The Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history to date. The fire started on November 8, 2018, in Butte County. After exhibiting extreme fire behavior, an urban firestorm formed in the densely populated foothill town of Paradise, causing 86 civilian fatalities.
Quick and complete building assessments are critical to allow residents and businesses affected by the fire to determine their plans moving forward, whether it means re-entry, rebuilding, or relocating. Because of the rapid development of these emergencies, technical challenges, and multitudes of professional and volunteer organizations, many data points collected by field workers using mobile devices had inaccurate data entered or incomplete documentation. The points needed quality control performed on them post collection.
GISCorps, when called upon, stepped up quickly and proficiently to assess the inaccuracy of these points through many varied methods, then updated the final datasets with correct locations and information. Volunteers worked tirelessly to provide quality control on these data points representing over 19,000 structures assessed as destroyed, damaged, or unaffected. Without assistance from the GISCorps, these collected assessments would not have been checked without a cost to the County in time and resources.
Thank you, GISCorps, for your devotion to helping organizations like ours in these frantic and devastating circumstances in using GIS to help people get the information they need quickly and reliably. We are indebted to you for your services.
Jim Aranguren, GIS Manager
Butte County, California, January 2019