Forest Fires in the United States: 6 December 1999
Forest Fires in the United States
6 December 1999
The Wildland Fire Assessment System is a contribution of “The Fire Behavior Research Work Unit”, Missoula (Montana USA) and submits a fire danger map, where the fire danger for the United States is forecasted.
Fig. 1. Fire Danger Forecast Map for 6 December 1999
(Source: Fire Behavior Research Work Unit, Missoula)
According to the INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SITUATION REPORT, as of 3 December 1999, the fire situation in the United States can be summarized by following basic fire data. Most of the fires burning in the last weeks are located in the Southern Area of 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 – – 91,827 2,249,402
CURRENT SITUATION (as of 3 December)
Moderate initial attack activity continues in the Eastern and Southern Areas. Favorable weather conditions, quick response and adequate
resources combined to keep large fire activity low. The Southern Area continues to mobilize resources to Texas. Very high to extreme fire
danger were reported in California, New Mexico, Texas, Missouri and Virginia.
OUTLOOK
Southern California will have Santa Ana winds in the mountain passes 30 to 40 MPH with gusts over 60 MPH for Friday and early Saturday. Offshore winds will decrease in strength late Saturday but can be expected to remain until Monday. Sunny and warm conditions will prevail through next Thursday with high temperatures generally in the 60’s and 70’s. Minimum humidities will be in the 10 to 20 percent range.
There will be partly cloudy conditions in west Texas and southern New Mexico with strong winds in the 20 to 30 MPH range. The rest of the southwest can expect scattered showers throughout the weekend. Highs will be in the 30’s and 40’s in the north and in the 60’s and 70’s in the south. Generally drier and warmer weather is forecasted for next week.
Southern Missouri, southern Illinois and southern Indiana will have scattered showers through Monday with highs in the 50’s and 60’s. Cooler temperatures and drier conditions are forecasted for the rest of the week.
… .
For detailed information regarding specified regions, please refer to the whole report.
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reports its Wildland Fire Update every Friday unless significant activity occurs.
A Four-Year Wildland Fire Comparison Statistic shows the number and the area of wildland fires from 1996 to 1999.
Tab. 1. Wildland Fire Comparison Statistic of the last four years
As of 3 Dec. 1999 Number of Wildland Fires Number of hectares 1999 91,827 2,249,402 1998 75,913 922,101 1997 64,943 1,148,671 1996 94,407 2,431,614
The preliminary summary report of the National Interagency Fire Center provides also a map of the top ten largest fires in the current fire season 1999. Attached to the map, the location of the largest fires with detailed information are given in table 2.
Fig. 2. Top 10 Largest Fires of the Season (as of 5 November)
(Source: National Interagency Fire Center)
Tab. 2. Top 10 Largest Fires of 1999
No.
(map) Location (State) Agency Lands Hectares Date
(from time of Report to Containment of the fire) 1 Nevada Bureau of Land Management
146,358
4-11 August 2 Nevada Bureau of Land Management 84,781 5-12 August 3 Nevada Bureau of Land Management 63,519 4-10 August 4 California Shasta-Trinity National Forest 56,876 23 August – 3 November 5 Idaho Bureau of Land Management 56,217 3-7 August 6 California Los Padres National Forest 35,086 8 September – 1 November 7 Nevada Bureau of Land Management 33,184 6-12 August 8 Alaska Upper Yukon Zone – State Lands 31,930 12 June – 18 July 9 Nevada Bureau of Land Management 29,340 8-13 July 10 North Dakota Dakota Prairie National Forest 27,519 31 October – 3 November
This summary will be further updated with a final 1999 season report by the end of this year.
