Forest Fires in the United States

9 August 2000


President Clinton visited a wildfire burning site
President Clinton took a helicopter tour of a vast wildfire ravaging the Payette National Forest in Idaho Tuesday, one of dozens of blazes racing through 11 Western states. After a 40-minute air survey of the Idaho fire, Clinton released $150 million in federal aid to help the 22,000 civilian firefighters and military troops continue their battle against the flames.
Fires have raged for weeks across 11 Western states from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, laying waste to nearly four million acres since January in what may be the worst fire season in nearly half a century.
The federal government has been spending $10 million to $15 million a day to
fight the blazes. The White House also said in a statement that Clinton would direct the agriculture and the interior secretaries to make recommendations on rehabilitating burned lands, reducing the risk of fire to rural communities and ensuring adequate firefighting resources in future.
Some 20,000 civilian firefighters, more than 2,000 Army, Marine and Air Force reserve troops and crews from Canada and Mexico have labored to beat back fires on 826,802 acres, with Idaho and Montana the hardest hit this week. Fire officials from New Zealand and Australia were conferring with U.S. fire officials and weighing options for sending resources from their countries.
The blazes, many sparked by lightning strikes, have roared through tourist sites like California's Sequoia National Forest and forced the closure of Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park. The Mesa Verde fire was so hot that until Monday most of the work was done from the air, with planes dropping a mix of water, fertilizer and fire retardant chemicals. The fertilizer is to help seedlings germinate once the fires burn out.
Officials say so far this year some 4 million acres have burned, about twice as much as normal. If that pace keeps up, it could make 2000 one of the worst fire seasons since the 1950s. Some 14 million acres burned in 1952 and more than 17 million acres in 1950.
(Information Source: By Arshad Mohammed, Reuters; 9 August 2000)

Interesting is to mention a report from the Environment News Service (ENS) entitled Big Russian Waterbomber Refused by Embattled U.S. Forest Service from 8 August 2000, dealing with the offer of two Russian Ilyushin-76TD waterbombers to the United States.

Further information source:

  1. Remarks by the President in Lunch with firefighters at the Burgdorf Junction fire on the Payette National Forest in Idaho
  2. President Clinton: Taking Action to Ease the Threat of Wildfires

 

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 8 August (observation time) and a forecast for 9 August 2000.
(Source: Fire Behavior Research Work Unit, Missoula)

Dead fuel moisture responds solely to ambient environmental conditions and is critical in determining fire potential. Dead fuel moistures are classed by timelag. A fuel's timelag is proportional to its diameter and is loosely defined as the time it takes a fuel particle to reach 2/3's of its way to equilibrium with its local environment. Dead fuels in NFDRS have four timelag classes:
1-hr: Fine flashy fuels, less than 1/4" (< 0.63 cm) diameter. Responds quickly to weather changes. Computed from observation time temperature, humidity and cloudiness.
10-hr: 1/4 to 1" (0.63 to 2.54 cm) diameters. Computed from observation time temperature, humidty, and cloudiness, or may be a standard set of "10-Hr Fuel Sticks" that are weighed as part of the fire weather observation.
100-hr: 1 to 3" (2.54 to 7.62 cm) diameter. Computed from 24 hour average boundary condition composed of day length, hours of rain, and daily temperature/humidity ranges.
1000-hr: 3 to 6" (7.62 to 15.24 cm) diameter. Computed from a 7-day average boundary condition composed of day length, hours of rain, and daily temperature/humidity ranges.

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10-HR Fuel Moisture

100-HR Fuel Moisture

1000-HR Fuel Moisture

Fuel moisture maps for the United States, 8 August 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.
For further information on the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) by Florida's Division of Forestry / Forest Protection Bureau please refer to Keetch-Byram Drought Index Revisited: Prescribed Fire Applications.

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Keetch-Byram Drought Index Maps for conterminous US, 8 August 2000
(Source: Fire Behavior Research Work Unit, Missoula)

 

Operational Significant Event Imagery (OSEI)
The following significant events were identified by Satellite Analysis Branch meteorologists and reviewed by the OSEI support team:

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NESDIS/OSEI NOAA-12 and 14 AVHRR HRPT satellite images, 7 August 2000  [conversion table]
Heat signatures (red) and a dense blanket of smoke (light blue) from the fires in Idaho and western
Montana are visible in this NOAA-14 image. This image has been annotated with several cities and
towns in the region.
Right image: Heat signatures (red) and a dense blanket of smoke (light blue) from the fires in Idaho and western
Montana extending across Montana into the Dakotas are visible in this NOAA-12 image.

