An executive information system to support wildfire disaster declarations

The authors developed an executive information system to support federal wildfire disaster declarations. Weather data is automatically accessed from multiple national weather data networks; large-fire data is manually entered. A data-base management subsystem uses custom and commercial software packages to process and archive daily weather files. The decision support subsystem calculates the daily probability of a large wild land fire for every climate division in the country. The system produces one-page executive reports oriented to management by exception. On-site graphics software converts the reports into national and regional maps. The 99 percent reliable PC-based system predicted 75 percent of all large fires during 29 months of testing.