Software applications, databases, and new technologies.
Southern Fire Exchange Archived Webinars
Tools for Hosting Online Wildland Fire Courses (2022)
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many fire practitioners are exploring ways to use virtual platforms to offer, supplement, and improve training. This webinar discussed the Wildland Fire Learning Portal and efforts from Tall Timbers Research Station to create additional options for online fire training.
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Overview of the US National Fire Danger Rating System Version 4.0 (2016): Lessons learned from the Southeast US implementation (2022)
The US National Fire Danger Rating System is the foundation for wildland fire preparedness and response decision support throughout the US. In this webinar, Dr. Matt Jolly with the Rocky Mountain Research Station discussed the NFDRS system and some of the science behind the update.
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Introduction to the SE FireMap – A New Tool to Map Fires Across the South (2021)
The SE FireMap is a new fire mapping system for the Southeastern United States. Developed with funding provided by the USDA NRCS, SE FireMap uses a remote sensing-based approach to track both prescribed fire and wildfire activity on public and private lands across the range of the longleaf pine. SE FireMap is being developed as a critical decision support tool to maximize the effectiveness of fire management practices across boundaries, ecosystems, and jurisdictions. This webinar introduced the SE FireMap, describe the source of the fire data, and explore the current opportunities to use the system.
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QUIC-Fire: A Fast-Running Simulation Tool for Prescribed Fire Planning (2020)
Recent advances in wildland fire behavior models (e.g. FIRETEC) utilizing high spatial and temporal resolution fluid dynamics calculations have facilitated complex modeling of fire-atmospheric feedbacks. Unfortunately, this fire modeling approach requires exceptional computational resources that are unlikely to be available to most wildland fire managers. QUIC-Fire is a new physics-based cellular automata fire spread tool that that offers advanced fire modeling capabilities without the demand for extraordinary computational resources. QUIC-Fire is a new step towards expanding next generation fire model access to a wider audience of practitioners and users.
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An Assessment of Temperature and RH from a Variety of Weather Meters
In this webinar, Chuck McHugh presented the results of an innovative study comparing measured temperature and relative humidity values from Kestrel® meters ) to temperature and calculated relative humidity using a sling psychrometer. All measurements were taken in a regulated environmental chamber that allowed them to set the values across a known range of temperature and relative humidity.
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Next Generation Fire Modeling for Advanced Wildland Fire Training – An Introduction
James Furman and Brett Williams discuss how current fire spread models available to managers are inadequate for predicting the complex influences of atmosphere, forest structure, and different ignition patterns on fire behavior. The Air Force Wildland Fire Center at Eglin AFB, in collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory, have initiated a project to demonstrate the capabilities of a physics-based, fluid dynamics wildland fire spread model, FIRETEC, to simulate fire behavior from various prescribed fire scenarios in southeastern fuels.
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Using Smoke Prediction Models for Prescribed Burning Planning
Host: Southern Fire Exchange and Forestry & Natural Resources Webinar Portal
Daniel Stratton, USDA Forest Service, introduces the major characteristics of emission and smoke models such as the Fire Emission Production Simulator (FEPS), HYSPLIT, BlueSky, and VSmoke.
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WindNinja – Modeling Winds in Complex Terrain for Wildland Fire Applications
In this webinar Dr. Natalie Wagenbrenner of the USFS Missoula Fire Science Lab described the fundamentals and workings of WindNinja and demonstrated how WindNinja can be used to create high spatial resolution near-surface wind forecasts.
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Other useful archived webinars on this subject
Introduction to IFTDSS
Host: LLC-IAWF-JFSP
Presenter: Stacy Drury
The web-based Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS) was designed to provide fire and fuels managers with a single software solution to manage the many data types, software applications, and tools available for fuels treatment planning. This webinar will introduce the IFTDSS, discuss the tools and functionality currently available in the IFTDSS, and will discuss the workflow scenarios that have been developed to address common goals and objectives in fuels treatment planning.
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LANDFIRE Webinar: Current Status and Future Opportunities
Host: Southern Rockies Fire Science Network
Jim Smith, The Nature Conservancy, describes the LANDFIRE project, and discusses the current product suite and the future for those using LANDFIRE products. Webinar host: Southern Rockies Fire Science Network.
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Landscape Treatment Designer: A Multicriteria Optimization Tool for Fuel Treatment Planning
Host: LLC-JFSP-IAWF
Alan Ager provides an overview of the Landscape Treatment Designer (LTD)—a multicriteria spatial prioritization and optimization system to help design and explore landscape fuel treatment scenarios. This program can be used in a number of ways to explore treatment priority and decision rules for small to large (1 million ha) landscapes.
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Mobile Technologies in Fire and Aviation Management
Host: LLC-IAWF-JFSP
This webinar presented by Esther Godson provides an overview of the USFS Mobile Technology Integration for Fire & Aviation Management (MTIFAM) Program. The program focuses on testing new mobile technologies, integrating field innovation and gathering requirements specific to Fire and Aviation Management operations and employees.
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Monitoring Fire Effects with FFI
Host: Lake States Fire Science Consortium
Duncan Lutes, USDA Forest Service, provides background information on FFI (FEAT/FIREMON Integrated), demonstrates database application, and answers questions.
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Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS): Project Overview and Data Access
Host: LLC-JFSP-IAWF
Josh Picotte and Jennifer Lecker provide an overview of Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity—a multi-year, interagency project designed to consistently map the location, extent and associated burn severity of large fires occurring on all lands of the United States from 1984 to present.
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Unlocking the Mystery of the Weather Forecast
Host: Lake States Fire Science Consortium
Amanda Graning with the National Weather Service explains how “weather models” and “the grids” are used, and the various types of fire weather forecasts and their limitations. In addition, she reviews the services provided by the Duluth NWS office during the Pagami Creek Wildfire and the improvements that have been implemented as a result.
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