Reference · built on requestCommons signalHazards & public safety

Wildland Fire Assessment System

Daily national fire danger, dead fuel moisture and Keetch-Byram drought grids from the US Forest Service Wildland Fire Assessment System.

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About

The Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) is run by the US Forest Service Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. It describes itself as a web-based platform giving real-time and forecast national views of fire weather and fire potential across the United States: National Fire Danger Rating System classes, NFDRS moisture estimates from 1-hour to 1000-hour, Keetch-Byram and Palmer drought indices, and satellite-derived vegetation conditions. The site presents Burning Index and Energy Release Component percentile classes, KBDI and 10-, 100- and 1000-hour dead fuel moisture for yesterday, today and tomorrow, as observations or forecasts, alongside URMA gridded weather.

Through Fibric, an operator samples the grids at your sites and proposes a permit hold or a notice when fire danger classes rise.

This is a reference listing. It documents what Fibric would read from Wildland Fire Assessment System and what it could propose, based on the publisher's published interfaces. Fibric builds it under a managed deployment when you request it; selecting it here installs nothing.

Inputs

  • Maps tab products: Burning Index Percentile, Energy Release Component Percentile, Keetch-Byram Drought Index, and 10-Hour, 100-Hour and 1000-Hour Dead Fuel Moisture
  • Each product for Yesterday, Today or Tomorrow as Observations or Forecasts, as PNG under /images/Figures/ and GeoTIFF under /data/Current/
  • NDFD-based Burning Index forecast grids by day under /data/ndfd/ as .tif and .flt with .hdr and .prj sidecars
  • Fuel moisture forecast grids under /data/moistures/, including fm100 and fm1000 by day and fm100_obs_ndfd
  • URMA gridded weather: max and min temperature, max and min relative humidity, max wind speed with median direction, and 24-hour precipitation duration and total
  • Traditional KBDI from URMA and a prototype water-balance KBDI, current and last three days, under /data/urma/kbdi/outputs/
  • Dated archive folders under /data/Archive/ and an NDVI grid under /data/ndvi/

Proposed actions

Read-only. This feed informs operators; it changes nothing.

Proposed actions are target capabilities. Every action runs propose-first and needs a validated deployment and the appropriate permissions.

What you can build

  • Suspend hot work when fire danger climbs

    Sample the Burning Index and Energy Release Component percentile classes at each site and propose that permits wait when today's or tomorrow's class passes your threshold.

    With Hot Work Permit

  • Schedule outdoor crews around forecast danger

    Use tomorrow's forecast classes to propose a schedule notice for outdoor crews at sites in high percentile areas, for a manager to send.

    With Schedule Notice

  • Stage generator fuel ahead of dry spells

    Watch KBDI and 1000-hour fuel moisture at remote sites and propose a fuel reserve check when drought deepens, leaving a record of what changed.

    With Fuel Reserve

  • Add a fire danger line to the morning brief

    Report today's classes and KBDI at each site, and the change from yesterday, in the morning brief.

    With Morning Brief

Requirements

  • A GeoTIFF or float-grid reader to sample values at your site coordinates
  • A daily poller, since products are keyed to yesterday, today and tomorrow and no change notification is documented
  • Your own thresholds per site, because the site publishes percentile classes and index values rather than an alert
Authentication
None. The maps and data directories on wfas.net are public HTTP files; no key or registration is documented.

Limits

  • Tomorrow is forecast-only and Yesterday is observation-only; only Today offers both modes
  • The data directories are plain listings without a README, so file meanings come from their names
  • The water-balance KBDI is labelled a prototype by WFAS
  • The Forest Service disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of its information

Access and pricing

Reference listing. Public feed access is separate from Fibric integration. If you request this feed, your quote covers the build, usage, and support.

Request Wildland Fire Assessment System ↗

Questions and answers

What products does WFAS publish?
Burning Index Percentile, Energy Release Component Percentile, Keetch-Byram Drought Index and 10-, 100- and 1000-hour dead fuel moisture maps; URMA gridded weather; and traditional and prototype water-balance KBDI. The site also lists NFDRS moisture estimates, the Palmer drought index and satellite-derived vegetation conditions.
In what formats can I get the data?
The site shows PNG maps. The /data/Current/ directory serves the same products as GeoTIFF, and /data/ndfd/ and /data/moistures/ serve forecast grids as .tif and .flt with .hdr and .prj sidecars. /data/Archive/ keeps dated folders.
Is there a key or a license?
No key is documented. The Forest Service says information on its website is considered public information and may be distributed or copied, requests appropriate credits, and disclaims any warranty as to accuracy, completeness or usefulness.
Ask about Wildland Fire Assessment System

Ask about the capabilities and requirements in this listing.

For project-specific requirements, contact Fibric.

This Commons signal listing is developed, published, and supported by Fibric. It reads public data published by USDA Forest Service, Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (wfas.net). Upstream agencies and projects are the property of their respective owners, who are not affiliated with Fibric and do not sponsor or endorse this listing. Trademark policy