Fire Behavior Prediction Calculator | Alaska Fire & Fuels

Fire Weather Index & Fire Behavior Prediction Calculator

Assess the movement of a fire based on our forecast meteorlogical conditions, and provided site characteristics.

The station and date above can be set to help you integrate AKFF data into your calculations. Click or tap on the station ID or date to change.

Daily Fire Weather Indices (FWI) Calculator

Date Settings for AKFF Download

We compute up to 3 days' FWI values for you, and you can download them from AKFF if you have selected a valid station and date above.

Adjust the central date

Date term	Date	AKFF origin
Day Before
This Day
Next Day

FWI: Weather Observations

Manually enter the values to compute CFFDRS, or load data from a station above using this button:

	Day Before	This Day	Next Day
TEMP/°F
RELH/%
WSPD/mph
PRECIP/in
	Prior day's CFFDRS indices (observed if available)
FFMC
DMC
DC

Using these values, we can compute FWI indices for any of these columns.

FWI: Index Values

	Day Before	This Day	Next Day
FFMC
DMC
DC
ISI
BUI
FWI

Sending to FBP will set the date, time, FFMC, and BUI of thie FBP calculator to these values. FWI input values were downloaded from AKFF, this will also include the day's wind speed and wind direction.

Fire Behavior Prediction

Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP) Inputs

Select a date from the bottom of one of the above day's columns to prefill these those values into this calculator. Or manually enter the values you wish to use.

Timing Settings
Date of prediction¹
Start Hour	AKDT
Prediction Duration		Minutes
Fuel Characteristics
Fuel Type
Modifier Percent Conifer Composition		%
Modifier Percent Dead Fir		%
Modifier Degree of Curing
Modifier Grass Fuel Load
Environmenal Conditions
FFMC^1,2		Initial FFMC
BUI¹		Initial BUI
Foliar Moisture³		% (optional)
Wind Speed^1,2
Wind Direction^1,2		Coming From the { }
Location & Surface Characteristics
Latitude⁴ (N)
Longitude⁴ (E)
Elevation⁴
Percent Slope		100 × elevation rise/horizontal dist
Aspect of Slope		Slope Faces to the { }

¹ Can be imported from FWI calculator above by clicking one of the "Send to FBP" buttons.
² Can be imported from hourly data for past hours by clicking the "Get Hourly Data" button when available.
³ If not provided, an apropriate value is calculated using date and location.
⁴ Can be imported from station by using station as location.
⁵ Requires browser permission, may not be available on your browser.

FBP: Effective Parameters

	Situation
Effective ISI
Effective Spread Direction
Effective Windspeed

FBP: Fire Behavior

	Head Fire	Flank Fire	Back Fire
Rate of Spread
Rate of Spread at Period End
Fire Intensity/Flame Length
Fire Type
Spread Distance

FBP: Fuel Consumption

	Situation
Surface Fuel Consumption
	Head Fire	Flank Fire	Back Fire
Crown Fuel Consumption
Total Fuel Consumption

FBP: Fire Size and Shape

	Situation
Length-to-Breadth
Elliptical Fire Area
Elliptical Fire Perimeter
Rate of Perimeter Growth

Print this result

Add a comment to be added to a printout.

Or use your system print functions.

This tool uses procedures and equations outlined in the following literature:

Forestry Canada Fire Danger Group. 1992. Development and structure of the Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction System. Information Report ST-X-3. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Forestry Canada, Science and Sustainable Development Directorate. 63 p.

Wotton, B.M.; Alexander, M.E.; Taylor, S.W. 2009. Updates and Revisions to the 1992 Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction System. Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. Information Report GLC-X-10, 45p.