Forest Fires in the United States: 11 May 2000

Wildfire update: Los Alamos nuclear laboratory still closed - High explosives said to be safe
Firefighters used bulldozers to clear swaths of forest on Tuesday in a major push to seal off a forest fire that kept a major U.S. nuclear weapons laboratory closed and threatened a nearby town. Los Alamos National Laboratory will be closed again on Wednesday. More than 600 firefighters burned brush ahead of the blaze and cleared swaths of forest with bulldozers to deprive the fire of new fuel in an effort to ring the wildfire with a burn-free zone before weather conditions worsen, as they are forecast to do on Wednesday. On Wednesday officials are expecting bigger winds, higher temperatures and lower humidity. The laboratory's high explosives and plutonium were safely sealed in fireproof steel and concrete bunkers. The plutonium facility is "miles away" from the wildfire and the area around it has been cleared of trees and other combustible material. It is the first time that the laboratory had been closed due to a forest fire. The fire consumed already 3,365 acres (1,362 hectares), and it is expected that several more thousand acres (hectares) will burn by the end of the preventive burning phase. The fire began last Thursday when fires deliberately set to clear scrub bush in Bandelier National Monument, the site of ancient Pueblo Indian cliff dwellings, burned out of control as winds picked up to 40 mph (64 kph). The prescribed burn was carefully planned, however, the weather conditions changed unpredictable. A state of emergency was declared on Monday for Los Alamos and counties in southern New Mexico where another wildfire has burned 5,400 acres (2,160 hectares) and destroyed three homes. No serious injuries have been reported in either fire.
(Source: World Environment News, 10 May 2000 from Planet Ark)

The GOES and NOAA/AVHRR satellite images of 10 May 2000 reflect the fire situation in New Mexico/Los Alamos as it was highlighted in the GFMC reports during the last days. An active fire signal with a huge smoke plume was recorded by NOAA/OSEI with the NOAA-14 AVHRR HRPT satellite on 10 May 2000 in New Mexico.

Fig.1. Heat signature (red) and large smoke plume (light blue) are visible from the large fire burning near Los Alamos. The fire has burned over 4,000 acres and forced the evacuation of 11,500 residents.
(Source: NOAA/OSEI)

Fig.2. NESDIS/OSEI GOES-8 satellite image of New Mexico, 10 May 2000.
Large smoke plume is visible from the fire burning near Los Alamos.
(Source: NOAA/OSEI).

The Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) is a contribution of "The Fire Behavior Research Work Unit", Missoula (Montana USA). The broad area component of the Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) generates maps of selected fire weather and fire danger components. Fire Danger (Potential) is a normalized adjective rating class across different fuel models and station locations. It is based on information provided by local station managers about the primary fuel model, fire danger index selected to reflect staffing level, and climatological class breakpoints. Low danger (class 1) is green and extreme potential (class 5) is red.

Fig. 3. & 4. Fire Danger Forecast Maps of the United States and Alaska for 10 May (observation time) and 11 May (forecast) 2000.
(Source: Fire Behavior Research Work Unit, Missoula)

The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) is a soil/duff drought index that ranges from 0 (no drought) to 800 (extreme drought) and is based on a soil capacity of 8 inches of water. Factors in the index are maximum daily temperature, daily precipitation, antecedent precipitation, and annual precipitation. KBDI = 0 - 200: Soil moisture and large class fuel moistures are high and do not contribute much to fire intensity. Typical of spring dormant season following winter precipitation. KBDI = 200 - 400: Typical of late spring, early growing season. Lower litter and duff layers are drying and beginning to contribute to fire intensity. KBDI = 400 - 600: Typical of late summer, early fall. Lower litter and duff layers actively contribute to fire intensity and will burn actively. KBDI = 600 - 800: Often associated with more severe drought with increased wildfire occurrence. Intense, deep burning fires with significant downwind spotting can be expected. Live fuels can also be expected to burn actively at these levels.

