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March 12, 2001 — NOAA's National Weather Service today released its Service Assessment for the northern Idaho/western Montana wildfires, which scorched significant portions of the two states from mid July to mid September 2000. Service Assessments are routine reviews of National Weather Service operations during major weather events.

The wildfire season of 2000 was extreme in intensity and duration across the United States. More than 93,000 wildfires scorched more than 7.4 million acres of public and private land. The fire season started in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, and flames soon erupted in virtually every state with forest areas, with western states faring the worst. The fire suppression effort required the mobilization of resources from land management agencies, the National Weather Service, U.S. military, and fire crews from as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

The Service Assessment Report provides details on the National Weather Service's support to the Incident Management Teams, land management agencies and local communities. The assessment is available on online. (Note: The Service Assessment Report is in pdf format. You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it.)

Relevant Web Sites
Service Assessment Report

NOAA's Fire Weather Information Center

NOAA's National Weather Service Central Region

National Interagency Coordination Center — 2001 Wildland Fire Season Outlook

For additional information on the NOAA's Fire Weather Program, please visit NOAA's National Fire Forecasts, Offices and Outlooks, Boise, Idaho.

Latest NOAA Satellite Images of Fires

NOAA's NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECASTERS PROVIDE CRITICAL SUPPORT TO WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT

All About Wild Fires

NOAA's Fire Weather Program (Describes wild fire weather terms)

Fire Weather Forecasts from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma

Media Contact:
Patrick Slattery, NOAA's National Weather Service Central Region, (816) 426-7621, ext. 621