Forest Fires and Prescribed Burning in the Southern United States
8 March 1999
Several active fire signals and smoke plumes are recorded by OSEI with the NOAA AVHRR Sensor on 5 March 1999.
Fig.1. NOAA image of the vegetation fires in the
Southern United States 5 March 1999
(Source: NOAA http://www.osei.noaa.gov/)
See also remarks at the end of this daily update: The fire signatures in the Southeast represent mainly prescribed burning operations.
LAST NATIONAL INTERAGENCY COORDINATION CENTER SITUATION REPORT (5 March 1999) http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.htm
CURRENT SITUATION:
Initial attack and large fire activity increased in the Southern Area. The National
Interagency Coordination Center processed orders from the Southern Area for single engine
airtankers, lead planes, radio equipment and miscellaneous overhead. Several units in the
Southwest Area are reporting very high and extreme fire indices.
TIGER, Francis Marion & Sumter NF's. A Type I Incident Management Team (Melton) is assigned.
FERRY COMPLEX, Florida NF's. The fires in this complex are located around the community of Silver Springs. New starts continue to be discovered within the area of the complex.
OUTLOOK:
A RED FLAG WARNING IS POSTED FOR MOST OF FLORIDA TODAY DUE TO LOW HUMIDITIES.
Florida, Georgia and South Carolina will be fair with a chance of showers in Georgia and South Carolina Saturday, moving over the entire area Tuesday and Wednesday. Next week will be windy. High temperatures will be in the 60's (15°C) and 70's (21°C).
Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas will be windy through most of next week with scattered showers and thundershowers, except south Texas which will be fair. High temperatures will be in the mid 60's (15°C) and 70's (21°C), cooling to the 50's (10°C) and 60's (15°C) Tuesday through Thursday.
The Southwest will be generally dry, except for a chance of rain and mountain snow over the weekend. Tuesday will be windy. High temperatures will be in the 30's (-1°C) and 40's (4°C) in the mountains, to the 60's (15°C) and 70's (21°C) in the deserts.
An excellent Wildfire Season Forecast for Florida can be seen under this link: 1998-1999 Florida Wildfire Season Forecast
Remarks on Prescribed Burning:
The high-temperature events depicted by the NOAA AVHRR satellite in the Southeast are not
all wildfires. At this time of the year prescribed burning operations are conducted
routinely. A set of photographic documents on prescribed burning techniques and objectives
can be visited in our photo archive.
For more information on the extent of prescribed burning in the U.S.A. please visit the
last issue of International Forest
Fire News.