire Laboratory GIS staff and volunteers from other organizations worked to produce maps and provide support for emergency managers, including at an emergency GIS facility in Santa Fe. Subsequent to the fire, Laboratory GIS teams supported the multiagency Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) team to provide GIS data and maps for planning mitigation efforts. The GIS teams continue to help researchers, operations personnel, and managers deal with the tremendous changes caused by the fire. Much of the work is under the auspices of the Cerro Grande Rehabilitation Project (CGRP) to promote recovery from fire damage, improve information exchange, enhance emergency management, and conduct mitigation activities. GIS efforts during the fire provided important lessons about institutional matters, working relationships, and emergency preparedness. These lessons include the importance of (1) an integrated framework for assessing natural and human hazards in a landscape context; (2) a strong GIS capability for emergency response; (3) coordinated emergency plans for GIS operations; (4) a method for employees to report their whereabouts and receive authoritative information during an evacuation; (5) GIS data that are complete, backed-up, and available during an emergency; (6) adaptation of GIS to the circumstances of the emergency; (7) better coordination in the GIS community; (8) better integration of GIS into LANL operations; and (9) a central data warehouse for data and metadata. These lessons are important for planning future directions of GIS at LANL. Growing maturity of GIS is expected to lead to standardization and a better-integrated, more-coordinated approach to data sharing and emergency management at LANL, and within DOE, in accord with the federal government's increasing focus on electronic communication for its organizational and public interactions.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US DOE (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 812177
- Report Number(s):
- LA-14007-MS; TRN: US200313%%134
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 May 2003
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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