Fire management notes / U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

30 Pages·1995·2.7 MB·English

Historic, Archive Document
Do not assume content reflects current
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.
)
'
Managing
Wildfire
Information
This issue of Fire Management Notes is the second of two that are almost totally devoted to
discussions of wildfire management systems. Many thanks to all who communicated to the
wildland fire community around the world about the evolution of the shared information
environment as well as needs for the future. Special thanks goes to Jayne R. Handley, acting
branch chief for Fire Information Systems, and Diana J. Grayson Santos, computer systems
analyst, for the USDA Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Management Staff, Washington, DC.
They oversaw the submissions and contributed advice and help during the production of
both these issues.
Continuity
The last issue prior to this one was FMNVolume 55, No. 1—1995.
There were no issues published with the 1994 date.
Fire Management Notes is published by the Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.
The Secretary of Agriculture has determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of
the public business required by law of this Department.
Subscriptions ($7.50 per year domestic, $9.40 per year foreign) may be obtained from New Orders, Superintendent of
Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. A subscription order form is available on the back cover.
Single copies are available at the following prices: $2.50 domestic and $3.13 foreign.
Dan Glickman, Secretary Francis R. Russ
U.S. Department of Agriculture General Manager
Jack Ward Thomas, Chief Donna M. Paananen
Forest Service Editor
Mary Jo Lavin, Ph.D., Director Jeffrey S. Croff
Fire and Aviation Management Assistant Editor
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in its programs on the basis of race,
color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, and marital or familial status. (Not all prohibited
bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program
information (braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact the USDA Office of Communications at (202) 720-
5881 (voice) or [phone] (TDD).
To file a complaint, write the Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250, or
call [phone] (voice) or [phone] (TDD). USDA is an equal employment opportunity employer.
Disclaimer: The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information and convenience of
the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement of any product or service by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
Individual authors are responsible for the technical accuracy of the material presented in Fire Management Notes.
Management
notes Volume 55 • No. 2 • 1995
Contents
Weather Information Management System (WIMS) .5
Mike A. Barrowcliff
METAFIRE—A Timely, Accurate, and Verified
Large-Fire Severity Index.7
James E. Eenigenburg and William A. Main
Monthly Fire Weather Forecasts Now in Color.10
Morris H. McCutchan, Bernard N. Meisner,
Brands M. Fujioka, John W. Benoit, and Benjamin Ly
Fire Managers Need GIS Applications.12
Lucy Salazar
Fire and Aviation Management is ALMRS Platform Leads BLM Fire Into
taking an active role in managing an Integrated Future.16
information on Fires such as this one Karen Miranda
on the Colville National Forest,
Colville, WA. Photo by Yuen-Gi-Yee.
Experiences With InciNet.18
William de Graaf, Jr.
InciNet Used on Southern California Emergencies.21
Jim Nicholls
CAHIS Helps Make the Skies Safer.24
Jon C. Skeels
DMLS: An Aviation Management System.26
Lynn C. Thomas
Short Features
Fire and Aviation Management’s Link to
Managing Information .4
Stephen F. Pedigo
Guidelines for Contributors .11
Changes at California’s ITS.23
Anthony P. Favro
Fire and Aviation Management’s Link
To
Managing Information
Stephen F. Pedigo
In 1992, the Chief of the USDA in the “protection”
Forest Service adopted the rec¬ focus area.
ommendations in the report “In¬
formation Management: A The final forum for
Framework for the Future” F&AM in informa¬
(USDA Forest Service Strategic tion management is
IM Team 1992). The report out¬ the interagency Na¬
lined a vision, principles, ethics, tional Wildfire Coor¬
and implementation strategies for dinating Group,
developing a shared information which chartered the
environment. Because this envi¬ Information Re¬
ronment is critical to realizing source Management
the agency’s mission, the Forest Working Team
Service’s Fire and Aviation Man¬ (IRMWT). The
agement (F&AM) Staff is taking IRMWT is currently
An illustration of the agency-wide strategy for information
an active, aggressive role in management. beginning a strate¬
implementing the report’s recom¬ gic interagency in¬
mendations. a Forest Service program and is formation management project to
serving as a model for the agency. provide the linkage necessary for
Soon after the report was ac¬ the fire community to move for¬
cepted, F&AM chartered the As a result of the F&AM Strategy ward in information management
“F&AM Strategy Project.” A team Project and with the support of with our cooperators and to pro¬
made up of representatives of the Mary Jo Lavin, Ph.D., F&AM direc¬ vide cost-effective service to our
systems and F&AM communities tor, Steve Pedigo became the core customers.
