| Applying the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) to Alaskan Ecosystems |
The Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) has officially been used in Alaska since 1992. The CFFDRS is comprised of two major subsystems: the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System and the Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP) System. The FWI System has six standard components: 1) the Fine Fuel Moisture Code (FFMC); 2) the Duff Moisture Code (DMC); 3) the Drought Code (DC); 4) the Initial Spread Index (ISI); 5) the Buildup Index (BUI); and 6) the Fire Weather Index (FWI). These six components provide relative numerical ratings of wildland fire potential for a standard fuel type on level terrain based on weather inputs. The FBP System provides for actual quantitative estimates of various fire behavior parameters for 16 distinct fuel types and topographic situations based in part on inputs from the FWI System (primarily the ISI and BUI).
| Websites: | | | Publications: | Alexander, M.E., G.J. Baxter and G.R. Dakin, G.R. 2005. Travel rates of Alberta wildland firefighters using escape routes. In B.W.Butler and M.E. Alexander (editors), Proceedings of Eighth International Wildland Fire Safety Summit: Human Factors - Ten Years Later, April 26-28, 2005, Missoula, Montana. International Association of Wildland Fire, Hot Springs, S.D. CD-ROM. 12 p. (pdf, 692 KB) |
Predicting and Interpreting Fire Intensities in Alaskan Black Spruce Forests Using the Canadian System of Fire Danger Rating
A graph has been constructed for determining one of five possible head fire intensity classes as well as the general type of fire (i.e., surface, intermittent crown, or continuous crown) for Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction System Fuel Type C-2 (Boreal Spruce) based on the Initial Spread Index and Buildup Index components of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System inputs. An accompanying table offers free-burning fire potential and wildfire suppression interpretations.
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Duff Moisture Dynamics in Black Spruce Feather Moss Stands and Their Relation to the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System
The Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System’s Fire Weather Index (FWI) System models 3 levels of fuel moisture within the forest floor using simple environmental inputs. Wildland fire managers in interior Alaska have expressed concern that the FWI System does not take northern latitude factors such as long day lengths and permafrost into account. During the 1999 fire season, destructive sampling methods were employed to monitor moisture content throughout the feather moss profile in 3 interior Alaska black spruce stands. Measured moisture contents were compared to the FWI System’s fuel moisture predictions. The FWI System followed general trends of the seasonal fuel moisture within the feather moss profile. However, the short-term response of the interior Alaska moss profile is more dynamic than the FWI System’s fuel moisture code predictions. Hydraulic properties that have been linked to bulk density may be the causative agent for the observed short-term discrepancy.
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