CURRENT FIRE SEASON COULD BE THE WORST IN 30 YEARS
Record high temperatures make dry Western states
even more prone to wildland fires
August 1, 2000 — The total suppression costs submitted so far for only half of the ongoing wildland fires is running more than 50 million dollars and wildland management agencies fear the current fire season could be the worst in 30 years. If the current activity continues, suppression costs could approach or exceed one billion dollars for the year.
HOT, DRY WEATHER CONDITIONS TO CONTINUE
NOAA's National Weather Service's next six to 10 day outlook calls for above normal temperatures with little or no precipitation expected. These conditions are conducive to wildland fires raging across the western half of the United States. More new fires and increased loss of timberland acreage are anticipated through midweek.
Forecasters say the air mass is dry with relative humidity running in the single digits at many locations. Conditions are not expected to moderate anytime soon although a dry cold front is expected later this week over the Pacific Northwest and Idaho.
Federal weather officials are closely monitoring the higher than normal temperatures and are calling for the potential of isolated dry lightning conditions in areas of Montana, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon in the next few days. As a result, very high to extreme fire danger continues to exist in numerous locations throughout the 11 Western states and in Texas.
THE EXTREME WEATHER AND NEW FIRES
Firefighters and resources throughout the West are being stressed according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Fire weather watches have been posted throughout the Northwest and Great Basin areas. Eight new large fires were reported in the Northern Rockies, Rocky Mountains, Eastern Great Basin, Southern California and Southern areas since Sunday.
Forty-five wildfires are classified as large wildfires and involve nearly one half million acres as of July 31. (Click here for the Wildland Fire Update.)
Large Wildland Fires
Total Fires 45
Total Acres 495,572
As of July 31, more than 60,000 wildland fires have burned nearly three and half million acres this year. This compares to the ten-year averages of 51,102 wildland fires and 1,913,360 acres annually. (Click here for latest geographic map.)
Number of wildland fires and acres affected in 2000 by geographic area
Updated (07/31/00 )
Ten-Year Average
51,102 = number of wildfires
1,913,360 = number of acres)
NOAA METEOROLOGISTS ARE KEY TO FIREFIGHTERS SAFETY
Fire fighters know that adverse weather is one of the most dangerous hazards their crews face. That's why NOAA National Weather Service meteorologists are seen as a vital partner in keeping firefighters safe as the crews attempt to contain or suppress wildfires that rage across the United States each year.
The meteorologists are having a busy season issuing forecasts from their offices, providing briefings in interagency coordination centers, and site-specific forecasts at several of the fires.
Most offices in the NWS' Western region (Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington) are directly or indirectly involved in fire support along with others in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico. The meteorologists issue site-specific, timely forecasts of weather conditions.
The forecast offices are able to provide assistance to the agency's special cadre of Incident Meteorologists, called IMETs, who are deployed to a specific fire's location. At the fire scene, IMETs give frequent briefings to the fire management team which relies on the information to know where to place firefighting crews and for tactical decisions how to fight the fire.
As of July 30, NOAA's National Weather Service had at least 14 Incident Meteorologists (IMETs) on site or en-route to assist other federal agencies with an increasing number of wild fires, many started by lightning from dry thunderstorms. The Weather Service has assigned these special weather forecasters to work with land management agencies and firefighters to battle against blazes in several states. So far this year, the National Weather Service has dispatched IMETS to work the equivalent of 550 days on wildfires.
The IMETs are specially trained in mesoscale and microscale meteorology and employ a variety of special tools to prepare the forecasts that contribute to the safety of all personnel involved in management of the fires.
Since 1914, National Weather Service forecasters have worked closely with fire control specialists from a variety of federal agencies tasked with suppressing fires. The IMETs use laptop computers to access information from local forecast offices and use other special equipment in preparing critical information for wildfire suppression. The main tool used by IMETs is the 250-pound Advanced Technology Meteorological Unit (ATMU), which enables forecasters to operate at the fire command centers and provide close meteorological support to suppression efforts.
Relevant Web Sites
Updated forecast information is available on the home pages of local National Weather Service offices. These pages are organized by geographic regions of the country.
For additional information on the NOAA's Fire Weather Program, please visit NOAA's National Fire Forecasts, Offices and Outlooks, Boise, Idaho.
Latest NOAA Satellite Images of Fires
NOAA's NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECASTERS PROVIDE CRITICAL SUPPORT TO WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT
All About Wild Fires
NOAA's Fire Weather Program (Describes wild fire weather terms)
Fire Weather Forecasts from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma
National Interagency Fire Center — Includes latest news and glossary of wildfire terms
Media Contact:
Patrick Slattery, NOAA's National Weather Service Central Region, (816) 426-7621, ext. 621 or Marilu Trainor, NWS Western Region, (801) 524-5692 ext. 226.
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