was assembled in Portland, OR. team leader for the “Agency Wide
These people were from all levels Strategy Stage” (AWSS) project The National Systems Team is in¬
of the organization. They repre¬ under the direction of William M. volved in all these efforts to en¬
sented dispatching, operations, Bristow II, Forest Service chief in¬ sure better information service to
aviation, fire planning, and coop¬ formation officer. To understand the entire fire and aviation man¬
erative fire programs. Using the how to get to a shared information agement community. It is a pow¬
Computer-Aided Software Engi¬ environment, AWSS was chartered erful way to position this
neering (CASE) methodology, to develop an “enterprise model” community for its future needs.
this group developed the national for the agency to describe the pri¬
strategy and recommendations mary activities of the Forest Ser¬ The world now expects this type
for the F&AM program. The strat¬ vice and the kinds of information of cost-effective, aggressive infor¬
egy and its subsequent recom¬ needed to support these activities. mation planning. It is necessary if
mendations are the result of Recommendations based on this we are going to provide timely,
numerous interviews and work- model, an analysis of the agency accurate information to our pro¬
| shops with members of the fire processes, and an assessment of grams.
| and aviation community. This the current information environ¬
“strategy” is the first produced by ment were also developed. An im¬ Literature Cited
portant result of this effort is a
USDA Forest Service Strategic IM Team.
definition of “focus areas” for infor¬ 1992. Information management: a
j Stephen F. Pedigo is deputy directory for
mation management. Focus areas framework for the future. Washington,
the USDA Forest Service, Rocky
DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Mountain Region, State and Private group those programs with similar
Forest Service. 17 p. ■
Forestry, Lakewood, CO. information needs. F&AM is placed
Fire Management Notes
Weather Information
Management System (WIMS)
Mike A. Barrowcliff
T
he Weather Information Man¬ the General Services Administra¬
WIMS provides
agement System (WIMS) is a tion. The ART followed a parallel
comprehensive system to man¬ up-to-date weather review process to select a host-site
age forestry weather information information as well as for WIMS. After an extensive cost-
nationwide. It was designed to ac¬ benefit analysis, the USDA’s Na¬
historical data for
commodate the needs of users tional Computer Center (NCC) in
analyzing trends.
throughout the USDA Forest Ser¬ Kansas City, MO, was selected as
vice and other Federal, State, and the most cost-efficient site to host
local land management organiza¬ WIMS.
tions. WIMS provides timely access late 1960’s. AFFIRMS later became
to weather data and related the host for the National Fire-Dan¬ The NCC made numerous arrange¬
weather information; efficient ger Rating System (NFDRS) in ments to meet the 7-day, 24-hour
tools for data management, pro¬ 1972 and never really expanded be¬ operating requirements necessary
cessing, and display; and a support¬ yond this original function. to support the needs of fire man¬
ive, interactive user's interface agement. The NCC created a Logi¬
with access to data management In 1987, the Forest Service, under cal Partition (LPAR) on its IBM
and data communications facili¬ the newly created weather pro¬ mainframe to completely isolate
ties. gram, began taking a more com¬ WIMS from the rest of its systems.
prehensive look at how weather In addition, numerous administra¬
As part of the effort to manage information could be collected and tive changes were made to accom¬
public lands, the Forest Service, in analyzed to better support re¬ modate not just the Forest Service,
cooperation with other Federal, source needs beyond fire manage¬ but all the other cooperating Fed¬
State, and private land manage¬ ment (e.g., ecosystem manage¬ eral, State, local, and private users
ment organizations, has collected ment, forest health). The Forest of the system. WIMS was made
and stored historical weather data Service awarded a competitive con¬ available on the production system
from approximately 2,500 weather tract to conduct an analysis of the at the NCC on April 19, 1993.
