Drought index valuable tool to educate public on fire danger - Daytona Beach News-Journal
The year 1968 saw political upheaval, anti-war protests and mankind getting closer and closer to landing on the moon.
It was also the year the Motion Picture Association of America adopted its film rating system, the J.M. Smucker Co. introduced "Goober Grape," offering consumers peanut butter and jelly already mixed together, and Roy Jacuzzi invented the first whirlpool bath.
In Asheville, N.C., that year, at the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, two scientists wrote a paper outlining a way to measure the relationship between drought and fire danger.
The scientists -- John J. Keetch and George M. Byram -- presented their paper, "A Drought Index for Forest Fire Control," in November of that year. Since then, the Keetch-Byram Drought Index has been an integral part of fire control and forestry management, especially here in Florida.
The index measures the relationship between drought and fire danger on a scale of zero to 800, with zero meaning total saturation and 800
