This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(May 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Fire danger rating[1]
Category
Fire Danger Index
Forest
Grassland
Catastrophic (Code Red)
100 +
150 +
Extreme
75–99
100–149
Severe
50–74
50–99
Very High
25–49
25–49
High
12–24
12–24
Low–Moderate
0–11
0–11
The McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) was developed in the 1960s by CSIRO scientist A. G. McArthur to measure the degree of danger of fire in Australian forests. The index combines a record of dryness, based on rainfall and evaporation, with meteorological variables for wind speed, temperature and humidity.[2]
A similar approach was adopted by McArthur for grassland areas. Luke and McArthur details the early development and use of these indices.[3]
In 1980 Noble et al.[4] produced algorithms based on mathematical equations of best fit. These algorithms have been used since the early 1980s to enable easy computation. However they are often used with input values outside McArthur's intended design, resulting in FFDI values in excess of 100. The power function nature of the algorithm, together with limits of precision in measuring the input variables, may result in a large range of uncertainty in the calculated FFDI. For example, in conditions that produce an FFDI of 100, small fluctuations in wind speed and temperature would suggest a ± 20% range in FFDI.
McArthur tested his meter using low-intensity fires on Black Mountain, near Canberra (see Luke and McArthur) with the most extreme conditions being when FFDI was in the 20s range. McArthur specified a wind averaging period of "more than 5 minutes".[5] A 10-minute period is the most common period used in Australian wind speed measurements and calculated FFDI values using different wind averaging periods cannot be compared. Since wind speed varies considerably over small distances, "observed" FFDI values will vary even more.
A fire danger index of between 12 and 25 on the index is generally considered a "high" degree of danger, while a day having a danger index of over 50 is considered a "severe" fire danger rating. Above this level in 2010 a distinction was made between forest and grassland fuels. For forest fuels, an FDI over 75 is categorised as "extreme" and over 100 as "catastrophic" (Victoria does not use the term "Catastrophic" but uses other factors on the worst fire days to declare a "Code Red" period [6]). For grassland fuels the threshold FDI values for the Extreme and Catastrophic ratings were increased to 100 and 150 respectively. Fire danger ratings are determined by the responsible fire agency in each jurisdiction, based on weather information provided by the Bureau of Meteorology and fuel information. Other considerations besides the Fire Danger Index, such as the likelihood of lightning ignitions and the severity of wind changes may also be considered by the agencies in determining a fire danger rating.
McArthur used the conditions of the Black Friday fires of 1939 as his example of a 100 index.
The FFDI on Black Saturday, 7 February 2009, reached much higher than the maximum value of 100. At such extremes it is meaningless to specify a particular value of FFDI. After the Black Saturday bushfires, the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index was revised. The category "Catastrophic" was added to help identify those situations where fires will spread so quickly that they present a critical threat to life and safety.
^"New Warning System Explained". Country Fire Authority. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
^Dowdy; et al. (2009). "Australian fire weather as represented by the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index and the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index" (PDF).
^Luke R.H. and McArthur A.G., "Bushfires in Australia", Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1978.
^Noble I.R., Bary G.A.A., and Gill A.M. (1980), "McArthur's fire danger meters expressed as equations", Australian Journal of Ecology, 5, pp. 201–203.
^McArthur, A.G. (1967). "Fire behaviour in eucalypt forests / [by] A. G. McArthur. - Version details". Forestry and Timber Bureau. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
^"Bans & rating FAQs / [by] Country Fire Authority, Victoria - Version details". Archived from the original on 22 January 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
and 23 Related for: McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index information
The McArthurForestFireDangerIndex (FFDI) was developed in the 1960s by CSIRO scientist A. G. McArthur to measure the degree of danger of fire in Australian...
percent. The McArthurForestFireDangerIndex reached unprecedented levels, ranging from 160 to over 200. This was higher than the fire weather conditions...
several decades, including the average number of days when the McArthurForestFireDangerIndex rating is very high or extreme. It also found that the combined...
by the Bureau of Meteorology to the DFES on 16 November, a McArthurForestFireDangerIndex (FFDI) rating of 250–260 was reportedly forecast for 17 November;...
logging would encourage more brushy undergrowth and thus increase the firedanger. In 2007, the Bohemian Club board filed application for a nonindustrial...
mid-morning, McArthur'sfiredangerindex was in excess of 100 in several places in Victoria and South Australia. It would be one of the worst fire weather...
Peace Index 2022 (PDF) (Report). Institute for Economics and Peace. June 2022. p. 11. Retrieved 21 February 2023. Chua, Amy (2003). World On Fire. Knopf...
Drought Index for ForestFire Control". Res. Pap. Se-38. Asheville, Nc: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southeastern Forest Experiment...
seasons, the Amazon forest would not act as a carbon sink; Carlos Nobre (scientist) and dry seasons, and the possible danger of fire, caused by changes...
lead travellers off the forest path and into danger, while others perceive them as trickster fairies or sprites. King Arthur is the legendary king of...
including picking fruit, digging ditches, driving trucks, and fighting forestfires. Parks married five times. His first marriage in 1956 at age 16 to Louise...
"Inquest is told fatal shot fired from across border". The Argus. Dundalk. 28 October 2009. p. 56. Malcolm Sutton's Index of Deaths from the Conflict...
to the ecology of forestfire suppression and management in the 1960s. Native North Americans were among the first to influence fire regimes by controlling...
villain in some of the most popular series of the 60s and 70s, including Danger Man, The Saint, Doctor Who, The Prisoner, Gideon's Way, Man in a Suitcase...
cent when the FireDanger FFDI ranges from moderate to high (<24). However, the chances of success fall rapidly as the firedangerindex rises, fuel loads...
oeuvre, "Danger Man" was a licensed strip based on the ATV television series of the same name, with the art using the likeness of star Patrick McGoohan....
well as quality of forests to meet values and needs, specifically timber production. The name comes from the Latin silvi- ('forest') and culture ('growing')...
West Sudanian savanna, and Guinean mangroves. It had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 3.64/10, ranking it 143rd globally out of 172...
on the road, and the wife of one of his aides was killed, and he was in danger of arrest in Romania and only got out by aircraft on 21 September with a...