Calibration and evaluation of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI)  System for improved wildland fire danger rating in the United Kingdom

de Jong, Mark C.; Wooster, Martin J.; Kitchen, Karl; Manley, Cathy; Gazzard, Rob; McCall, Frank F.

doi:10.5194/nhess-16-1217-2016

Articles | Volume 16, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-1217-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-1217-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 5

Research article

|

30 May 2016

Research article |

| 30 May 2016

Calibration and evaluation of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System for improved wildland fire danger rating in the United Kingdom

Mark C. de Jong, Martin J. Wooster, Karl Kitchen, Cathy Manley, Rob Gazzard, and Frank F. McCall

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Mar 2017	49	34	7	90
Apr 2017	35	53	0	88
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Jan 2018	16	30	3	49
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Aug 2020	7	65	12	84
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Nov 2020	26	26	0	52
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Jan 2025	27	16	0	43
Feb 2025	46	27	1	74
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Apr 2025	37	25	0	62
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Jun 2025	68	24	0	92
Jul 2025	43	22	3	68
Aug 2025	47	21	2	70
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Oct 2025	51	37	3	91
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Jan 2026	61	88	6	155
Feb 2026	70	87	1	158
Mar 2026	61	82	5	148
Apr 2026	17	19	1	37

Cumulative views and downloads (calculated since 23 Nov 2015)

Month	HTML	PDF	XML	Total
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Dec 2015	20	22	2	44
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Feb 2016	25	10	2	37
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Oct 2016	26	21	1	48
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Oct 2025	51	37	3	91
Nov 2025	62	34	2	98
Dec 2025	43	50	7	100
Jan 2026	61	88	6	155
Feb 2026	70	87	1	158
Mar 2026	61	82	5	148
Apr 2026	17	19	1	37

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Latest update: 24 Apr 2026

Short summary

We present a percentile-based calibration of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System for the United Kingdom (UK), developed from numerical weather prediction data, and evaluate it using historic wildfire records. The Fine Fuel Moisture Code, Initial Spread Index and final FWI component of the FWI system show the greatest predictive skill for UK wildfires. Our findings provide useful insights for any future redevelopment of the current operational UK fire danger rating system.