Forest Fires in the United States
12 August 2002
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
Archived NICC Incident Management Reports (recent
daily reports and archived daily reports 1994-1997) are provided by the
Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI)
The National
Wildfire Information Interagency provides detailed
information on each individual state with active fires.
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.
Fire danger maps for the United States for
10 August 2002 (observation time) and 11 August 2002 (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.
Fuel moisture maps for conterminous US,
10 August 2002
(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,
10 August 2002
(Source: WAFS)
Operational
Significant Event Imagery (OSEI)
The following significant event was identified by Satellite Analysis
Branch meteorologists and reviewed by the OSEI support team of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):
FIRES BURNING IN THE US
Satellite imagery showing fires in Oregon.
NOAA-15 HRPT Images 08/08/2002
Heat signatures (red) and smoke plumes (light blue haze) are visible from fires burning in the US.
(Source: OSEI/NOAA)
For more information on the recent fire situation in the US see: Recent
Media Highlights on Fire, Policies, and Politics.
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
2002 and August to October 2002)
(Source: National Weather
Service)
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.