GFMC: Forest Fires in the United States: 5 June 2000

In the West, hot, dry conditions have fueled wildfires in several states. Firefighters in New Mexico had a blaze in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains about 70 percent contained Sunday. The fire had forced the evacuation of hundreds since it began Monday in a pine forest east of Santa Fe. The fire threat in the area remained high despite thunderstorms Thursday and Friday. In Arizona, an 11,000-acre (4,451 ha) fire in the Kaibab National Forest was about 75 percent contained Sunday. Authorities said the steep rugged terrain has made part of the fire impossible to reach, but natural barriers and fire lines now ring the fire.

Fires in Florida
A government helicopter fighting wildfires in southwest Florida crashed Sunday morning and killed the pilot. The helicopter was being flown for the Division of Forestry. The cause of the crash is under investigation. The pilot had been fighting a fire that reportedly threatened about a dozen homes near Fort Myers.

Since the first of the year, 3,300 fires have burned 120,000 acres (48,562 ha) in Florida.

Fig. 1. and 2. Heat signatures (red) are visible from a number of fires burning in northern Florida, and in the central and western areas of southern Florida. Additional fires may be obscured by clouds or have heat signatures too small to be detected by the 1 km resolution of NOAA-14.
(Source: NOAA/OSEI).

Fig. 3. GOES-8 multichannel color composite of Florida. Dense smoke from fires burning in central Florida caused a number of morning accidents on Interstate highway 95 inland from Cocoa Beach.
(Source: NOAA/OSEI).

According to the Fire and Aviation Management Morning Report from the USDA Forest Service, 2 June 2000, current wildfires are burning in:
New Mexico
VIVEASH: This 25,094 acre (10,155 ha) fire is burning on the Santa Fe National Forest five miles northwest of Pecos, New Mexico. Rainfall of 1/10 inch, cooler temperatures and higher humidity helped slow the fire. 20% of the work has been done to contain the fire. 1,013 people are working on the fire.
Arizona:
PUMPKIN: This 10,200 acre (4,127 ha) fire is burning on the Kaibab National Forest, 25 miles northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona. The fire has been less active due to favorable weather and diminishing winds. 903 people are working on the fire. 55% of the work has been completed to contain this fire.
Florida:
MICROWAVE: This 1,500 acre (607 ha) fire is burning in Osceola County, Florida on lands administered by the Florida State Division of Forestry. 60% of the work has been completed to contain the fire.
SUNSET: This 700 acre (283 ha) fire is located in Osceola County, Florida on lands administered by the Florida State Division of Forestry. 70% of the work has been completed to contain the fire.
HOLEYLAND: This 14,000 acre (5,665 ha) fire is burning in the Holeyland Wildlife Management Area in Palm Beach County, on lands protected by the Florida State Division of Forestry. All of the work has been done to contain the fire and this will be the last report unless conditions change.
GREEN SWAMP COMPLEX: This 4,264 acre (1,725 ha) complex include all fires in Citrus, Sumter, Hernando, Pasco, and Lake Counties and is the jurisdiction of the Florida State Division of Forestry. There are 171 people working on these fires. 52% of the work has been done to contain the fire.
CARLTON RESERVE: This 6,250 acre (2,529 ha) fire is 10 miles northwest of Port Charlotte, FL and is the jurisdiction of the Florida State Division of Forestry. 50% of the work has been done to contain this fire.
RETENTION POND: This 1,125 acre (455 ha) fire is burning on Florida State Division of Forestry administered land on swampland in Orange County, Florida. One subdivision remains threatened. 123 people are working on this fire and 80% of the work to contain the blaze has been completed.
TOWER: This 1,172 acre (474 ha) fire is burning in the Everglades National Park in Dade County, Florida. 100% of the work to contain the fire has been completed and this will be the last report unless conditions change. There are 5 people working on the fire.
BASS HIGHWAY: This 500 acre (202 ha) fire is burning in Osceola County, Florida, southeast of Orlando in the jurisdiction of the Florida State Division of Forestry. 13 people are working on the fire and 70% of the work to contain the blaze has been completed.
Utah:
SWEETWATER: This 3,670 acre (1,485 ha) fire is burning on Bureau of Land Management administered lands 50 miles southeast of Vernal, Utah. The fire is burning in pinyon-juniper fuels near the Book Cliff area. There are 383 people working this fire. 30% of the work has been completed to contain this fire.
FISHER: This 600 acre (242 ha) fire is 20 miles southeast of Moab, Utah within the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. There are 16 people working on the fire. 95% of the work has been completed to contain this fire and full containment is expected today.
Colorado:
TAYLOR/YANKS: These fires have burned 2,700 acres (1,092 ha) on Bureau of Land Management administered land near Rangely, Colorado. 96 people are working on the fires. All of the work has been completed to contain the fires and this will be the last report unless conditions change.
HALEY: This 900 acre (364 ha) fire is located 20 miles north of Nucla, CO on the Uncompahgre-Gunnison National Forest. Diminished winds and lower temperatures have caused the fire behavior to moderate. There are 68 people working on the fire. 50% of the work has been completed to contain this fire.
WINTER FLATS: This 500 acre (202 ha) fire is burning near Grand Junction, Colorado on Bureau of Land Management administered land. 61 people are working on the fire and 60% of the work has been completed to contain the blaze.

