European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS)#
The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) supports forest fire protection services in the EU and neighbouring countries.
Since 1998, EFFIS has been supported by a network of country experts in what is called the Forest Fire Experts Group, which is registered with the Secretariat General of the European Commission. This group currently consists of experts from 43 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. In 2015, EFFIS became one of the components of the emergency management services of the EU’s Copernicus programme.
In 2007, after a 5-year test phase in which different national fire danger indices were implemented in EFFIS, the EFFIS network adopted the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) system as a method to assess the level of fire danger in a harmonised way across Europe.
These forecasts are calculated on the basis of two deterministic models:
ECMWF (European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast).
MeteoFrance
Temporal and spatial resolution#
Forecasts based on ECMWF data:
They provide a forecast for the next 9 days with a daily time step.
Spatial resolution of 8km.
Forecasts based on MeteoFrance data:
Provide a forecast for the next 3 days with a daily time step.
Spatial resolution of 10km.
Update frequency#
The data is updated once a day following the model run.
Available variables#
The following variables are available on the platform:
Fine Fuel Moisture Code#
FFMC (Fine Fuel Moisture Code): This code or sub-index estimates the moisture content of dead light fuels and organic matter in a soil layer of about 1.2 cm depth and a dry matter weight of about 0.25 kg/m2 or 2.5 t/ha. Its value on any given day depends on temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and accumulated precipitation in the last 24 hours, as well as on the previous day’s index (FMMC0). The precipitation required to change its value is 0.5 mm; below this threshold it is considered to be intercepted by vegetation. This index is a good indicator of the ignition probability of a fire being caused by incandescent particles or having an anthropogenic origin, as these types of materials are very susceptible to ignition.
Duff Moisture Code#
DMC (Duff Moisture Code): Estimates the moisture content of medium-sized fuels with a diameter between 3.8 and 7.6 cm and organic matter from a soil layer of about 7 cm depth and a dry matter weight of about 5 kg/m2 or 50 t/ha. It depends on temperature, relative air humidity, accumulated rainfall in 24 hours and its value on the previous day (DMC0). In this case the precipitation needed to modify it is 1.5 mm. In its empirical formulation, the duration of the day is also taken into account by means of tabulated coefficients.
Drought Code#
DC (Drought Code): Estimates the moisture content of large fuels with a diameter between 12.7 and 17.8 cm and organic matter in a soil layer of about 18 cm depth and a dry matter weight of about 25 kg/m2 or 250 t/ha. Its value depends on the air temperature, the precipitation recorded in the last 24 hours, the value of the previous day’s subscript (DC0) and the length of the day. The precipitation needed to change it is 2.8 mm. It is a good indicator of the seasonal effects of drought on large fuels.
Initial Spread Index#
ISI (Initial Spread Index): A combination of the FMMC sub-index and wind speed is used to estimate the rate of spread of the fire at the flame front, on level ground and in the absence of extinguishing measures, without the influence of fuel variability.
Build-Up Index#
BUI (Build-Up Index) or Build-Up Index: It is obtained by a combination of the DMC and DC indices. It estimates the total fuel available (medium and coarse particles) for combustion and fire spread, including heavy fuels on the ground that can feed the fire.
Fire Weather Index#
The FWI (Fire Weather Index) is obtained by linearly combining an indicator of the rate of fire spread (ISI) and an indicator of the available fuel (BUI), i.e. the FWI is a good measure of the probability of ignition, related in turn to the moisture content of the fuels, the potential extent of the fire and the difficulty of its suppression. The FWI represents the intensity of fire spread, measured as energy developed per unit length of the fire front, and can be considered as an index of fire behaviour.
Ranking and anomaly#
Given the disparity of climatic conditions in Europe, EFFIS publishes 2 indicators that provide information on the local and temporal variability of the FWI compared to historical series of about 30 years. These indicators are the ranking, which provides the percentiles of occurrence of the values, and the anomaly, calculated as the standard deviation of the historical mean values over 30 years of data.
Computation and fire danger classes#
FWI is computed from the ECMWF model (8 km), which provides 1 to 9 days forecasts, and from the MeteoFrance model (10 km), which provides up to 3 days forecasts. The Fire Weather Index is mapped in 6 classes (very low, low, medium, high, very high and extreme). The fire danger classes are the same for all countries and maps show a harmonized picture of the spatial distribution of fire danger level throughout Europe, Middle East and North Africa. The values for the FWI and its sub-components are provided below.
Fire Danger |
FWI |
FFMC |
DMC |
DC |
ISI |
BUI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Very Low |
< 5.2 |
< 82.7 |
< 15.7 |
< 256.1 |
< 3.2 |
< 24.2 |
Low |
5.2 - 11.2 |
82.7 - 86.1 |
15.7 - 27.9 |
256.1 - 334.1 |
3.2 - 5.0 |
24.2 - 40.7 |
Moderate |
11.2 - 21.3 |
86.1 - 89.2 |
27.9 - 53.1 |
334.1 - 450.6 |
5.0 - 7.5 |
40.7 - 73.3 |
High |
21.3 - 38.0 |
89.2 - 93.0 |
53.1 - 140.7 |
450.6 - 749.4 |
7.5 - 13.4 |
73.3 - 178.1 |
Very High |
38.0 - 50 |
>=93.0 |
>=140.7 |
>=749.4 |
>=13.4 |
>=178.1 |
Extreme |
>=50 |
A “Very Extreme” Fire Danger Class was introduced in June 2021 to provide discrimination about the level of fire danger in extensive areas that were initially classified at “Extreme” Fire Danger in the Mediterranean region during the summer months. The “Very Extreme” class include areas with FWI values above 70.
Visualization#
Useful links#
Data sources#
Data provided by EFFIS through the WMS protocol.