Articles

Recent experiments show that even "fire-safe" cigarettes can start a wildfire.

WindNinja is an open-source high-resolution wind model developed for wildland fire. It is used on nearly every large fire incident in the United States. WindNinja was recently updated to Version 3.12.0 with several new features and bug fixes.

The Behave Fire Modeling System is one of the most used computer programs for modeling both wildfire and prescribed fire. Behave was recently reworked into a new version that is designed to be more intuitive and easier to use, while still offering the same functionality as previous versions.

Scientists showed that WindNinja, a modeling program currently used to predict wind patterns during wildfires, can also identify dangerous wind conditions near the ground that may affect smokejumpers’ ability to land safely.

We know that extreme weather and heavy fuels can lead to extreme fire behavior. Researchers at the USDA Forest Service Missoula Fire Sciences Lab are developing a new fire spread model to more accurately predict how far and fast fires can move – even under extreme conditions. The new model will provide better information to help fire managers make decisions when responding to fires. It will a...

The updated National Fire Danger Rating System uses new fuel moisture models, simpler surface fuel models, and has been shown to be just as good or better at predicting measures of fire danger, despite the more automated process.

On August 5, 1949, 13 smokejumpers lost their lives responding to a fire that at first glance appeared manageable. The tragedy shook the wildland fire community and sparked a nationwide research effort aimed at better understanding wildfire behavior and improving firefighter safety.

The Fire Weather Alert System is designed to automatically warn on-the-ground wildland firefighters of dangerous weather conditions approaching their area and provide easy access to fire-relevant weather information.

In 1972, USDA Forest Service scientist Richard C. Rothermel published his pioneering fire modeling work. Fifty years later in 2022, it was commemorated as the most widely used tool for wildfire behavior modeling, not only in the US but throughout the world. The development of his model and the associated research was conducted in the 1960s and 1970s at the Forest Service Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. The “Rothermel Model” is embedded in dozens of computerized fire behavior systems used for fire management planning, training, and operational predictions.