Attention: The content on this page is sourced from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Fire Danger Subcommittee and their curriculum for the Geographic Area Rollout Workshops presented in 2018-2020 to transition to the use of NFDRSv4. At the time, NFDRSv4 was referred to as NFDRS2016. Some content will also refer to the Weather Information Management System (WIMS), which has been replaced by FEMS. The explanations in this content for the science behind and the mechanisms within the NFDRS are current and dependable, despite these possible distractions.

FireFamilyPlus (FFP), an agency independent Windows application is a primary tool in the fire behavior/fire danger suite of programs which share data and models that are used in a variety of environments to address a range of business needs. FFP supports the spectrum of fire weather/fire danger/fire climate/fire occurrence analysis tools required by fire managers to successfully use the National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS). NFDRS is mandated for use in fire preparedness by all Federal and most State agencies. 

Uses of FireFamilyPlus:

The Growing Season Index (GSI) in NFDRSv4, controls live fuel moistures, replacing the 1000-hour and X1000 controls in the 1978/88 versions. The moisture bounds (30-250 for herbaceous and 50-200 for woody shrubs) and behavior of annuals versus perennials are maintained.

Source: M. Jolly, Modernizing the US National Fire Danger Rating System (v4)

Station Information Report HOW-TO

• How to filter a Power BI Report of Weather Station Information for attributes of interest to the user.

NFDRS Daily Summary Report HOW-TO

FEMS Climatology API External User Guide

Area Editors Contact List, updated July 2024

FEMS 3.0 RAWS Master Station List and Metadata

RAWS QC for FEMS Presentation created May 2024