GFMC: Forest Fires in Canada, 25 July 2000

over the last 24 hours:	57 fires for 6,212 ha
season summary:	3,067 fires for 216,851 hectares

According to the National Forest Fire Situation Report of 19 July 2000 (updated every Friday), that the area burned is 11% of normal, due to continuing wet weather in much of the country. High fire risk is in British Columbia and the northwest, with warmer and drier weather over much of the country expected to increase risk in all regions.

current	uncontrolled	controlled	active modified
current	2	90	96
	2000 (to date)	10-year average	in % of normal	Prescribed burning
Number	2,808	4,907	57%	40
Area (ha)	148,964	1,365,929	11%	7,863

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 (1 km) resolution. You can also click on any fire and get information about that fire.

Daily fire overview map and season-to-date hotspot map for 22 July 2000
(Source: FireM3)

The satellite image is showing hotspots from a large grass fire in southern
Alberta on 23 July 2000. The burnt area surrounding the red hotspots
appears black on the image. A grey smoke plume is observed
to extend over 200 km into Saskatchewan.
Firefighters from 15 departments in the region and the US had the fire under
control by late last night. The fire burned a swath 24 km long and 10 km wide.
(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 (24 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:	22
extinguished in the past 24 hours:	0
new fires:	0
total number of fires to date this year:	320
total up to this date last year:	545
five year average for this date:	536

British Columbia Forest Service Wildfire Report (24 July 2000):
Firefighters continue battle near Kootenay
Fifty-five Forest Service firefighters are battling a wildfire burning vigorously today on the east side of Kootenay Lake north of Creston. Air tankers and helicopters with water buckets continue to support firefighters in their efforts. The 87-hectare fire close to Sanca Creek was caused by lightning and was spotted by a patrol plane on Saturday. Access by road has been difficult, and sparks have ignited smaller spot fires outside the main fire area. A special incident command management team has been assigned to this wildfire to develop a strategy for its containment. The fire has not become a threat to homes or property. The main concern for firefighters is the possibility of a shift in wind direction. This could cause the fire to change direction and burn outside the fireguards into timber. There were a total of 61 new fires in the Southeast Fire Centre area over the weekend.

Number of Fires Burning:	162
Number of New Fires (Lightning):	0
Number of New Fires (Human Caused):	0
Total Lightning Fires:	275
Total Human Caused Fires:	381
Total Fires to Date:	656
Total Area Burned (ha):	12,526