APPLICATION OF THE CANADIAN FIRE WEATHER INDEX IN A NATIONAL PARK OF CENTRAL MEXICO

Abstract

Among the early warning systems there is one developed by the Canadian Forest Service, called the Fire Weather Index (FWI). To contribute in the creation of an early warning system this index was used to determine the fire danger conditions in Malinche National Park. Calculations of the elements contained in the FWI system were made using the automated version of the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System applied to a series of daily data from January 2004 to October 2009 in five weather stations installed in the park at an altitude of 3,000 m. Four categories were created with the values of the correlation components according to fire frequency and damaged area. Maximum and minimum temperature, relative humidity and rain were identified. Minimum high fire danger thresholds were set for each one of the elements. In the case of Fine Fuel Moisture Code the maximum threshold was set at 80 points, if this value is exceeded the number of fires per day substantially increased. The Drought Code, the Initial Spread Index and Buildup Index, were most significant in relation to fire frequency. The probability of fires was calculated according to certain ranges of values of these components.