Burn Period Tracker - A Simple Tool Making a Big Impact

Wildfires in the Southwest are becoming more intense, unpredictable and harder to manage, but a simple tool is helping fire managers stay ahead of the flames. It's called the burn period tracker, and it does one key thing: it shows how many hours each day relative humidity drops below 20%, the threshold where fire can spread rapidly. 

The idea came from the field, from conversations during wildfire assignments decades ago. CLIMAS researchers Dan Ferguson and Michael Crimmins, in partnership with Chuck Maxwell - a fire meteorologist, transformed this metric into a practical tool that is now used in wildfire management across the Southwest.

Watch the video above to learn about the burn period tracker, and visit the project page for more on related wildfire research. Check out the burn period tracker tool here. 

Film directed and produced by Elena Greenberg and Gigi Owen.