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NESDIS/OSEI GOES-8 satellite images, 7 August 2000  [conversion table]
Left image: Heat signatures (red) and a blanket of smoke (yellow) from the fires in Idaho and western Montana
are visible in this GOES-8 image. The blanket of smoke from the fires extends from Idaho into Minnesota.
Right image: This is an expanded image that provides a view of north America from the Great Lakes to the Pacific
Ocean. The smoke (yellow) from the 74,000 acre Manter (Sequoia National Forest) fire and the smoke
(yellow) from the Idaho and Montana fires are visible in this GOES-8 image.
(Source: NESDIS/OSEI)

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NESDIS/OSEI NOAA-12 AVHRR HRPT satellite images, 8 August 2000  [conversion table]
Left image: Heat signatures (red) and a dense blanket of smoke (light blue) from the fires in Idaho and western
Montana extending half way across Montana are visible in this NOAA-12 image.
Right image: Heat signatures (red) and smoke (light blue) are visible from the 74,000 acre Manter fire burning
northeast of Kernville, California, in the Sequoia National Forest.
(Source: NESDIS/OSEI)

 

The SeaWiFS Project is a part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, which is designed to look at our planet from space to better understand it as a system in both behavior and evolution. On Monday, August 7, 2000 SeaWiFS collected this image of the smoke from many of the fires burning in the western U.S.A. Major fires can be seen burning along the Idaho/Montana border with the large fire in Montana's Bitterroot National Forest quite visible.

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SeaWIFS image of the Western United States fires.
(Source: NASA/ORBIMAGE)

 

The official website for information, data, and images from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instruments provides a NEW TOMS Global Aerosol Hot Spots Page with products displayed in following table.

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3 August 2000
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4 August 2000
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5 August 2000
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6 August 2000
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7 August 2000
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8 August 2000

Smoke spreads across the western US
NOTE: Aerosol index in the lower right (south and east of Florida) indicates dust blown from Africa.
The surface background image used here is NOT part of the TOMS aerosol index retrieval.
(Source: TOMS Global Aerosol Hot Spots Page)

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An informative comparison of two images for 7 August 2000 taken by
two different satellite instruments: SeaWiFS and TOMS (with the AI scale blown up)
(Source: TOMS Global Aerosol Hot Spots Page)

 

The BLM - Alaska Fire Service Initial Attack Management System (IAMS) is suite of computer applications developed by BLM/Fire to aid dispatchers and fire managers. IAMS Maps is one of these applications and provides graphical representation of various kinds of geographic data. Maps has been modified to produce output to a Web site to allow internet access to the data that IAMS stores. Dynamic data such as lightning (available May - September), fires, etc. are updated at the homepage of the BLM - Alaska Fire Service  (select Maps / AFS IAMS Maps Viewer) every 15 minutes during the fire season.

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IAMS image of active fires in Alaska, 8 August 2000
(Source: BLM - Alaska Fire Service)

 

National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) Wildland Fire Update (8 August 2000) [conversion table]
Some progress was made yesterday as firefighters contained eight large fires in several western states. Nine new large fires were reported from Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming. Northern Idaho and Montana continue to struggle with hot temperatures, low humidity and winds that are creating active burning conditions on numerous large wildland fires in the area. Twenty large fires burning in Montana have caused mandatory and voluntary evacuations of residences and have destroyed a confirmed 83 structures. "There’s a lot of work there (Montana). We’ll be engaged for some time," said a spokesperson for the National Interagency Coordination Center. Foreign and military personnel and equipment continue to bolster the regular firefighter working throughout the West. Along with the 20,000 state and federal firefighting personnel, various management and crews from Canada are currently in Montana, an Army battalion and a Marine battalion are in Idaho on two large fires and one more will be sent to Montana at the end of the week. Fire officials from New Zealand and Australia are at NIFC assessing the current situation and weighing options for sending resources from their countries to assist. In addition, one crew from Mexico is working in New Mexico under an across-the-border agreement they share. President Clinton is visiting the Burgdorf Junction fire on the Payette National Forest in Idaho today to survey firefighting efforts and visit with firefighters at the Incident Command Post. Visit the Presidential Visit site for a press kit. There are currently 66 large wildland fires burning in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

