Fire Map Pages

[JB]

How do the Fire Map pages work for the Portland Metro area? Seems like all 3 counties use the same mapping system. Is this a regional map system? Are they online anywhere? Looked at Portland GIS maps -but didn't see anything.

Thanks

 

[DickH]

How do the Fire Map pages work for the Portland Metro area? Seems like all 3 counties use the same mapping system. Is this a regional map system? Are they online anywhere? Looked at Portland GIS maps -but didn't see anything.

Thanks

I believe it is statewide. I know they start in Astoria. They are not available to the public. Your best bet is Pulse Point. It displays the dispatch location at the same time the dispatch goes to the stations. If you click on the street a map pops up.

 

[PMJ2kx]

This is all of Washco, plus some limited areas of Clackamas, Multnomah, and Yamhill Counties.
http://www.wc-roads.com/uploadedfiles/Firedistricts_completedist.pdf

They are the only county that I've encountered in the State that have posted map pages, and it's not intentional, per se - the map link above is mixed fire district boundaries and bridge information from WC Land Use & Transportation.

Hope this gives you a little better insight.

 

[JB]

I believe it is statewide. I know they start in Astoria. They are not available to the public. Your best bet is Pulse Point. It displays the dispatch location at the same time the dispatch goes to the stations. If you click on the street a map pops up.

Thank you. I was just curious how the mapping/grid system worked - not on locating the incident. The counties seem to be using the same map system - which is a bit unique - and was curious to it's orgins.

 

[pdxmedic]

The fire map pages correspond to the one-square-mile sections of the Public Land Survey System (township and range), if memory serves. The 4 digit number is actually a grid reference, formatted XXYY.

 

[DickH]

The fire map pages correspond to the one-square-mile sections of the Public Land Survey System (township and range), if memory serves. The 4 digit number is actually a grid reference, formatted XXYY.

Here's how they look.
Overview - East side of Portland

Page 5200 - 1-mile grid. A is upper left, B is upper right, C is lower left, D is lower right.

 

[sparklehorse]

Interesting map info Dick, thanks for posting that. The traditional origin point for sections & townships for this part of the country is actually in the west hills of Portland at Willamette Stone State Park:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamette_Stone

The grid image you posted does conform to the section/township grid. Given that, it seems a bit odd the fire map origin is set in Astoria. Perhaps it just made more sense to them to start it in the 'upper left' corner of the state? Their numbering scheme also seems odd, given that the center of Portland is about 46 miles south of Astoria, and 56 miles east. That should make the grid number for the map page you posted something close to 4561, not 5200. Parkrose Heights is definitely not a hundred miles east of Astoria.

.

 

[DickH]

Interesting map info Dick, thanks for posting that. The traditional origin point for sections & townships for this part of the country is actually in the west hills of Portland at Willamette Stone State Park:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamette_Stone

The grid image you posted does conform to the section/township grid. Given that, it seems a bit odd the fire map origin is set in Astoria. Perhaps it just made more sense to them to start it in the 'upper left' corner of the state? Their numbering scheme also seems odd, given that the center of Portland is about 46 miles south of Astoria, and 56 miles east. That should make the grid number for the map page you posted something close to 4561, not 5200. Parkrose Heights is definitely not a hundred miles east of Astoria.

I have no idea what number they started with in Astoria, but I was told that's where the numbers start.

 

[sparklehorse]

I have no idea what number they started with in Astoria, but I was told that's where the numbers start.

It would be interesting to see a fire map grid for Clatsop County, or even Tillamook or Washington Counties.

.

 

[sparklehorse]

Oh, you know, I'll bet the origin of the Oregon Fire Map grid is actually somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean! Out north of Astoria a bit, and considerably west of it. At least as far west as the western most point of Oregon (Cape Blanco). This is because areas that are west of Astoria, say Coos Bay for instance, would need a negative grid number if Astoria were the origin point. And making some quick distance measurements in my mapping software bears this out, your map page 5200 is right in the ballpark, just about a hundred miles east of Cape Blanco.

.

 

[DickH]

... your map page 5200 is right in the ballpark, just about a hundred miles east of Cape Blanco.

Whew! Thank Goodness!
Wash. state must use a special formula developed by Rube Goldberg for numbering their maps. Looking at the Clark county maps has given me a huge headache. For example, map 2001 is bordered on the north by 3036, on the east by 2106, on the south by 2012 and nothing on the west.

 

[JB]

Thanks for the info. It sort of makes sense. If the numbering logic holds out, why do they go from 5299 to 5200, 5399 to 5300? Seems like it would be 5299 to 52100 etc.

 

[sparklehorse]

Thanks for the info. It sort of makes sense. If the numbering logic holds out, why do they go from 5299 to 5200, 5399 to 5300? Seems like it would be 5299 to 52100 etc.

If my theory is correct, 5299 is 52 miles south, and 99 miles east of the origin point somewhere west of Astoria. 5200 is 52 mi. south, and 100 west. Etc.

 

[sparklehorse]

<snip> 5200 is 52 mi. south, and 100 west. Etc.

Ooops, meant to say: "5200 is 52 mi. south, and 100 EAST. Etc."

I should proofread more.

.

 

[JB]

Correct, I see your theory and believe it to be correct, my point being wouldn't 5200 be 52 miles south and 00 would be the orgin. 5201 would then be 52 miles south and 1 mile east of 00 etc. If this is a statewide map, then it seems like the map #'s would repeat every 100 miles if it goes from 5299 to 5200 as shown above.

 

[sparklehorse]

If this is a statewide map, then it seems like the map #'s would repeat every 100 miles if it goes from 5299 to 5200 as shown above.

True. If my theory is correct, the map numbers would repeat like that across the state. I guess they didn't want to use more than 4 digits for some reason when they devised the grid. But that works perfectly fine, as the next map page number 5200 to the east would be in Sherman County. No one there would care that there's also a map page 5200 in Multnomah County. Assuming they even use the same map grid there.

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[ljensen]

Sparklehorse, you are correct it about the "100" numbers. The 100 digit is dropped as when this system went into effect cad systems only allowed for 4 digits for the map number. Not sure that applied to all the cad systems but in Clackamas County that was the case when it went into effect.