A simple index for assessing fire danger rating

  • Authors:

  • J. J. Sharples;R. H. D. McRae;R. O. Weber;A. M. Gill

  • Affiliations:

  • School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia and Bushfire Cooperative Research ...;Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre, Level 5, 340 Albert St. East Melbourne, VIC 3002, Australia and ACT Emergency Services Agency, Curtin, ACT 2605, Australia;School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia and Bushfire Cooperative Research ...;Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre, Level 5, 340 Albert St. East Melbourne, VIC 3002, Australia and Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 02 ...

  • Venue:
  • Environmental Modelling & Software
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

Fire danger rating systems are used to assess the potential for bushfire occurrence, fire spread and difficulty of fire suppression. Typically, fire danger rating systems combine meteorological information with estimates of the moisture content of the fuel to produce a fire danger index. Fire danger indices are used to declare fire bans and to schedule prescribed burns, among other applications. In this paper a simple fire danger index F that is intuitive and easy to calculate is introduced and compared to a number of fire danger indices pertaining to different fuel types that are used in an operational setting in Australia and the United States. The comparisons suggest that F provides a plausible measure of fire danger rating and that it may be a useful pedagogical tool in the context of fire danger and fire weather.