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Large Incident Locations of Wildland Fires in the United States, 8 August 2000.
(Source: National Interagency Fire Center)

The National Interagency Fire Center provided new fire statistics, such as:

 

Five-Year Wildland Fire Comparison Statistics Year-to-Date for the United States (8 August 2000)
(Source: National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC)
[conversion table]

As of 8 August 2000 Number of Wildland Fires Area burnt
Acres
2000 63,916 4,115,937
1999 61,523 3,427,210
1998 50,504 1,697,663
1997 43,163 2,526,457
1996 78,861 3,601,887
1995 56,693 1,311,833
1994 52,220 2,185,349
1993 39,384 1,476,031
1992 65,286 1,098,835
1991 55,358 1,903,732
1990 43,576 3,140,511
1989 40,412 1,407,830
1988 62,325 2,682,872

 

NIFC Incident Management Situation Report (8 August 2000) [conversion table]
Current Situation:
ILight to moderate initial attack activity was reported nationwide. Twelve new large fires were reported, the majority of which were in the Northwest and Eastern Great Basin Areas. Over 142,000 acres were reported burned. Crews reached containment goals on five large fires in the Eastern Great Basin, Northwest and Northern Rockies Areas. Dry lightning is in the forecast today for Oregon, Washington, Idaho, western Montana and Wyoming, so new fire activity is expected to increase. Mobilization of aircraft, equipment, crews and overhead through the National Interagency Coordination Center continues at a brisk pace. Numerous units in all eleven western states and Texas are reporting very high to extreme fire danger indices. 
Outlook:
The flow around a ridge of high pressure over the southwest states and a weak area of low pressure off the coast of California will lift monsoonal moisture into portions of the west coast and the Great Basin. This will bring a chance of afternoon thunderstorms, some dry, to the Great Basin and parts of northern California. By this evening thunderstorms are expected to be more wet. Elsewhere, lingering moisture near the ridge will help bring areas of convection to the remainder of the Rocky Mountain states. High temperatures will reach into the 80's and 90's in most areas and up to 110 in the western deserts of Utah, Arizona and southern Nevada. Temperatures will be between 110 and 115 degrees across the deserts of southern California and southwestern Arizona. Minimum relative humidities range from 10 to 25 percent in most areas, except drier in the hottest deserts. Winds are forecast to be generally 10 to 20 mph during the afternoon hours, with higher gusts around thunderstorms.

 

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).

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30 and 90-day temperature and precipitation forecast maps (August and August to October 2000)
(Source: National Weather Service, Boise, Idaho)

 

