GFMC: Forest Fires in Canada, 8 August 2000

over the last 24 hours:	50 fires for 32,950 ha
season summary:	4,054 fires for 484,479 hectares

According to the National Forest Fire Situation Report of 2 August 2000 (updated every Friday), that the fire activity remains below average in most areas, activity is increasing.

current	uncontrolled	controlled	active modified
current	36	208	198
	2000 (to date)	10-year average	in % of normal	Prescribed burning
Number	3,773	5,934	64%	40
Area (ha)	314,979	1,747,898	18%	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 7 August 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 (7 August 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:	30
extinguished in the past 24 hours:	3
new fires:	7
total number of fires to date this year:	374
total up to this date last year:	580
five year average for this date:	590

British Columbia Forest Service Wildfire Report (7 August 2000):
Lightning caused fires continue to be biggest concern
Over half of B.C's 800 professional firefighters were busy this long weekend fighting over 100 new lightning-caused fires throughout the province. Historically, the August long weekend is the busiest for firefighters. The risk of wildfire starts increases as temperatures soar and thousands of people head out into forested areas to enjoy camping and other outdoor activities. Careless use of campfires is known to be one of the leading causes of wildfires. However, through this long weekend, it has been spot fires caused by lightning that have kept fire crews busy. "We want to express our appreciation to the public for being so careful with their campfires this weekend," said Jim Price, superintendent of fire preparedness for the province. "Firefighters have been extremely busy responding to fires caused by all this lightning activity. There is a lot of summer ahead of us and we encourage people to continue to be very careful with their campfires." "We are expecting more thunderstorm activity. Over the last 24 hours the southeast has received over 7,000 lightning strikes, so we are expecting more spot fires in that area," said provincial fire control officer John Flanagan. "Firefighters will stay on high alert until the current hazard is reduced."

Number of Fires Burning:	132
Number of New Fires (Lightning):	2
Number of New Fires (Human Caused):	3
Total Lightning Fires:	470
Total Human Caused Fires:	418
Total Fires to Date:	888
Total Area Burned (ha):	12,733