Background Information

Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS)

Summary

The Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) is a national system for rating the risk of forest fires in Canada.

Forest fire danger is a general term used to express a variety of factors in the fire environment, such as ease of ignition and difficulty of control. Fire danger rating systems produce qualitative and/or numeric indices of fire potential, which are used as guides in a wide variety of fire management activities.

The CFFDRS has been under development since 1968. Currently, two subsystems–the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System and the Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP) System–are being used extensively in Canada and internationally.

Structure of the CFFDRS

The diagram below illustrates the components of the CFFDRS. Risk, weather, fuels, and topography provide the necessary inputs to predict fire weather, fire occurrence, and fire behavior. Fuel moisture models are currently being developed for a range of Canadian forest types. Together, these systems predict the potential fire danger within the forest.