NIFC Wildland Fire Potential Assessment (8 July to 10 August 2000):
ALASKA - Potential: normal.
Temperatures and precipitation have been normal for the last four weeks. Conditions in the interior of the state continue to support fire activity. The Fire Weather Index (FWI), which represents the intensity of a spreading fire in tundra and forest fuels, is currently high in the central interior in many places. Long-range forecasts call for above normal temperatures and normal rainfall.
NORTHWEST - Potential: Normal to above normal.
Temperatures have been above normal and precipitation has been below normal for the area for the past month. Live fuel moistures are average or slightly below average in most areas and have been measured at 80% in central Oregon to 100% in eastern Washington. 1000 hour dead fuel moistures have been normal in the west and slightly below normal in the eastern portions. Measurements range from 13% in eastern Washington to 25% in northwestern Oregon. The central portions of the area are showing moderate drought conditions as measured by the Palmer Drought Index (PDI). Long-range weather forecasts call for normal warm and dry conditions for the month.
CALIFORNIA - Potential: Normal.
Precipitation has been below normal in the south and normal in the north. Temperatures have been above normal in the south and normal in the north. Live fuel moistures are in decline in both zones with timber fuels at around 90% and between 60 to 100% in southern forests. Some moderate drought conditions still exist in southern California and in eastern portions of the Sierra Nevada in the north as measured by the PDI. 1000 hour fuel moisture is below normal for this time of year with measurements of 12%. Actual fire occurrence numbers are near normal and acres are slightly above in the north and below in the south as compared to the 5 year averages. Long-range climate prediction calls for above normal temperatures and normal rainfall for the month.
NORTHERN ROCKIES - Potential: Normal to above normal.
Precipitation has been below normal in much of the area and temperatures have been mostly normal. Live fuel moisture is ranging from 50 to 200% and 1000 hour dead fuel moisture is measured between 9 to 25%. North Dakota is expected to see below normal fire activity due to above average precipitation received during last month. Long-range climate prediction calls for normal temperature and rainfall to occur for the month. PDI indicates moderate to severe drought conditions exist in mainly eastern and central Montana. Fire occurrence and acres reported burned are well above the 5 year averages.
GREAT BASIN - Potential: Above normal.
Temperatures have been above normal during the past month while precipitation has been below normal through the area. Live fuel moisture are around 100% in the north and 65 to 100% in the south which is below the average values for the area. 1000 fuel moisture is being measured at 10% in the West Great Basin and 5 to 20% in the East Great Basin, which is below normal and normal. PDI indicates moderate and severe drought for most of the area. Long-range forecasts call for above normal temperatures and normal precipitation for Nevada and above normal precipitation for southern Utah. Overall, weather conditions are being reported as two to three weeks ahead of normal. Lightning activity in the past two weeks indicates that the northern edge of the monsoonal flow pattern has arrived.
SOUTHWEST - Potential: Normal to above normal.
Precipitation has been normal to above normal everywhere except in northern New Mexico, where it has been below normal. Temperatures have been normal in most parts of the region except northern Arizona, where they were above normal. Live fuel moisture has been measured at 60 to 120% which is normal for most of the area. 1000 hour fuel moisture is 9 to 14% in Arizona and 8 to 20% in New Mexico which is normal for this time of year. The PDI indicates that a large part of New Mexico and all of Arizona is in moderate to severe drought. The exception is south central New Mexico, which is near normal. Fire occurrence is up slightly from the five year average and acreage for the year is up 355% this year. Some significant precipitation has been received since mid June and fire danger has lessened considerably. With the arrival of the monsoon season, it is reasonable to expect this trend to continue.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN - Potential: Normal to above normal.
Temperatures and precipitation have been normal to below normal for the last four weeks. Live fuel moistures have been normal in the north and below normal in the south and west portions of the area with measurements of 95 to 130% in ponderosa pine, pinyon pine and juniper at 80 to 90% and sagebrush at 95%. 1000 hour fuel moistures are measured at 6 to 10% in the west and 11 to 15% east of the Continental Divide which is a little below average for this time of year. Fire activity is expected to be normal with the arrival of the monsoon pattern and above normal if the monsoon is weaker than average and does not move up into the area.
EASTERN - Potential: Normal to below normal.
Temperatures and precipitation have been normal in most of the Eastern Area. Live fuel moisture is at the seasonal normal for this time of year. 1000 hr fuels are being measured in the 20 to 25% ranges for this time of year and are mostly normal. PDI indicates some moderate drought in the western and central portions of the area. Increased precipitation over the past month has contributed to lessening the fire danger situation in the area. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness blow down area continues to be of concern.
SOUTHERN -Potential: Normal.
Temperatures have been normal to above normal and precipitation has been normal to below normal through most of the area last month. Live fuel moisture is averaging 150% which is slightly below normal. 1000 hr fuels are being measured from 16 to 35% and are mostly average. PDI indicates moderate and severe drought conditions continuing through much of the area. July historically has a low occurrence of fire activity and the long-range climate prediction calls for above normal temperatures and normal precipitation, except for portions of the Carolinas and Tennessee, which is forecast for below normal.
Temperatures and Precipitation reflect conditions over the past four to six weeks. The long range forecast is for the next 30 days. Above and below normal is indicated above in the narrative, areas not mentioned fall in the climatological category which means there are equal chances of being below normal (33.3%), normal (33.3%) or above normal (33.3%).

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Map describing the wildland fire potential (6 July - 10 August 2000) for areas throughout the country.
(Source: National Interagency Fire Center)

 

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.

Another report on nation-wide prescribed burning in the U.S.A. was published in  International Forest Fire News No.19 (September 1998).

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


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