Forest Fires in the United States
7 September 1999
Two new fires burn in Oregon and Washington. Firefighters were trying to contain a 1,000 ha wildfire that broke out Sunday along the Columbia River in Washington state. More than 10 houses were evacuated briefly. A fire in central Oregon burned nearly 800 ha. The blaze, which began Sunday, was the work of an arsonist. Flames spread quickly through mixed grass and timber land. Other wildfires in Montana, Utah and Idaho were contained last week.
The National Interagency Fire Center reported on 6 September 1999 that 8 large fires in California, Idaho, Oregon, Texas and Washington are burning an area for a total of 69,303 acres (28,045 ha). More than 8,600 firefighters are battling blazes throughout the West and are supported by 519 engines, 85 helicopters, 2 airtankers, and 1,408 support personnel.
Fire Weather Outlook
A fire weather watch is posted for eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and southern Idaho
for strong winds and low relative humidity.
From California to Colorado hot temperatures and low relative humidities will
continue under a ridge of high pressure. The weak monsoonal moisture will bring widely
scattered thunderstorms to eastern Arizona and New Mexico north to around the Four Corners
area
.
Fig. 1. Large Wildland Fires in the United States, 6
September 1999
(National Interagency Fire
Center)
For more information please refer to the website of National Interagency Fire Center.
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.2. IAMS image of active fires in Alaska, 6
September 1999
(Source: BLM - Alaska Fire Service )
According the INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SITUATION REPORT the current situation for 6 September 1999 can be quoted as follows:
"...
CURRENT SITUATION
Initial attack activity was minimal in most areas. New large fire activity was reported in
the Northwest, Eastern Great Basin and Northern California Areas. Large fire activity
continued in the Northern California and Southern California Areas. The National
Interagency Coordination Center mobilized infrared aircraft, helicopters,
telecommunications equipment, caterers, showers, crews, smokejumpers and miscellaneous
overhead. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Oregon, California, Idaho,
Utah, Nevada, Arizona, South Dakota, Indiana, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and
Texas.
OUTLOOK:
In the northern western U.S., an upper level trough and associated jet will cause strong
winds to surface in eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and southern Idaho. Relative
humidities will remain low in many places prompting fire weather watches. Montana will
continue to have mostly cloudy and cooler temperatures. The trough may cause a few rain
showers west of the Cascade Mountains. From California to Colorado warm to hot
temperatures and low relative humidities will continue under a ridge of high pressure. The
weak monsoonal moisture will bring widely scattered to scattered thunderstorms to eastern
Arizona and New Mexico north to around the Four Corners area.
A cold front will push into the Texas panhandle. Another tropical wave will push moisture
north from along the coast setting up scattered thunderstorms and rain showers across the
state.
Kentucky will see tropical moisture from Tropical Depression Dennis, bringing scattered
rain showers to the east, while the west remains dry and hot.
... ."
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 |
| 133 | 3,498 | 70,839 | 1,787,297 |
For detailed information regarding specified regions, please refer to the whole report.