Thank You OPERATIONAL FDR IN SOUTH AFRICA LOWVELD FIRE DANGER RATING SYSTEM Presented By: Chris de Bruno Austin 1
CONTENTS The FDR System Weather Station Weather Station Placement Thank You FDR and Fire Management Activities Data Handling WINWIS Maintenance and Damage Prevention Data Logging and Retrieval Methods 2
LOWVELD FIRE DANGER RATING SYSTEM The system has been developed from the McArthur grassland Model The system was first used in the 1970s in Rhodesia and was further developed in South Africa from the late 1980s Working on Fire Supplies Daily Fire Danger Indexes and forecasted indexes to Contributing Land Owners covering 3 million ha. Thank You The South African Weather Service provides early warning to the rest of the Country sing the USA NFDRS 3
WEATHER STATIONS Working on Fire: Davies Vantage Pro Automatic Weather Station with PC Link (Software) Total 12 weather stations Thank You Total area covered 3 million ha We assume that all the Fine Fuels (Grass) are fully Cured as of the 1 st May 4
WHEATHER STATION PLACEMENT 1. The stations are placed along the Escarpment in the path of the progression of the prevailing weather system enabling tracking of the movement of the system 2. Placed in a grid between 40 50 km apart Thank You 3. Stations are placed on the Escarpment at 6 500 ft - Mid Veld areas - Low Veld areas 7
FIRE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES The following Fire Management Activities make use of the colour coded FDI Chart Describing Expected Fire Behavior 1. Initial Attack ResponsesThank You 2. Fire Suppression Standbys 3. Readiness Alert 4. Prescribed Burning Activities 5. Fire Awareness Program 9
Fire Danger Rating System using Fire Danger Indices (FDI s) as a Means for Selecting Suitable Burning Conditions for Controlled Burning FIRE DANGER STAGES FDI FIRE DANGER FIRE INTENSITY kj/s/m CONTROLLED BURNING BLUE 0-19 LOW <500 Too cold, humid or wet for controlled burning GREEN 20-44 MODERATE 500-1000 Suitable for controlled burning to: Remove moribund and/or unpalatable grass material; Construct burnt firebreaks. YELLOW 45-59 DANGEROUS 1001-2000 Suitable for controlled burning to: Remove moribund and/or unpalatable grass material up to a maximum FDI of 55. ORANGE 60-74 VERY DANGEROUS 2000-3000 Suitable for controlled burning to: control and/or prevent the encroachment of undesirable plants e.g. bush encroachment. RED 75-100 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS >3000 Too dangerous and unsuitable for controlled burning.
Fire Suppression
Fire Awareness Program
DATA HANDLING South Africa Cell Phone (Mobile) Service Provider This is done through 2 downloads per day 10h00 am Temp: RH: Wind Speed, Wind Direction, Barometric Pressure & Rain Fall 14h00 pm Temp: RH: Wind Speed, Wind Direction, Barometric Pressure Our weather is measured in the morning at 10H00 this is to ensure that we have a more accurate indication of our expectant fire weather. Weather stations are programmed to display the average every 30 minutes. These measurement takes place every 5 minutes. We assume that all the Fine Fuels (Grass) are fully cured as of 1st May.
DATA HANDLING continued WINWIS System (Windows Weather Information System) This software allows for real-time 14h00 forecasting on a daily basis Our private Weather forecasting service provider supplies a 5 day forecast which we supply to our clients Weather is sent to the client daily at 10h00 and 14h00 via mobile text, fax and email FDI can also be calculated manually using a Hand Held Weather Measuring Device (Kestrel)
WINWIS Used to calculate the Fire Danger Index Used to forecast the FDI (daily and weekly) Used to measure the accuracy of the forecast against real time data It uses only 5 components to forecast
DAILY FORECAST REPORT DAILY FORECAST REPORT No 1 Mpum alanga PROVINCE - Lowveld & Escarpm ent AREA 10h30 FORECAST FOR 14H00 W ednesday 31 October 2007 14H00 FDI FORECAST 15 Blue Today 10h00 Actual average observations Mpum alanga Province Lowveld & Escarpm ent Tem p (C) Hum % W Dir W Speed (km /h) Bar (Hpa) Rain (m m ) FDI 10 94 N 10 1030 1 10 Blue Previous 6 Day 14h00 Actual average observations Mpum alanga Province Lowveld & Escarpm ent Area Day Tem p (C) Hum % W Dir W Speed (km /h) Bar (Hpa) FDI No Fires Tue 30 10 92 ESE 9 1032 12 Blue 0 Mon 29 17 64 ENE 12 1022 35 Green 1 Sun 28 25 15 W SW 14 1017 64 Orange 7 Sat 27 25 14 NNW 9 1016 61 Orange 5 Fri 26 23 21 NNE 13 1022 57 Yelow 2 Thu 25 21 19 ENE 8 1025 54 Yellow 2 6 Day 14h00 W eather Service Forecast Mpum alanga Province Lowveld & Escarpm ent Area Day Tem p (C) Hum % W Dir W Speed (km /h) Bar (Hpa) FDI Tendency W ed 31 20 55 NE 12 1027 22 Green Thu 1 24 34 NE 15 1020 42 Green Fri 2 18 70 NE 17 1028 36 Green Sat 3 19 66 NE 15 1027 32 Green Sun 4 26 34 SW 12 1020 55 Yellow Mon 5 28 23 W 14 1018 61 Orange Com m ents For any additional weather Inform ation please see http://www.netfor.co.za
MAINTENANCE & DAMAGE PREVENTION We have a service agreement with a service provider that annually during the fire season provides the following services - Activation - Calibration - Maintenance - Mothballing of Weather Stations All our weather stations are removed during the summer season to reduce damage
DATA LOGGING & RETRIEVAL METHOD Stored on PC and backed up on external hard drives - Average Fire Season - 5 Months - 153 Days - The WINWIS and Davis Data is backed up - We have 20 years worth of data captured Remote Based Weather Stations Have Modems for Data Transfer via Cell Phone (Mobile) Network Dispatch Based Stations Data is Transferred Through PC Links
THANK YOU FOR Thank You YOUR ATTENTION 21