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Updated: Monday 22 March 2010
Subject to further amendment
Every morning at 0830 during the Top End bushfire season there is a radio schedule from BFNT Batchelor to available staff, volunteers, and contractors that features weather forecasts, including the day’s Fire Danger Indices (FDI) and Fire Danger Ratings (FDR) for the Vernon and Arafura regions in the Northern Fire Protection Zone, as well as any urgent messages to volunteers.
In Katherine, there is also a daily radio schedule, usually at 0730, for the Savanna Region’s volunteer brigades. Factors taken into account to determine the Fire Danger Index include forecast wind speed, relative humidity, air temperature, fuel load and degree of fuel curing. The wind can be a moist sea breeze or dry from the inland and although this is not considered as part of the Fire Danger Index, it is considered along with other factors, such as available resources and level of preparedness, when deciding if a Fire Ban is required. Because these weather factors are dynamic and the forecast changes throughout the day, so does the FDI and FDR. Introduced grasses with their heavier fuel loading, such as Gamba grass have now been factored into calculations for the Fire Weather forecasts, which is why Coomalie (Rum Jungle/Batchelor/Adelaide River) with its heavier fuel loads has higher FDI and FDR than other areas. In areas with less than an average fuel loading of six tonnes per hectare, a lesser figure may be used in calculating the FDI and FDR in that area. (e.g. some areas of the Savanna Fire Control Region and Central Australia) Click on the links below for other guidelines. Links: National Emergency Warning System |
The new Fire Danger Ratings.
Go to the Bushfires NT website for a full description of the new Fire Danger Rating system. |