GFMC: Forest Fires in the United States

Forest Fires in the United States

01 September 2003


Latest Satellite Images: 

click here to enlarge (25 - 35 KB)

Fires in California
A series of 23 fires known as the Santa Clara Complex burn in theDiablo Mountain range northeast of San Jose, California. Seen as red squares inthis Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image captured byNASA’s Aqua satellite on August 27, 2003, the fires were started when alightning storm rolled through the region on Monday, August 25. On August 29,the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported that 18,457acres had burned, threatening 40 homes. The fire was 50 percent contained. Tothe west of the fires, the San Francisco Bay is surrounded by cities seen asgrey patches. San Jose is the triangular region south of the bay. San Franciscois west of the bay and Oakland is on the east.

Source: NASA/ EO

click here to enlarge (25 - 35 KB)

Fires inCalifornia 
Heat signatures and smoke plumes (light blue haze) are visible from several fires burning inCalifornia on 28 August 2003.
Source: OSEI

click here to enlarge (25 - 35 KB)

Fires inWashington 
Heat signatures and smoke plumes (light blue haze) are visible from several fires burning inWashington on 28 August 2003.
Source: OSEI

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)

More current Information about the fire situation inUnited States from 31 August, See: The National Incident Management Situation Report by NICC

The National Wildfire Information Interagency provides detailed informationon each individual state with active fires.

click here to enlarge (25 - 35 KB)


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.

click here to enlarge (25 - 35 KB)

click here to enlarge (25 - 35 KB)

fire danger (observed time) fire danger (forecasted)

Latest fire dangermap for the United States (observation time) and forecasted fire danger map forthe subsquent day
(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.

click here to enlarge (25 - 35 KB)

click here to enlarge (25 - 35 KB)

click here to enlarge (25 - 35 KB)

10-HR Fuel Moisture 100-HR Fuel Moisture 1000-HR Fuel Moisture

Latest fuel moisture maps for conterminousUS
(Source: WAFS)

The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) is a soil/duffdrought index. Factors in the index are maximum daily temperature, dailyprecipitation, antecedent precipitation, and annual precipitation. The indexranges from 0 (no drought) to 800 (extreme drought) (details).

click here to enlarge (25 - 35 KB)

Latest Keetch-Byram drought index map for conterminousUS
(Source: WAFS)

For more Satellite Images displaying recent fires in the US, please visit NASA´SEarth Observatory at:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?topic=fire. EarthObservatory provides MODIS and Landsat Scenes of fires allover the planet.

For more information on the recent fire situation in the US see also: 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).

click here to enlarge (72 KB)

30 and 90-day temperature and precipitation forecast maps(August to October 2003)
(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.


Print Friendly, PDF & Email
WP-Backgrounds Lite by InoPlugs Web Design and Juwelier Schönmann 1010 Wien