The national fire-danger rating system: basic equations

Jack D. Cohen; John E. Deeming

doi:10.2737/PSW-GTR-82

Treesearch

The national fire-danger rating system: basic equations

Informally Refereed

Authors:

Jack D. Cohen, John E. Deeming

Year:

1985

Type:

General Technical Report

Station:

Pacific Southwest Research Station

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2737/PSW-GTR-82

Source:

Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-82. Berkeley, CA: Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; 16 p

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Download (PDF 492 KB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/27298.pdf

Abstract

Updating the National Fire-Danger Rating System (NFDRS) was completed in 1977, and operational use of it was begun the next year. The System provides a guide to wildfire control and suppression by its indexes that measure the relative potential of initiating fires. Such fires do not behave erratically–they spread without spotting through continuous ground fuels. Estimates of fire potential have a basis in the mathematical models used for fire behavior. The fire manager must select the fuel model that best represents the fuels in the protection area. Among the 20 fuel models available, not more than two or three are appropriate for any one area. This documentation of the 20 fuel models and their equations supplements previous reports on the System. The equations are presented in the coded format of FORTRAN and BASIC computer languages.

Keywords

fire modeling, fire occurrence, fire-danger indexes, forest-fire hehavior, forest-fire risk, fuel moisture, fuel models

Citation

Cohen, Jack D.; Deeming, John E. 1985. The national fire-danger rating system: basic equations. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-82. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 16 p.