Category: Wildfire Risk
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Red Flag Warnings
Red Flag Warnings (RFW) are put out by the National Weather Service (NWS) when certain weather conditions are met – usually a combination of wind & dryness. The conditions that trigger a NWS vary by region and forecast office. Without going into all the details, RFWs are not consistently applied nor scientifically developed to help…
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The Double-Myth of “Fire Season”
It’s now a cliché in the fire world to say there is no fire season. Let’s back up a bit. A fire season was used for the fire suppression agencies to staff their facilities properly. Because of the seasonality of wildfire, it didn’t make sense to keep a full set of crews in stations and…
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Case Studies: Large US wildfires since 2020
Let’s focus on the biggest of the big: Combined, approximately 150 fatalities. And truly heartbreaking. Do they have anything in common? Absolutely. There are two groupings in the data: 1) the two lightning-based California complexes 2) the other wind-based fires California Lightning Complexes The California complex (“Complex” means multiple fires in same area or merging…
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Introducing PyroRisk Zones (PRZ)
Based on national wildfire and fuels data, PyroRisk is happy to introduce PRZ2025 as a free set of data to visualize wildfire risk. Available in GIS shapefile format (contact [email protected]) Please read how to use below: This lower resolution version of the data (free version) is meant for utilities to be able to quantitatively compare…
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What is Fire Weather?
“Fire Weather” is a term that is used in the industry, and likely has different meanings for everyone. To the officer with a low risk appetite, it’s any time it’s not raining. To a seasoned fire fighter, it’s those days where the hairs on his neck stand up. PyroRisk uses that term to capture weather…