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USDA Forest Service
Joint Action Group for National Wildland Fire Weather Needs Assessment - Agency Needs
USDA Forest Service Research and Development / Fire & Aviation
Mngt.
Contact:
A.R. Riebau, PhD. Pete [email protected] [email protected] 605 5280 202 205 1084
24 Jan 06
USDA FS is a large agency with many viewpoints on this matter…
FS Mission: Protecting the land and serving the people.
Fire Mission: Protecting resources and returning fire to its natural role on the public lands in a manner that serves the public interest.
What fire management decisions/processes require fire weather and climate information?
Fire fighting Prescribed fire Wildland use fire Planning
Resources allocation and deployment Air quality management (smoke) Suppression strategies budgeting
Who are your users and stakeholders of fire weather information?
Field fire management officials/technicians GACCs State and local air quality bureaus Public
Which TOR functional areas would your agency consider to be a priority?
Data collection Resource Considerations Weather forecast products and services Air Quality Fire weather research and development Modeling, prediction, and data assimilation
As relates to the wildland fire weather ‘system’ what are best practices?
New uses of mesoscale models and applying these to augment traditional ways of calculation of fire weather ‘indices’
Use of trained IMETS Use f fire weather forecasts for fire behavior Use of mesoscale models for smoke
What are our operational deficiencies or needs?
Assessment of fire season severity in advance of the season (R&D)
Smoke emissions, transport, and potential impacts
Improved fire danger and behavior (R&D)
Spatial forecast products with displayed uncertainties
An improved RAWS network
What is the required operational capability we hope to achieve?
More accurate spatial (4 KM or less) forecasts 72 hours or more into the future with displayed uncertainties.
Improved smoke tools
Seasonal forecasts for fire danger and severity by watershed or ecoregion.
Are there specific questions we would like to see addressed?
What are the standards for mesonet station site location?
What are the standards for sensors and sensor calibration?
What are the standards for fire weather data QA/QC?
Does the WUI present specific and differing needs for products?
How will we better address smoke?