Incident Management Situation Report (10 May 2000)
Current Situation:
Diminished winds assisted crews in making progress on the large fires in New Mexico and Texas. Nationwide, no new large fires were reported and initial attack activity was minimal. The National Interagency Coordination Center mobilized helicopters, single engine airtankers, infrared aircraft, meteorological equipment, radio equipment, engines, Type I and II crews, and miscellaneous overhead. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Michigan.
Outlook:
A fire weather watch is posted in north and central new mexico today for strong and gusty winds.
A fire weather watch is posted in northwest arizona today for strong winds and low afternoon relative humidities.
A fire weather watch is posted in the florida panhandle today for low relative humidities.
New Mexico will be partly cloudy in the north and mostly sunny in the south. Winds will be southwest at 15 to 30 mph. High temperatures will be in the 80's and 90's, with cooler temperatures in mountainous areas. Minimum afternoon humidities will be 10 to 20 percent.
Arizona will be mostly sunny and locally windy. Winds will be southwest at 15 to 30 mph. Minimum humidities will be 10 to 25 percent. High temperatures will be in the upper 70's to the upper 80's in the north and warmer in the deserts.
West Texas will be mostly sunny. There is a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms over extreme southwest Texas. Winds will be southwest at 10 to 20 mph. High temperatures will be in the 90's to 105. Afternoon relative humidities will be 10 to 15 percent.
Florida will be partly cloudy with isolated showers and thunderstorms. High temperatures will be in the 80's. Winds will be south to southwest at 10 to 15 mph.

National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC)
Current Wildland Fire Information (8 May 2000):
There are currently five large fires burning in New Mexico, Arizona, Florida and Texas. Dispatchers at NIFC have moved various fire suppression resources to areas with increased wildland fire activity.
Large wildland fires in New Mexico, Arizona and Florida have required the assistance of national management teams to manage the resources necessary to contain the blaze.

Fire conditions are also very high to extreme in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Almost 450 wildland fires were reported to the National Interagency Fire Center during the past three days for a total of nearly 28,000 acres (11,331 ha) burned. So far this year, more than 31,000 wildland fires have burned 791,000 acres (320,201 ha) from every region of the country.

Long-range, 30-day weather forecasts are predicting above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation for the southern tier of states from southern California to Florida and throughout the Midwest (see Fig.5. 30 and 90-day forecast maps).

Tab.1. Five-Year Wildland Fire Comparison Statistics Year-to-Date for the United States (8 May 2000)
(Source: National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC)

As of 05/08/00	Number of Wildland Fires	Area burnt
As of 05/08/00	Number of Wildland Fires	Acres	Hectars
2000	31,415	791,236	320,201
1999	33,677	619,869	250,852
1998	16,938	283,138	114,581
1997	22,705	358,174	144,947
1996	50,837	1,325,783	536,525

Remarks on Prescribed Burning
At this time of the year prescribed burning operations are conducted routinely.
Fire is an important natural tool for ecosystem management. It can reduce dense vegetation improving wildlife habitat and lessening the potential for large, wildfire disasters. Land managers are directed to prepare a prescribed fire/burn plan for every area of public land that can burn. Some areas require total suppression while others will benefit from a wildland fire. Those areas that will benefit from a fire can be treated by a prescribed fire.
Especially, for the moment, in the southern and southeastern regions of the United States prescribed fire activities will be carried out in the following weeks and months. In this case, fire signals on satellite images can be traced back to this kind of land management activities.

In the Prescribed Fire Position Paper of the Forest Protection Bureau by the Division of Forestry in Florida, prescribed fire activity is described as a land management application that is essential to the practice of forestry, management of wildlife, preservation of endangered plant and animal species, improvement of range conditions and reduction of wildfire damage in the wildland/urban interface areas. While there is general public and landowner concern with increased smoke, reduced air quality, and liability; the general public and landowners benefit significantly from the reduction of devastating wildfire, improved wildlife habitat and forage, preservation of endangered and threatened plant and animal species, and improved management of forest resources. The prospect of severe reductions in the utilization of this management tool is of major concern to Florida's natural resource managers and conservationists due to the subsequent loss of derived public and private benefits. They suggest the need for legislative attention.

A set of photographic documents on prescribed burning techniques and objectives in the Southeast can be visited in our photo archive.