This Fire Danger Operating Plan (FDOP) guides the application of decision support tools (such as the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System) at the local level. This FDOP is supplemental to the Alaska Interagency Mobilization Guide, the Alaska Interagency Wildland Fire Management Plan (AIWFMP) and unit fire management plans. It documents the management of a fire weather station network and...
Alaska Fire Modeling & Analysis Tools
Alaska is faced with a unique fire management problem that has been handled in an interagency way for more than 30 years. The evolution of fire management has led to a different approach in interagency cooperation; weather data management; fire behavior and fire danger implementation; GIS management; and overall fire suppression strategies. This guide is intended to provide standardized inputs...
Alaska Fire & Fuels (akff.mesowest.org) is the Alaska interagency Fire Weather (FWI) and Fire Behavior (FBP) monitoring system. It provides public access to fire weather that is collected hourly, processes FWI codes and indices, and provides them in a range of tools and displays to aid fire managers in assessing their fire potential each day. Data collected is stored in a database and is...
The Fuel Model Guide to Alaska Vegetation (Cella et al. 2008) was developed by an interagency team of fire practitioners and vegetation mappers/specialists in 2008. It crosswalked vegetation types described in the Alaska Vegetation Classification (Viereck et al. 1992) with the following fuel models/fuel types: 1.40 Fire Behavior Fuel Models (FBFM40; Scott and Burgan 2005); 2.13 Fire Behavior...
Based primarily on the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) component parts, the Fire Weather Index (FWI) System and the Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP) System, this document can be used to guide learning users through the fire behavior assessment process from the fireline and field office locations and can also provide important details on fire behavior. Worksheets, definitions,...
This guide is intended as a reference for US users who may have reason to work with the system in the United States, where English units are primarily used. Keep in mind that the Canadian Forest Service has produced the definitive selection of reference publications and tools referenced below. The Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) was first conceived in 1968. The Fire Weather...
Current and future risks posed by wildfires are key elements in decisions about management of those fires. Carrying evaluations of that risk more than a few days into the future requires stochastic approaches that depend on the climatology of environmental conditions that favor or deter wildfire growth. Tools like the Fire Spread Probability (FSPro) simulator, and the Rare Event Risk...
The Alaska Fire Modeling and Analysis Committee developed this 2 page guide with resources and recommendations for those new to the wildland fire decision-making process.
The Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) has been under development by the Canadian Forest Service since 1968, and comprises two major subsystems: the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) and the Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP) Systems (Stocks et al. 1989, Taylor and Alexander 2006). In Canada the FWI System has been used since 1970; this empirical system is...
FSPro (Fire Spread Probability) is a fire modeling system that calculates the probability of fire spread from a fire perimeter or ignition point for a specified time period. Combining landscape data layers (crown base height, crown bulk density, etc.), current weather forecasts, historical weather scenarios, fuel moisture classifications, fire history, and wind speed and direction, FSPro can...
The LANDFIRE Data Access Tool is an ArcGIS toolbar that allows users to interact with the USGS National Map and download LANDFIRE data directly from ArcMap. Once the data are downloaded, it can automatically process the data into raster formats ready for analysis.
This table was assembled based on contributions and discussions among many fire behavior researchers, programmers, and practitioners. The models compared include spot distance nomograms, BehavePlus v.5.0.2, FlamMap 3.0, STFB: Short Term Fire Behavior (WFDSS version of FlamMap 5.0), FARSITE v. 4.1.055, NTFB: Near Term Fire Behavior (WFDSS version of FARSITE), and FSPro.
A case study in using geospatial and non-geospatial fire behavior models to assess spotting potential. Five fire modeling approaches were compared and documented using the the 2009 Chakina Fire
[from the text] Over 1.4 million acres of bark beetle insect activity was recorded (Burnside 2001) on the Kenai Peninsuladuring the 1990's. This "high intensity" beetle infestation dramatically altered the composition and structure of spruce forests in affected areas. Ever since the beetle attack episode occurred, dynamic change in the fire regime has been experienced within the...
With the advent of LANDFIRE fuels layers, an increasing number of specialists are using the data in a variety of fire modeling systems. However, a comprehensive guide on acquiring, critiquing, and editing (ACE) geospatial fuels data does not exist. This paper provides guidance on ACE as well as on assembling a geospatial fuels team, model calibration, and maintaining geospatial data and...
Black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill) B.S.P) is the dominant forest cover type in interior Alaska and is prone to frequent, stand-replacing wildfires. Through impacts on tree recruitment, the degree of fire consumption of soil organic layers can act as an important determinant of whether black spruce forests regenerate to a forest composition similar to the prefire forest, or to a new forest...
This tool allows users to look at fire behavior characteristics (rate of spread and fireline intensity) for multiple fuel types on the same graph. Other factors, including Initial Spread Index, Buildup Index, and Foliar Moisture Content can be adjusted as well. This chart was developed by Daniel Perrakis.
The Fire Behavior Field Reference Guide (FBFRG) describes a range of practices by which fire behavior assessments are conducted for fireline leadership in the field, and by Fire Behavior Analysts (FBANs) and Long Term Fire Analysts (LTANs) in support of more sophisticated analysis. It is a hands-on publication for use in the field, in fire behavior training, and as a learning reference. It is...
This tool allows users to look at fire behavior characteristics (such as rate of spread, fireline intensity, flame length, heat per unit area, and wind adjustment factor) for multiple fuel types on the same graph. Other factors such as moisture content, understory vegetation cover, and percent tree cover and be adjusted. This chart was developed by Joe Scott.