stations nationwide. This weather agency’s total weather information
data has been used primarily to needs and make recommendations Telecommunication links at Kan¬
support fire management activities on the requirements of a replace¬ sas City allow direct communica¬
such as presuppression planning, ment system to efficiently collect tion between WIMS and the
budgeting, allocating firefighting and analyze information. National Weather Service (NWS)
resources, and providing public in¬ via its NWS Telecommunications
formation. The previous collection Based upon this study, the Forest Gateway (NWSTG). WIMS accepts
and delivery system for fire Service decided to develop a new selected products (text and
weather data was the Administra¬ system—WIMS—to replace the old graphic), forecasts, and special fire
tive and Forest Fire Information AFFIRMS. Another 27-month soft¬ weather forecasts sent by the NWS
Retrieval and Management System ware development contract was through the gateway. WIMS also
(AFFIRMS). AFFIRMS was a com¬ awarded to develop the new WIMS. transmits periodic weather obser¬
mand-line driven system first de¬ vation and fire-danger rating bulle¬
veloped and implemented in the An Acquisition Review Team (ART) tins to designated NWS offices via
was formed composed of represen¬ the gateway.
tatives from the U.S. Department
Mike A. Barrowcliff is a systems analyst of Agriculture, Forest Service,
for the USDA Forest Service, Fire and Small Business Association, and
Aviation Management, Washington, DC. Continued on page 6
Volume 55 • No. 2 • 1995 5
Another communication link al¬ agement System (RDBMS) and as¬ In addition, WIMS users also have
lows WIMS to receive Remote Au¬ sociated tools (SQL*Forms, access to historical fire weather
tomatic Weather Station (RAWS) SQL*QMX, etc.). WIMS also uti¬ and occurrence data located in the
observations from the Bureau of lizes a transaction-based operating National Interagency Fire Manage¬
Land Management (BLM). The system (CICS) and custom menu ment Integrated Database
RAWS data is sent via satellite from interface written in “C” to accom¬ (NIFMID). Historically, fire-
automated stations to more accu¬ modate up to 100 concurrent us¬ weather data collected by AF¬
rately measure the weather condi¬ ers. WIMS is accessible via FIRMS was stored in an archaic
tions in remote areas. This data FTS2000 direct dial-up and/or X.25 tape-library data base (National
(approximately 850 stations) is packet-switched service to the Fire Weather Data Library) at the
used in combination with another NCC. Although any 3270-terminal National Computer Center in Fort
900 manual weather stations to emulator can communicate with Collins, CO, to conduct historical
help predict fire-danger ratings WIMS, file transfer is currently analyses and fire planning. This
throughout the United States. supported only on the Data Gen¬ data, along with the data contained
WIMS makes all this weather data eral minicomputer (MV-series) and in the former National Fire Occur¬
available to users in near real time. the personal computer (using rence Data Library, was converted
WIMS also has the capability to ac¬ SimWare’s SimPC application). to an Oracle-based relational data
cept weather observations from Currently, there are over 1,800 base structure compatible with
nonsatellite RAWS stations via di¬ logon ID’s issued to users from WIMS. Users now also have direct
rect dial-up access. over 18 different Federal (Forest access to their historical fire data
Service, NWS, BLM, National Park and applications utilizing NIFMID
WIMS is currently hosted on an Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, through WIMS. ■
IBM mainframe (3090), utilizing Fish and Wildlife Service, and the
Oracle’s Relational Data Base Man¬ Department of Energy), State, and
local agencies.
The logo for WIMS, “a comprehensive
system to manage forestry weather
information nationwide. ”
Fire Management Notes
METAFIRE
—A Timely,
Accurate, and Verified
Large-Fire Severity Index
James E. Eenigenburg and William A. Main
E
very day, year round, by 2:30 some of the smaller CD’s, subdi¬
p.m. eastern time, the “FEMA uses the vided some of the larger ones, and
METAFIRE Information Sys¬ METAFIRE Severity added Alaska and Hawaii to develop
tem has assembled three maps of Index to justify fire the current 390-CD map. Because
the United States showing those METAFIRE uses constant outlines
emergency funding
areas at greatest risk of having (unlike systems that use contour¬
requests. In addition,
fires larger than 500 acres (200 ing), users always know their map
ha). One map shows current condi¬ many fire managers location and its associated severity
tions while the other two present use it successfully to index.
the 24- and 48-hour forecasts
support applications for
(Simard and Eenigenburg 1991). Each CD is uniquely defined by a
those very funds.”
