Wildland Fire Research to Support Fire Management Operations:
Lessons Learned From a Case Study of the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System

Steve Taylor (Fire Research Officer, Canadian Forest Service, Pacific Forestry Centre, Victoria, BC) and Dr. Marty Alexander (Senior Researcher, FERIC Wildland Fire Operations Research Group) recently completed a manuscript entitled “Common Cause: The Canadian Experience in Developing a National Fire Danger Rating System” for submission and publication as a journal article.  The manuscript represents an expansion on a document originally begun for presentation at the 2003 World Forestry Congress held in Quebec City last fall (Taylor and Alexander 2003a, 2003b).

This paper examines the evolution of the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) and its implementation in Canada and elsewhere and suggests how this experience can be applied in developing fire danger rating systems in other forest or wildland environments.  Experience with the CFFDRS suggests that four key scientific, technological and human elements need to be developed and integrated in a national forest-fire danger-rating system: (i) a sustained program of scientific research to develop a system based on relationships between fire weather, fuels and topography and fire occurrence, behavior and impact that is appropriate to the fire environment and the needs and capabilities of operational agencies; (ii) development of the technical infrastructure to gather and process fire weather data and to disseminate fire weather forecasts, fire danger information and fire behavior predictions within operational agencies; (iii) appropriate technology transfer and training in the use of fire danger information in fire operations; and (iv) cooperation and communication between fire management agencies to share resources and set common standards for information, resources and training.  These elements must be appropriate to the needs of fire mangers and so must evolve over time with changing fire management objectives.  The authors conclude with the fact that developers of fire danger rating system should be careful not to over-emphasize scientific and technological elements at the expense of human and institutional factors.  Most importantly they feel, a common vision and a sense of common cause are needed.  While the paper focus on fire danger rating, it’s felt that the lessons learned are applicable to other aspects of wildland fire operations research.

References

Taylor, S.W.; Alexander, M.E. 2003. Considerations in developing a national forest fire danger rating system (Abstr.). Page 227 in Proceedings of the XII World Forestry Congress (September 21-28, 2003, Quebec, Que.), Volume B – Forest for the Planet. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy, Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Ottawa, Ont., and Government of Quebec, Quebec, Que. (http://warehouse.pfc.forestry.ca/pfc/23859.pdf)

Taylor, S.W.; Alexander, M.E. 2003. Considerations in developing a national forest fire danger rating system. 8 p. (http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/ARTICLE/WFC/XII/0726-B1.HTM)