Forest Fires in the United States
3 September 1999
The National Interagency Fire Center reported on 2 September 1999 that 11 large fires in California, Idaho, Montana, and Texas are burning an area of 153,781 acres. More than 10,000 firefighters are battling blazes throughout the West and are supported by 573 engines, 102 helicopters, 14 airtankers, and 1,578 support personnel. The areas of fire are shown in the large fire map below.
Fire Weather Outlook
Strong winds are expected to continue in southern California, while northern California is
expectinglight winds and temperatures in the mid 80s. Central and west Texas will
remain dry, while eastern Texas is expected to receive someprecipitation. Unseasonably
cool temperatures and partly cloudy skies are expected for Washington, Oregon, northern
California and northern Nevada.
Fig. 1. Large Wildland Fires in the United States, 2
September 1999
(National Interagency Fire
Center)
For more information please refer to the website of National Interagency Fire Center.
Several active fire signals are recorded by OSEI with the NOAA-15 POES AVHRR HRPT on 2 September 1999 in California and southwestern Idaho.
Fig. 2. The image shows heat signatures and smoke
plumes from areas of fire in northern and southern California.
(Source: NOAA http://www.osei.noaa.gov/)
Fig.3. The satellite image is showing hotspots in
California detected by satellite on 1 September 1999.
(Source: FireM3)
The BLM - Alaska Fire Service Initial Attack Management System (IAMS) is suite of computer applications developed by BLM/Fire to aid dispatchers and fire managers. IAMS Maps is one of these applications and provides graphical representation of various kinds of geographic data. Maps has been modified to produce output to a Web site to allow internet access to the data that IAMS stores. Dynamic data such as lightning (available May - September), fires, etc. are updated at the homepage of the BLM - Alaska Fire Service (select Maps / AFS IAMS Maps Viewer) every 15 minutes during the fire season.
Fig.4. IAMS image of active fires in Alaska, 3
September 1999
(Source: BLM - Alaska Fire Service )
According the INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SITUATION REPORT the current situation for 3 September 1999 can be quoted as follows:
"...
CURRENT SITUATION
Initial attack activity was moderate in the Southern Area and minimal in most other areas.
New large fire activity was reported in the Eastern Great Basin Area. Large fire activity
continued in the Northern California, Southern California, Eastern Great Basin, Northern
Rockies and Southern Areas. The National Interagency Coordination Center mobilized
infrared aircraft, telecommunications equipment, engines, crews, and miscellaneous
overhead. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Oregon, Washington,
California, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, South Dakota, Kentucky, Alabama,
Indiana, Tennessee and Texas.
OUTLOOK:
A cool upper level trough of low pressure will continue to dominate most of the west even
as it moves slowly east. Scattered thunderstorms and rain showers will extend ahead of the
trough from eastern Arizona and New Mexico north through the Rockies to Montana. Also
associated with and ahead of the trough, are gusty winds to 20 mph.
A stable, drier and warmer air mass will slowly filter into the west coast behind the
trough as it moves east. Temperatures Friday will be in the mid 50s to mid 60s along the
coast and in most of the mountains, to 70s in the inland valleys. Temperatures wil be
warming to the 80s and 90s in the southern valleys and to around 100 in the deserts and
will continue to warm up going into the weekend across the west.
Minimum relative humidities will range from 50 percent along the coast to 15 to 20 percent
in the mountains and lower inland valleys, to 10 percent in the deserts.
A tropical wave along the eastern Texas coast will push moisture north through eastern
Texas and eastern Oklahoma and into Arkansas, resulting in scattered showers and
thunderstorms. The west will remain dry. Temperatures will continue in the 80s and 90s
with minimum relative humidity around 35 percent.
... ."
Following basic fire data describe the fire situation in the United States:
| Number of FIRES in the last 24 hours | HECTARES burning in the last 24 hours | FIRES YEAR-TO-DATE |
HECTARES YEAR-TO-DATE |
| 199 | 6,413 | 70,233 | 1,740,623 |
For detailed information regarding specified regions, please refer to the whole report.