GFMC: Forest Fires in Canada, 17 July 2000

over the last 24 hours:	27 fires for 136 ha
season summary:	2,719 fires for 118,648 hectares

According to the National Forest Fire Situation Report of 12 July 2000 (updated every Friday), fire activity increased above normal this week, with a large number of small fires in the Northwest Territories. Area burned remains less than 10% of normal, due to continuing wet weather in much of the country. High risk continues in the northwest, with moderate risk in parts of Ontario and Quebec.

current	uncontrolled	controlled	active modified
current	15	86	88
	2000 (to date)	10-year average	in % of normal	Prescribed burning
Number	2,630	4,576	57%	36
Area (ha)	113,722	1,240,274	9%	7,765

The Fire Monitoring, Mapping, and Modelling (FireM3) is a collaboration of the Canadian Forest Service and the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing. Through the Map Link at the FireM3 web site you can access daily hotspot images. An Internet Map Server, which is like a simple GIS running on the host computer, allows you to zoom in on any fire or other area of interest and view the image and map data at full (1km) resolution. You can also click on any fire and get information about that fire.

Satellite image, daily fire overview map and season-to-date hotspot map for 16 July 2000
(Source: FireM3)

The Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System is a part of the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System and consists of six components that account for the effects of fuel moisture and wind on fire behavior. The first three components are fuel moisture codes and are numerical ratings of the moisture content of litter and other fine fuels, the average moisture contentof loosely compacted organic layers of moderate depth, and the average moisture content of deep, compact organic layers. The remaining three components are fire behavior indexes which represent the rate of fire spread, the fuel available for combustion, and the frontal fire intensity; their values rise as the fire danger increases. For futher information please see the Summary Information.

Fine Fuel Moisture Code	Duff Moisture Code	Drought Code
Initial Spread Index	Buildup Index	Fire Weather Index
	Fire Danger Rating

The Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP) System is an other part of the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System and provides quantitative estimates of head fire spread rate, fuel consumption, fire intensity, and fire description. With the aid of an elliptical fire growth model, it gives estimates of fire area, perimeter, perimeter growth rate, and flank and back fire behavior. For futher information please see the Summary Information.

Foliar Moisture Content	Surface Fuel Consumption	Rate of Spread
Total Fuel Consumption	Head Fire Intensity	Fire Type

The Saskatchewan Daily Forest Fire Situation Report (16 July 2000) is listing all forest fires currently burning in Saskatchewan and their current status. This report also gives statistics on the total number of fires to date. The whole report and further information can be accessed at the fire management website of "Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management" (SERM).

fires burning in the province today:	16
extinguished in the past 24 hours:	2
new fires:	1
total number of fires to date this year:	306
total up to this date last year:	398
five year average for this date:	481

The experimental site, 40 km north of Fort Providence, Northwest Territories/Canada.
Depending on the wind direction and wind speed, the plots were ignited with a terra torch truck on one side of the plot.
The 150*150 m sized plots (2.25 ha) burned with a speed of 20-40 m/min.
(Source: GFMC)

British Columbia Forest Service Wildfire Report (13 July 2000):
Vigorous wildfire burning between Twin Lakes and Keremeos
B.C. Forest Service fire crews are fighting a two-hectare wildfire burning vigorously just off Highway 3A between Twin Lakes and Keremeos. An air tanker is overhead and a helicopter is bucketing the fire. Nineteen initial attack crew members are on site. Equipment and crews were immediately deployed when the fire was reported at 10:11 this morning. The fire is burning 0.5 kilometres away from two houses, and crews are building a fireguard between the fire and the homes. Forty km/h winds fanned the fire into the grass, brush and open timber. The cause of the fire is under investigation. High winds in dry conditions are making containment efforts more difficult. Although crews are confident at this time, a change in wind speed or direction can make the difference between early containment or the explosive spread of a wildfire.

Number of Fires Burning:	64
Number of New Fires (Lightning):	3
Number of New Fires (Human Caused):	3
Total Lightning Fires:	127
Total Human Caused Fires:	337
Total Fires to Date:	464
Total Area Burned (ha):	12,380