Wildland Fire Update
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) based in Boise (Idaho) provides key information on current
wildland fire situations, related information and background materials. The following
information is updated daily and can be accessed directly:
- State-by-State daily and year-to-date summary of fire activities
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html
- Year-to-date State-by-State total number of wildland fires and area
burned (table)
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfnmap.html
- Daily locations of large fires (map)
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/firemap.html
The National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) provides daily situation reports. These reports include:
- Incident Management Situation Reports (fires and area burned reported to NICC). The files include current, previous and archived reports
- Prescribed Fire and Wildland Fire Use (year-to-date fires and area burned reported to
NICC, posted weekly on Monday mornings)
http://www.nifc.gov/news/RXWFUYTD.htm
Fire Weather & Fire Danger Information
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.
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Fire danger maps for the United States for 2
September 2001 (observation time) and 3 September 2001 (forecast)
(Source: WAFS)
Dead fuel moisture responds solely to ambient environmental conditions and is critical in determining fire potential. Dead fuel moistures are classed by timelag.
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10-HR Fuel Moisture |
100-HR Fuel Moisture |
1000-HR Fuel Moisture |
Fuel moisture maps for conterminous US, 2
September 2001
(Source: WAFS)
The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) is a soil/duff drought index. Factors in the index are maximum daily temperature, daily precipitation, antecedent precipitation, and annual precipitation. The index ranges from 0 (no drought) to 800 (extreme drought) (details).
Keetch-Byram Drought Index Maps for conterminous US, 2
September 2001
(Source: WAFS)
Near-real time satellite images
Operational
Significant Event Imagery (OSEI)
The following significant events were identified by Satellite Analysis
Branch meteorologists and reviewed by the OSEI support team of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):
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NESDIS/OSEI NOAA-12 POES AVHRR LAC satellite image, 30 August 2001.
Left: Heat signatures (red) and smoke (light blue haze) are visible from fires burning in California. The Star fire has burned 9,800 acres in the Eldorado National Forest and was 30% contained.
Right: Heat signatures (red) and smoke (light blue haze) are visible from fires burning in Montanaan Idaho. The Walton fire has charred 400 acres in ClearwaterNational Forest in Idaho and was 10% contained. The Moose fire has burned 14,954 acres in Flathead National Forest 13 miles north of Whitefish and was 5% contained.
This information is from the National Interagency Fire Center Wildland Fire Update on
8/31/2001.
(Source: OSEI/NOAA)
This image of "California Wildfires as Seen From the Space Shuttle
" was acquired by
Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on 20 August
2001.
Source: Nasa´s Earthobservatory
(Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land
Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC )
For more information on the recent fire situation see: Recent Media Highlights on Fire, Policies, and Politics , especially Break in weather offers respite for firefighters (26 August 2001), and Researchers Find Mercury Pollution in Wildfires (24 August 2001)
The TOMS Global Aerosol Hot Spots Page provides screened close-ups of regions with active fires and smoke emissions, displayed in the following table.
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| 27 August 2001 | 28 August 2001 | 29 August 2001 |
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| 30 August 2001 | 31 August 2001 | 1 September 2001 |
Smoke over the United States
(Source: TOMS Global Aerosol
Hot Spots Page)
Long-range weather forecasts
National Weather
Service
Long-range, 30-day weather forecasts are predicting above-normal temperatures for
the southern tier of states from southern California to Florida and throughout the Midwest
(see 30 and 90-day forecast maps).
30 and 90-day temperature and precipitation forecast maps (August and
August to October 2001)
(Source: National Weather
Service)
The Florida
Division of Forestry gives the following long-range outlook summary of the
recent Fire Weather & Fire Danger Information for Florida (updated June, 2001):
"Normal summer rainy pattern is developing across the state which will greatly reduce
the wildfire threat. Current long-range forecasts offer little more than a guess that
conditions will be near normal for the next several months. Several forecasts of Pacific
ocean sea surface temperatures indicate a potential for a weak El Nino to develop for this
winter, which would bring a wetter than normal winter."
For further information see: Wildfire
Season Forecast of the Florida Division of Forestry
For further information you may also see to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
For background information on the Southern Area see the Edited Version of the Southern Area Intelligence Briefing Paper for 22 April 2001.