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Fire Management
Wildland Fire Management
Wildland fires are a force of nature that can be nearly impossible to prevent and difficult to control. Wildland fire can also be a friend or a foe, depending on its place and time. The Forest Service has been managing wildland fires for more than 100 years, often in conjunction with other federal, tribal, state and local partners. Fire plays a natural role in the National Forests and the surrounding ecosystem. The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy has three key components: Resilient Landscapes, Fire Adapted Communities, and Safe and Effective Wildfire Response. Click the read more links below to go to the U.S. Forest Service Wildland Fire page and learn more about these components.
Resilient Landscapes
Healthy, thriving ecosystems are less vulnerable to extreme wildfires that can devastate watersheds, destroy wildlife habitat, and risk lives. Healthy ecosystems can adapt to invasive species, and insect infestations. Unfortunately, keeping fire out of wildlands has left forests and grasslands crowded with flammable vegetation. Fire seasons have become longer and droughts and insect infestations worse. Whole landscapes are now vulnerable to devastating, extreme wildfires. read more »
Fire Adapted Communities
Wildfires do not stop at property boundaries. Nation-wide more than 70,000 communities and 44 million homes are at risk from wildfire in the wildland urban interface (WUI) – where vegetative fuels and the built environment meet. Over the last ten years, more than 35,000 structures were destroyed by wildfires – an average of 3,500 a year. read more »
Safe and Effective Wildfire Response
Each year, an average of about 7,500 wildfires burn an average of approximately 1.5 million acres on National Forests and Grasslands. Over the last ten years, just over half (54%) of these wildfires have been caused by humans while the rest (46%) have been ignited by lightning. read more »
Fire Information Resources
InciWeb: Incident Information System
Large fire activity updates with maps, fire information and pictures.
Fire Enterprise Geospatial Portal Maps
The National Fire Situational Awareness (NFSA) application is a public geospatial wildfire decision support tool. It provides a continuously updated overview of national and regional interagency wildfire response activities.
Interactive Fire History Map
You can now use our interactive map viewer to explore the wildland fire history for the Northern Region of the Forest Service. Below we have posted fire history maps for the Bitterroot National Forest.
- Fire History Map 1870-1984 (.pdf 961kb)
- Fire History Map 1870-2018 (.pdf 2MB)
- Fire History Map 1985-Present (.pdf 2MB)
Northern Rockies and National Fire News and Information
National Interagency Fire Center
NIFC Fire News and Information
Northern Rockies Coordination Center
The interagency center for coordination of resources in the Northern Rockies.
Geographic Area Coordination Center
The GACC Index is a springboard to all of the Geographic Area web sites.
National Incident Management (SIT) Report (pdf)
An overview of fire activity in the nation. The Situational, or SIT Report, is a regularly-updated product of the National Interagency Coordination Center that is a summary of the wildfire situation across the United States, including all fires, new fires, and resources committed.
Fire Weather and Forecasts
NOAA: Smoke Plume Detection
Hazard Mapping System and Smoke Map showing fires and smoke drift across North America
NOAA: National Fire Weather Map
This interactive map and related products shows an overlay of fire weather hazards (such as red flag warnings), a fire weather forecast map, the Storm Prediction Center's Fire Weather Outlook, as well as the latest wildland fire outlook and more.
Fire Outlook and Predictive Services
Northern Region Coordination Center: Predictive Services Outlooks
Fire Potential Outlooks, daily and future, as well as fire behavior outlooks and advisories.
ERC Graphs
Energy Release Component Graph showing the measurements of moisture content in fuels and comparisons to previous years and average readings.
Fuels and Fire Danger Index and Information from Northern Region Coordinating Center
