Transatlantic Fire Resource Guide
Fire Outlooks
Forest Fire Danger Index (WBI)
Operator: German Meteorological Service (DWD)
Geographic Focus: Germany
Tags: Fire Danger · Index · Forecast · Map · Short-Range · German
Access: Free, public
URL: https://www.dwd.de/DE/leistungen/waldbrandgef/waldbrandgef.html
The DWD publishes daily maps of the Forest Fire Danger Index (Waldbrandgefahrenindex, WBI), which rates fire danger on a five-level scale (1 = very low to 5 = very high) based on meteorological parameters including temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and precipitation. Forecasts are available for up to four days ahead. The product is the authoritative fire danger tool for German forestry authorities, fire brigades, and state-level civil protection agencies, providing the meteorological basis for issuing public advisories, imposing access restrictions to forested areas, and coordinating prevention resources across federal states.
Grassland Fire Index (GLFI)
Operator: German Meteorological Service (DWD)
Geographic Focus: Germany
Tags: Fire Danger · Index · Forecast · Map · Short-Range · German
Access: Free, public
URL: https://www.dwd.de/DE/leistungen/graslandfi/graslandfi.html
Where the DWD Forest Fire Danger Index (WBI) addresses fire danger in forested landscapes, the GLFI is its dedicated counterpart for open, unshaded terrain with dead grass cover and no green understorey — including road and railway embankments, heathland, and ripe or harvested grain fields. Like the WBI, the GLFI classifies weather-driven fire danger on a five-level scale (1 = very low to 5 = very high), incorporating hourly inputs of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, precipitation, incoming shortwave and longwave radiation, snow depth, dew formation, and litter moisture — outputting only the peak daytime value and updated once daily by 05:00 UTC. The model consistently represents a worst-case scenario by not accounting for grass greening, making it particularly applicable to the persistent dry-grass fire hazard found along transportation corridors. For fire brigades, railway operators, land managers, and civil protection authorities, the GLFI provides the meteorological basis for assessing open-land fire risk.
National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook
Operator: National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) / National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC)
Geographic Focus: United States (national, with regional breakdown by Geographic Area)
Tags: Fire Danger · Forecast · Map · Seasonal Outlook · Archive · Decision Support
Access: Free, public
This page provides two complementary forecast products: a 7-Day Significant Fire Potential outlook (updated daily by 12:00 MDT during fire season) and a monthly National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook covering a rolling four-month window, both presented as color-coded maps. The monthly product synthesizes assessments from ten regional Predictive Services Units and classifies fire potential as above, near, or below normal relative to historical baselines. For fire managers, emergency planners, and resource coordinators, these tools are essential for proactive decision-making — enabling pre-positioning of crews and equipment, inter-agency resource allocation, and early situational awareness well before conditions deteriorate. An archive dating back to 2002 additionally supports trend analysis and after-action reviews.
NOAA Storm Prediction Center – Fire Weather Outlooks
Operator: NOAA Storm Prediction Center (SPC)
Geographic Focus: Contiguous United States (CONUS)
Tags: Fire Weather · Fire Danger · Forecast · Map · Short-Range · Operational
Access: Free, public
URL: https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/fire_wx/overview.html
The SPC Fire Weather Outlooks provide operational short-term forecasts — typically out to eight days — identifying areas at risk of critical fire weather conditions such as low relative humidity, high temperatures, strong winds, and dry lightning. Products are issued in two categories: "Elevated" and "Critical/Extremely Critical," with the highest-risk areas corresponding closely to National Weather Service Red Flag Warning criteria. These outlooks are of direct operational value to fire weather meteorologists, incident commanders, and dispatch centers, as they support go/no-go decisions for prescribed burns and help anticipate rapid fire spread events before they occur.
Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS)
Operator: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station – Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory
Geographic Focus: United States
Tags: Fire Danger · Drought · Index · Real-Time Monitoring · Archive · Operational
Access: Free, public
WFAS is an integrated, web-based platform providing real-time and forecasted national views of fire weather and fire potential across the United States, aggregating National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS) outputs, fuel moisture estimates across all timelag classes (1-hour through 1000-hour), drought indices including the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) and Palmer Drought Severity Index, and satellite-derived vegetation condition data. Data are drawn from the national network of Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) and presented as continuously updated national maps, enabling spatial comparison of fire danger conditions across geographic areas, regions, and time periods. For wildland firefighters, fire managers, and incident resource coordinators at all levels, WFAS is the primary national operational platform for fire danger intelligence — supporting daily dispatch readiness decisions, pre-positioning of suppression resources, prescribed burn go/no-go assessments, and trend analysis through historical percentile comparisons that contextualize current conditions against the long-term climatological record.