Comparisons and assessment of forest fire danger systems

Abstract

The paper gives a brief description about the current main forest fire danger rating systems in the world, which include forest fire danger rating system used in Canada, USA, Australia, and other countries. It shows the composition, structure and development of the main fire danger rating systems. The limitations of those systems are also discussed. Through a comparison of the three main forest fire danger rating systems the paper describes their differences on development, fuel complex descriptions, inputs and outputs, and their applications and finds that the technologies of the Canadian forest fire danger rating system can be adopted for China to develop a national forest fire danger rating system. Two steps are needed to develop our own national forest fire danger rating system. Firstly, we apply the CFFDRS directly. Then some studies should be done to calibrate the FDRS to local weather and fuel characteristics.