Resumo:
This research was carried out in the county of Rio Branco do Sul, State of Paraná, with the objective of identifying the most efficient forest fire danger index for the region. Meteorological data were collected from the ”Fazenda Brejal“ station, located at Trombini Forestry Company. Data of forest fire occurences were collected in Rio Branco do Sul and neighboring counties of Almirante Tamandaré and Colombo, from May 1979 to December 1982. The compared forest fire danger indexes were Angstron, Nesterov, Telicyn, and Monte Alegre formulas. During the observa- tion period 31 forest fires were recorded, 11 in Rio Branco do Sul, 3 in Almirante Tamandaré, and 17 in Colombo. Considering only the data from Rio Branco do Sul, the Monte Alegre formu- la was the most efficient, with a much better performance than the other indexes. Including the data from the other counties, MA formula was still the first choice, but its performance was not much better than the Teiicyn index. The Angstron formula was the most inefficient index, indicating forest fire danger only in 4 out of 31 days of fire occurence.
