FWI Startup Values

[MichaelPT]

Hi

has anybody got any ideas what the FWI startup values would to be in the UK,

any information I would appreciate

mick

www.weather-above.com

[NorCal Dan]

Do you know what your current fire condition is for your area?  If you look at the ranges for the values you should be able to approximate your local conditions based on the examples they give.  Once you have done the first attempt and see the calculated result you can make changes to fine tune the numbers to get the result where you need to match the actual conditions for your area.

[Shorty]

Since we are now in fire season I thought I would give this a try.  Today is moderately high fire danger here so I set the initial settings what the current reading reported and adjusted the needle moderately high.  Is this a reasonable approach.

I have just been letting my system run for the past few months since weather is boring here then.  But with fall approaching things will start to become more interesting (I hope). 

[NorCal Dan]

Mod high?  Where did you find this info Shorty?

The adjust needle is the override, meaning that will set the needle to that and ignore your numbers.  I doubt you want that.  Compare your numbers to mine, they should get you at least to the high range if not very high.  Conditions here are bordering on extreme if you ask me...

Last Updated: 9 3 at 1pm
Current Weather conditions
TEMP(°F)   RH(%)   WIND(Km/h)   Direction   24 hour rain(mm)
80.0        36      10.3            253         0.0
Yesterdays values
FFMC     DMC     DC    ISI       BUI      FWI
88.7     70      703    5.2      112        21.0
Todays values
FFMC     DMC     DC    ISI       BUI      FWI
88.5     70      704    5.7      112        22.6 

[Shorty]

Thanks for the info.  When I went back to change the startup numbers todays values had changed to zero?? 

I just choose moderately high since IMHO that is the condition.  It is cooler today and a slight cooling breeze.

[NorCal Dan]

Thanks for the info.  When I went back to change the startup numbers todays values had changed to zero?? 

I just choose moderately high since IMHO that is the condition.  It is cooler today and a slight cooling breeze.

Daily temps don't affect the FWI all that much, it's more about the mositure, both in the air and content of the fuels.  Temps will affect these values but not daily...more over a few days or weeks. DMC time lag is 12 days and DC lag is 52 days.

[Shorty]

Thank you.  I,ll be checking it over time.   

Living in a forest during high fire danger time can be stressfull.   We have cleared around our place, CDF airforce has a base at Grass Valley airport and there are fire hydrants about 1/3rd mile away.

Shorty

[NorCal Dan]

I just choose moderately high since IMHO that is the condition.  It is cooler today and a slight cooling breeze.

Living in a forest during high fire danger time can be stressfull.   

Just to clarify, the conditions are low,moderate, high, very high, and extreme.  Moderate high would to me mean the point between moderate and high.  I suspect your conditions should be between high and very high or higher.  It is very dry around here now and the spring rains have provided plenty of fuel.  I wouldn't be surprised to see the NFS issue an extreme warning in the next couple of weeks for this area.

[Shorty]

There was a fire about 12 miles away in the Yuba Canyon this AM.  Think it is under control now since CDF air has stopped flying near us.

Shorty

[Phoniclynx]

I have been trying very hard for quite a bit of time here looking for the values for Adelaide... My system has been running for a good 2 years and i've never seen it go any higher than LOW. .. Has anyone had any luck trying to find the data in Australia at all?

[NorCal Dan]

http://www.bom.gov.au/inside/services_policy/fire_ag/bushfire/bushfire.htm#start contains some good information and lists contact points, but it doesn't contain what your looking for...even here in the USA I can only find a couple pieces of the puzzle to start my FWI going each year. What would really set WD apart from other wx software is the ability to generate a fire index using the data from our stations. 

Brian, would it be possible to derive a fwi from our stations data?  And, is there one sensor that we could add to our stations that would fill in the 'information gap' to arrive at a decent FWI?  A ground moisture sensor or similar perhaps?  Some 1-wire sensor that would be inexpensive for those interested in generating a FWI for our locations.

FWIW, I know how frustrating it is to get a FWI going using the current method in WD. 

[Weather Display]

but wd does use your stations data

the actual FWI is a combination of all the parameters
but each parameter is just as important and significant as the rest, and the final fwi number is not the be end to end all
i think people are not realising that

the graph will show the trends,with the other parameters

[NorCal Dan]

but wd does use your stations data

Ok, but it still requires startup values to be set and these numbers are getting near impossible to obtain.  The ISI, DC DMC, BUI, and FFMC are not native to WD and must be gathered from some other source.  What I propose is to use readings that are generated by our stations, ie. humidity, dewpoint, temp, rain, wind, and other sensors to produce a FWI for our location.

[Krucky]

The Forest Fire danger index is more reliable fire index used in Australia (Maybe other places too)
It seems to be an index which should be able to be fairly simple to setup and is based on current weather conditions, how much rain and how long ago.
I think it might be worth a look.
http://www.firebreak.com.au/bkdi_df.html

Edit: Link Changed

[NorCal Dan]

Looks promising, and the Byrum-Keetch Draught Index is one of the few variables still available from the USFS.