Canadian Wildland Fire Information System
Historical Analysis
Large Fire Database - Point Version
Introduction
The Large Fire Database (LFDB) is a compilation of forest fire data from all Canadian agencies, including provinces, territories, and Parks Canada. The data set includes only fires greater than 200 hectares in final size; these represent only a few percent of all fires but account for most of the area burned (usually more than 97%). Therefore, the LFDB can be used for spatial and temporal analyses of landscape-scale fire impacts. For information on smaller fires (up to 200 ha in final size), please contact individual fire agencies.
Links to other agencies can be found through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).
Version 02, released 13 May 2002
Fires greater than 200 ha for all of Canada for the period 1959–1999, inclusive
Collaborations
We strongly suggest that users of this database work with one of the agencies. For Canada-wide analyses, contact members of the Fire Research Group at the Canadian Forest Service:
For analyses for a single province or territory or for Parks Canada, contact the appropriate agency. Links to these can be found through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).
There are many caveats for this data set, and collaboration with the agencies will help avoid difficulties in interpretation. Previously published analyses are listed in the Reference section below.
Data Format
The data file is comma-delimited ASCII, with each row representing a record for a given fire.
The first row is a header row:
- Year, Month, Day, Province, Fire_ID, Latitude, Longitude, Start_Date, Detect_Date, Cause, Size, Fire_Region, Fire_Zone, EcoZone, EcoRegion, EcoDistrict
The field format is given in the following table.
| Format of LFDB | ||||
| Field | Format | Example | Possible content | Entry for Missing Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Number | 1998 | Year: 1959 to 1999 | |
| Month | Number | 6 | Month of year of fire start | 0 |
| Day | Number | 21 | Day of year of fire start | 0 |
| Province | Text | ON | BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NF, NB, NS, YK, NWT, WBNP (Wood Buffalo National Park), NP (National Park) | |
| Fire_ID | Text | TH-111 | Region + fire number | NA |
| Latitude | Number | 49.6 | Fire start location in decimal degrees | 0 |
| Longitude | Number | -90.11 | Fire start location in decimal degrees | 0 |
| Start_Date | Date (m/d/yy) | 6/16/98 | Date or 0/0/00 | 0/0/00 |
| Detect_Date | Date (m/d/yy) | 6/18/98 | Date or 0/0/00 | 0/0/00 |
| Cause | Text | MAN |
MAN (human), LTG (lightning), UNK (unknown) |
UNK |
| Size | Number | 333.32 | Final fire size in hectares (ha) | |
| Fire_Region | Text | TH | Region or NA (not available) | NA |
| Fire_Zone | Text | INT |
INT (intensive zone), EXT (extensive zone), NA (not available) |
NA |
| EcoZone | Number | 9 |
EcoZone classification, 1 to 15 |
0 |
| EcoRegion | Number | 138 |
EcoRegion classification, 1 to 217 |
0 |
| EcoDistrict | Number | 591 |
EcoDistrict classification, 1 to 1031 |
0 |
Acknowledgements
The database is a large collaborative effort by all Canadian fire agencies. We thank the many individuals who contributed to this effort, including fire crews, field personnel, photo interpreters, pilots, digitizers, and analysts. Compilation of the Canada-wide database was partially supported by the Canadian government programs of ENFOR (ENergy from the FORest),the Program on Energy Research and Development, the Climate Change Action Fund, and Action Plan 2000.
Thanks to the following fire management agencies for their collaboration and contributions:
- British Columbia
- Alberta
- Saskatchewan
- Manitoba
- Ontario
- Quebec
- New Brunswick
- Nova Scotia
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Prince Edward Island
- Northwest Territories
- Yukon Territory
- Parks Canada
References
The following papers present analyses of this database. We encourage users to read these before attempting further analyses.
- Amiro, B.D.; Todd, J.B.; Wotton, B.M.; Logan, K.A.; Flannigan, M.D.; Stocks, B.J.; Mason, J.A.; Martell, D.L.; Hirsch, K.G. 2001. Direct carbon emissions from Canadian forest fires, 1959 to 1999. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 31:512–525.
- Parisien, M.A.; Peters, V.S; Wang, Y.; Little, J.M.; Bosch, E.M.; Stocks, B.J. 2006. Spatial patterns of forest fires in Canada 1980-1999. Int. J. Wildland Fire 15:361-374.
- Stocks, B.J.; Mason, J.A.; Todd, J.B.; Bosch, E.M.; Wotton, B.M.; Amiro, B.D.; Flannigan, M.D.;Hirsch, K.G.; Logan, K.A.; Martell, D.L.; Skinner, W.R. 2002. Large forest fires in Canada, 1959–1997. Journal of Geophysical Research (107,8149,doi:10.1029/2001 JD000484).