An assessment of climate and fire danger rating in the Northern Rockies during the 1910 fire season

Abstract

The 1910 fires of western Montana and northern Idaho have received much publicity in the popular media but little scientific attention regarding the factors that contribute to fire behavior and fire danger. Here we present information surrounding the weather, and reconstructed measures of Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), Energy Release Component (ERC), and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) during the 1910 fire season in the northern Rockies. KBDI and ERC were used to assess local and regional fire danger related to fuel conditions while PDSI and PDO were used to examine regional and continental scale measures of drought in 1910 in the northern Rockies. Reconstructed measures of PDSI clearly illustrate the drought conditions during the months leading up to and during the 1910 fire season. However, measures of PDSI for the month of August were more severe in contemporary fire seasons such as 1919, 1934, 1988, 2000, and 2003 and over a much broader geographical extent.

Citation

McHugh, Charles W.; Finney, Mark A.; Bradshaw, Larry S. 2010. An assessment of climate and fire danger rating in the Northern Rockies during the 1910 fire season. In: Wade, Dale D.; Robinson, Mikel L., eds. Proceedings of 3rd Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference; 25-29 October 2010; Spokane, WA. Birmingham, AL: International Association of Wildland Fire. 1 p.