Two USDA Forest Service, North data base of attributes that affect
Central Forest Experiment Station the various fuel model compo¬
fire researchers (Simard and nents, seasonal adjustments, and
firefighters and equipment and to
Eenigenburg 1990) developed decision-support-system (DSS)
present timely prevention pro¬
METAFIRE for the Federal Emer¬ modules:
grams. Researchers are beginning
gency Management Agency
• Latitude and longitude
to use a by-product of METAFIRE—
(FEMA). The system is ideally
• Time zone
a weather data base covering the
suited for senior fire managers
• Elevation
entire country, begun in 1987 and
who want to quickly grasp the “big
• Primary and secondary fuel types
added to daily—to analyze the ef¬
picture.” Also available, at the
• Climatic region, class, and nor¬
fects of climatic and ecological pro¬
same time each day, are all the
malization
cesses on large fires, specifically to
numbers that went into creating
• Keetch spring and fall codes for
link the METAFIRE system itself to
the three maps. These are intended
triggering change of seasons
higher resolution atmospheric me-
for middle managers who wish, for
soscale models for assessing re¬
example, to determine whether an
Soil Moisture and
gional scale atmospheric impacts
index is dominated by short- or
Weather Data
on wildland fire severity.
long-term phenomena.
Once a week, METAFIRE down¬
Climate Divisions
FEMA uses the METAFIRE Severity loads from NOAA the current soil
Index to justify fire emergency The METAFIRE Information Sys¬ moisture data for each CD—spe¬
funding requests. In addition, tem generated its first map in 1987. cifically the monthly moisture
many fire managers use it success¬ It was based on the standard cli¬ anomaly (updated weekly) and the
fully to support applications for mate divisions (CD’s) developed by Palmer Drought Index. METAFIRE
those very funds. Fire managers the National Oceanic and Atmo¬ uses the first of these numbers in
also use the index to allocate re¬ spheric Administration (NOAA). the calculation of its long-term
sources and pre-position The NOAA system divides the con¬ component and the second as one
tiguous United States into 344 of its secondary weather modules.
James E. Eenigenburg and William A. CD’s—up to 10 per State. During
Main are, respectively, a computer the 4-year development phase, Five National Weather Service net¬
specialist and a retired computer specialist
for the USDA Forest Service, North Simard and Eenigenburg refined works are accessed each day:
Central Forest Experiment Station, East NOAA’s system. They combined
Lansing, MI. Continued on page 8
Volume 55 • No. 2 • 1995
hourly, upper air, synoptic, and the
National Meteorological Center’s FIRE SEVERITY
Model Output Statistics (MOS) and
Nested Grid Model (NGM) fore¬
casts. Each CD is associated with
two hourly stations, two upper air
stations, and one of each of the
others (except there are no MOS
stations in Alaska and no forecast
stations of either kind in Hawaii).
System Components
METAFIRE first calculates a pre¬
liminary Severity Index (SI), based
on six primary system compo¬
nents:
• Spread—1964 National Fire-
Danger Rating System (NFDRS)
Grass Spread Index (Main 1969)
• Short-term—1978 NFDRS
model 0 Ignition Component Figure 1—METAFIRE targeted the Northeast with a “bull’s-eye" over the largest Pennsyl¬
(Burgan 1988) vania fire in 55 years.
• Upper-air—Haines’ Index
• Overnight recovery—adjusts the Accuracy
(Haines 1988)
SI when overnight humidity is
• Mid-term—1978 NFDRS model How accurate is METAFIRE? Be¬
high
0 Energy Release Component cause the purpose of METAFIRE is
• Palmer drought—adjusts the SI
• Long-term—NOAA monthly to identify those CD’s where condi¬
for unusually wet or dry soil
moisture anomaly (the Z-index) tions are right to have an extreme
moisture
• Season—weather-based module fire, not having a fire does not nec¬
created specifically for essarily mean that METAFIRE
Finally, there are three DSS mod¬
METAFIRE that considers green- failed. During the evaluation pe¬
ules that further “tweak" the
up, cold temperatures, freezing riod of July 1987 to June 1991, we
METAFIRE Severity Index:
precipitation, winter, and/or found that 1 CD in 60 of those CD’s
snow on the ground (Simard et • Spatial analysis—compares each at the advisory level actually had
al. 1990) CD to its neighbors extreme fires. At the watch level,
• Temporal analysis—looks at how the odds increased to 1 in 20; at
METAFIRE then applies three sec¬ each CD progressed over the last the warning level it was 1 chance
ondary weather modules: 3 days in 14. METAFIRE correctly pre¬
• Profile analysis—compares the dicted 83 percent of the large fires
• Sub-threshold—adjusts the SI
components for each CD against (500+ acres (200+ ha)) that actu¬
when most of the primary com¬
the seasonal profile of one in ally occurred (fig. 1). METAFIRE
ponents are just below (or far be¬
danger of having an extreme fire
low) triggering thresholds
8
Fire Management Notes