Geomantics in Emergency Planning and Management :Canadian Forest Fire management Experience
Canadian Forest Fire Weather index (FWI)
The FWI system is a tool developed in the CWFIS. It consists of six components that amount for the effects of fuel moisture and wind on fire behavior (Fig .1). the first three components are fuel moisture codes (FFMC, DMC, and DC) and are numerical ratings of the moisture content of litter and other fine fuel the average moisture content of deep, compact organic layers. The remaining three component are fire behavior indexes (ISI, BUI, and FWI) which represent the rate of fire spread, the fuel available for combustion, and the frontal fire intensity; their values rise as the fire danger increases.
Fig.1. Components of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System
The FWI is suitable as a general index of fire danger throughout the forested areas of Canada. Figure 2 shows the map of the Fire Weather Index of Canada on August 5, 1995 as disseminated through the World Wide Web. During the 1998 season, forest fire activity in Canada has been sever with more than 10,000 occurrences and burnt area of 4.4 million hectares as of September. The season's fire occurrence and at the 5
th highest and the seasonal area burned at the sixth highest in the past 25 years.
Fig.2. Map of the Fire Weather Index for Canada on August 5,1998.
Remarks
Fire management system provided tools that help fire control an suppression. These systems are based on geomantic technologies and information. Geographic Canada maintains and privies geographic information products on Canada's landmass for use in forest fire and other emergency planning and management systems. The CWFIS is the only operational automated GIS-based national wildland fire information system in the world. It facilitates the interagency transfer of fire suppression resources; supports agency-level fie management decisions; and provides the government, fie management agencies, the media and the general public with a comprehensive national picture of the forest fire environment.
Emergency management has received particular attention in Canada during the past couple of years, in part, as a result of severe flooding in the Province of Mnitobe and the 1998 Ice Storm in the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Disaster management is also an important part of Canada's long Term Space Plan (LTSP) III, currently under consideration to address the next generation of space applications.
References
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GARTELL, A.C. and Vincent. 1991. managing natural and Technological Hazards. In Handling Geographic Information: methodology and Potential Applications. (Ed) Masser, I. And M. Blackemore. Longman Scientific and Technical , England.
- Emergency preparedness Canada, 1997. internet site. http://hoshic.cic.sfu.ca/epc/en-home.html.
- Geomantic Canada , 1997. internet site http://www.geocan.NRCan.gc.ca.
- Gomlpendium of Canadian Forestry Statistics: national Forestry Database. Natural Resources Canada. 1997
- Canadian forestry service, 1998. internet site. http://www.NRCan.gc.ca/cfs.