The Wildland Fire Update from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) for the United States on 2 June 2000 shows,
that fire activity increased as more than 400 wildland fires were reported from nearly every region of the country. Three of those fires became large fires, while four were contained in Florida and Colorado on the 1 June 2000. There are currently 14 large fires burning in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Utah for a total of 103,053 acres.
Florida continues to experience extreme fire conditions with a fire weather watch posted in west central and panhandle portions of the state for low humidities. The Southwest is expected to receive some relief with partly cloudy conditions and scattered showers and thunderstorms.

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. 5. - 7. Fire Danger Forecast Maps of the United States and Alaska for 4 June (observation time) and 5 June 2000 (forecast).
(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 (4 June 2000)
Current Situation:
New large fires were reported in the Southwest and Western Great Basin Areas. Initial attack activity was moderate in the Southwest Area and light elsewhere. The National Interagency Coordination Center mobilized airtankers, an air attack aircraft, a lead plane, small transport aircraft, smokejumper aircraft, helicopters, infrared aircraft, a caterer, a shower unit, radio equipment, engines, and miscellaneous overhead. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Maryland, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.
Outlook:
A fire weather watch is posted in northern Florida for low relative humidities.
Florida will be partly cloudy with scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms, more numerous to the south. High temperatures will be in the mid 80's to the mid 90's. Winds will be southwest to west at 5 to 10 mph. Minimum relative humidities will range from 30 to 45 percent in the north and 45 to 55 percent in the south.
Arizona and southern Utah will be mostly sunny. High temperatures will be 70 to 80 degrees in the mountains and 100 to 110 degrees in the deserts. Minimum afternoon relative humidities will range from 15 to 25 percent, except in the desert which will range from 5 to 10 percent.
New Mexico and southern Colorado will be partly cloudy with widely scattered thunderstorms. High temperatures will range from the mid 70's to around 90 degrees. Winds will be west to southwest at 10 to 20 mph, except will be easterly on the east side of the Rockies. Minimum relative humidities will be 10 to 20 percent west of the Rockies and 35 to 45 percent to the east.
California will be sunny with high temperatures in the 70's along the coast, 70 to around 90 in the interior, and around 100 degrees in the southern interior valleys. Winds will be west at 5 to 15 mph. Minimum relative humidities will be 40 to 50 percent on the coast, 15 to 25 percent in the northern interior, and 5 to 15 percent in the interior deserts.

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 30 and 90-day forecast maps).

Tab.1. Five-Year Wildland Fire Comparison Statistics Year-to-Date for the United States (2 June 2000)
(Source: National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC)

As of 06/02/00	Number of Wildland Fires	Area burnt
As of 06/02/00	Number of Wildland Fires	Acres	Hectars
2000	42,369	1,108,895	448,753
1999	33,579	620,270	251,014
1998	24,557	577,433	233,678
1997	27,836	446,067	180,516
1996	58,902	1,554,526	629,094

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.