GFMC: Forest Fires in Canada, 21 July 2000
21 July 2000
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) distributes timely information about forest fires in Canada. The current fire situation for 19 July 2000 can be summarized as follows:
over the last 24 hours: 26 fires for 41,365 ha season summary: 2,834 fires for 190,329 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.
Number and area of forest fires in Canada, as of 12 July 2000
current uncontrolled controlled active modified 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 19 July 2000
(Source: FireM3)
A satellite image showing hotspots from 14 fires in Northwest Territories
on 18 July 2000. Smoke plumes were detected using
a CCRS algorithm and are enhanced to appear yellow.
(Source: FireM3)
Operational Significant Event Imagery (OSEI)
The following significant events were identified by Satellite Analysis Branch meteorologists and reviewed by the OSEI support team:
NESDIS/OSEI NOAA-14 AVHRR HRPT satellite image, 19 July 2000
Heat signatures (red) and smoke plumes (light blue) are visible from numerous fires burning east of
Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories
(Source: NESDIS/OSEI)
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.
The latest available images are shown below (20 July 2000):
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.
The latest available images are shown below (20 July 2000):
Foliar Moisture Content 
Surface Fuel Consumption 
Rate of Spread 
Total Fuel Consumption 
Head Fire Intensity 
Fire Type
The Saskatchewan Daily Forest Fire Situation Report (19 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: 17 extinguished in the past 24 hours: 3 new fires: 2 total number of fires to date this year: 312 total up to this date last year: 409 five year average for this date: 496
The International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment (ICFME) in Fort Providence, Northwest Territories/Canada, ended with its final chapter, Phase IV, on 1 July 2000. During the experimental phases a special ICFME website was updated daily. A new archive about
- 2000 daily updates
- a list of fire research and operational people and
- social hi-lites from Ft. Providence during the experiment
was updated (15 July 2000) on the ICFME website. The experiment has been also described in the International Forest Fire News (IFFN) No. 21 (September 1999).
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 (19 July 2000):
Lightning strikes in Kamloops area
A weather system currently moving through the south central portion of the province is bringing a series of lightning strikes to the Kamloops Fire Centre area. Of the total of 496 wildfires reported in the province to date this year, 139 have been caused by lightning strikes. “Although human carelessness has been the cause of most wildfires so far this year, lighting-caused fires will probably increase,” said provincial fire control officer Ralph Mohrmann. “We are coming into the season of summer thunderstorms. When we consider historical information, we can see that the number of lightning-caused wildfires is likely to peak over the next three weeks.” When statistics are tabulated at the end of each fire season, on average, about 50 percent of all forest fires in B.C. are found to be lightning-caused. “Lightning can strike almost anywhere, even as far as 15 kilometres from the edge of a storm. Some of the strikes are called dry lightning because they are not accompanied by precipitation. These types of strikes often cause wildfires,” said fire weather specialist Eric Meyer.The National Lightning Location System, provided through Environment Canada, gives the locations of lightning strikes in the province. These are automatically plotted in real-time on a map displayed in all fire centres. This information is used by forestry officials to route and schedule air patrols to assist in the early detection of wildfires.
Wildfire Statistics Report, 20 July 2000
Number of Fires Burning: 63 Number of New Fires (Lightning): 0 Number of New Fires (Human Caused): 1 Total Lightning Fires: 141 Total Human Caused Fires: 360 Total Fires to Date: 501 Total Area Burned (ha): 12,419
Fire Danger Rating for British Columbia, 20 July 2000.
(Source: British Columbia Forest Service)
