NOAA’s Fire Weather Testbed explores a comprehensive and collaborative approach to wildland fire alerts

NOAA’s Fire Weather Testbed (FWT) has released a report detailing its comprehensive evaluation of an innovative end-to-end workflow to address the wildfire warning gap.

As wildland fires increasingly impact communities with devastating outcomes, they reinforce an urgent need to close the warning gap between ignition and public alert. To address this challenge, NOAA is exploring a new paradigm for interagency wildland fire response: an end-to-end workflow that combines advanced satellite detection technologies with a collaborative, interagency notification and warning process. A recently released NOAA technical memorandum details a comprehensive evaluation of this approach, conducted by the FWT. 

Inside the Fire Weather Testbed

Located at NOAA’s Global Systems Laboratory (GSL) in Boulder, Colorado, the FWT serves as a dedicated environment where fire management partners can collaboratively test and evaluate emergent fire weather-related products and services. It functions as a “knowledge translation platform,” allowing operational end-users—like National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists and wildland fire managers—to work alongside the researchers and developers designing the next generation of detection and response tools. To achieve this, FWT staff (composed of GSL and Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere–CIRA–employees) combine physical and social science principles to explore the complex technical and human aspects of fire management and operational decision-making. This user-centric approach ensures that findings and recommendations are not only scientifically sound but also actionable and understandable for the people who will use them when lives are on the line.

FWT’s evaluation of the integrated workflow focused on three core components: NOAA Satellites’s Next Generation Fire System (NGFS), a satellite-based, artificial intelligence-powered algorithm that utilizes satellite data to detect and monitor potential new wildfires; the Tactical Integrated Warning Team (Tactical IWT) approach for fire operations, forming a collaborative framework that puts NWS meteorologists and local land and emergency managers in constant, real-time communication to examine emerging wildland fire hazards and make unified decisions; and Fire Warnings, public-facing alerts that can be issued when wildland fire poses an immediate threat to life and property.

The Tactical IWT approach adapts a long-standing NWS concept for the unique, fast-paced demands of the modern wildfire environment. It advances a system where land and emergency managers, who are generally responsible for fire response, can request the issuance of a Fire Warning, which is then disseminated through the NWS alert system. This also ensures that the alert is based on a unified threat assessment and can be communicated in a consistent manner across agencies.

Trial by Fire: Putting the Paradigm to the Test in Wildfire Simulations

This integrated system was put to the test in June 2024 as the FWT conducted its first in-person evaluation. It allowed NWS fire weather meteorologists and their high-level state land management partners to test and evaluate this new, integrated paradigm in several simulated wildland fire scenarios. Participants were recruited from across the country, representing varying firefighting resources and approaches, fire ecologies, and population distributions. Mock Tactical IWTs were established and then immersed in seven different simulations of dangerous wildland fire outbreaks, requiring them to utilize this experimental workflow under the pressures of realistic scenarios. Throughout the week, researchers collected quantitative and qualitative feedback via pre- and post-evaluation surveys, daily roundtable discussions, and focus group discussions.

The Verdict: A Flexible Framework with Actionable and Attainable Refinements

The evaluation’s overarching finding was that the end-to-end wildland fire detection and alerting framework could be uniquely adapted and applied to address local needs and resource considerations in various contexts. Participants shared that the individual products within the end-to-end framework could be used effectively on their own or as part of an integrated system. Key recommendations included (1) deeper integration of tools into existing operational environments; (2) developing a standardized framework for establishing local and regional tactical IWTs for wildland fire operations, while allowing for flexibility to address local needs and resources; and (3) formalizing the Fire Warning product with reforms to add Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) dissemination capabilities, clarifying language to prevent public confusion with evacuation orders and highlighting their co-creation and joint issuance by land/emergency managers and the NWS.

The Fire Weather Testbed’s comprehensive evaluation of NOAA’s emerging wildland fire detection and warning capabilities marks a pivotal moment in the nation’s effort to confront the growing wildfire threat. The results of this evaluation provide data-driven, user-informed insights for refining these tools, ultimately accelerating their operational readiness. Such evaluations are critical to NOAA’s mission to protect lives and property by advancing our ability to address the growing wildland fire threat, increase resiliency, and continue building towards a Fire-Ready Nation. 

The full report, Fire Weather Testbed Evaluations #002-004: An End-to-End Evaluation of NOAA’s Emerging Wildland Fire Detection and Warning Capabilities, is available as a NOAA Technical Memorandum in the NOAA Institutional Repository.