Burning Index

Idabel Broken Bow Mt. Herman Wister Talihina Clayton Cloudy Hugo Antlers Lane Durant Wilburton Stigler Sallisaw Webbers Falls Cookson Westville Tahlequah Eufaula McAlester Stuart Centrahoma Tishomingo Holdenville Madill Burneyville Ardmore Newport Fittstown Sulphur Haskell Porter Okmulgee Inola Bixby Tulsa Okemah Seminole Ada Byars Pauls Valley Ringling Hectorville Bristow Shawnee Ketchum Ranch Washington Norman Chandler Spencer OKC East Waurika Chickasha Acme Oilton Minco Guthrie Walters Apache Grandfield Medicine Park Fort Cobb Tipton Altus Hobart El Reno Hinton Perkins Marena Stillwater Lake Carl Blackwell Pawnee Red Rock Marshall Kingfisher Watonga Weatherford Bessie Jay Pryor Skiatook Wynona Burbank Miami Vinita Nowata Talala Copan Foraker Newkirk Blackwell Mangum Hollis Erick Putnam Butler Cheyenne Breckinridge Lahoma Fairview Seiling Camargo Medford Cherokee Alva May Ranch Freedom Woodward Arnett Buffalo Slapout Beaver Hooker Goodwell Boise City Kenton Elk City Valliant Eva Yukon
This map, updated every 15 minutes, displays the Burning Index (BI) value (10*feet) as calculated by the Oklahoma Fire Danger Model. This is probably the most useful index of the National Fire Danger Rating System (on which the Oklahoma Fire Danger Model is based) since BI directly relates to the intensity of the fire (and thus is related to the difficulty of containment) and is scaled such that BI/10 is equal to the flame length (FL) in feet at the head of the fire. It is an index which integrates both the Spread Component (SC) and Energy Release Component (ERC). The traditional U.S. Forest Service interpretation of Burning Index with respect to fire behavior and suppression is listed below:
BI < 40 (FL < 4 ft): Fires can generally be attacked at the head or flanks by persons using hand tools. Hand line should hold the fire.
BI = 40-80 (FL = 4-8 ft): Fires are too intense for direct attack on the head by persons using hand tools. Hand line cannot be relied on to hold fire. Equipment such as dozers, pumpers, and retardant aircraft can be effective.
BI = 80-110 (FL = 8-11 ft): Fires may present serious control problems – torching out, crowning, and spotting. Control efforts at the fire head will probably be ineffective.
BI > 110 (FL > 11 ft): Crowning, spotting, and major fire runs are probable. Control efforts at the head of the fire are ineffective.
Burning Index is a function of the fuel model being used, the live and dead fuel loads, the live and dead fuel moistures, and the weather conditions. If the fuel types and loads are substantially different than those in the fuel model being used, there will be inaccuracies. It is also important to realize that these indices produced by the National Fire Danger Rating system are for the conditions modeled at 500-m resolution. In other words, the fuel model represents conditions over the entire 500-m pixel area, so indices such as BI are not meant to be used on a field-by-field basis. As an example, if the particular fuel in the area of concern (e.g., a particular field) differs from the assigned fuel model in that 500-m pixel, then the Oklahoma Fire Danger Model results for that pixel can be expected to be different than for the particular field in question (e.g., an open grassy area in a 500-m pixel that has been assigned a forest fuel model).