Eight factors, including forest coverage, fuel load, species composition, elevation, monthly mean temperature, monthly mean relative humidity, monthly mean wind velocity, and monthly mean precipitation of fire season, were considered and the methods of weight, the cumulative probability, ARC/INFO technique, and raster-to-vector conversion were adopted in division of forest fuel type area. Firstly, the electronic maps of forest distribution and administrative divisions were built, then overlaid and transformed to the real-world coordinates. Finally, the forest fuel type areas of Heilongjiang Province including 81 counties were divided into five grades, accounting for 16%, 17%, 17%, 11%, and 38% respectively. The grade Ⅰ fuel type areas with highest fire danger rating mainly distributed on Daxinganling Mountains, Xiaoxinganling Mountains, and Zhangguangcailing Mountains, the grade Ⅴ fuel type areas mainly centralized on Songnen Plain, Sanjiang Plain, and other Plains, and other forest fuel type areas (grades Ⅱ, Ⅲ, and Ⅳ) were situated between plains and mountainous areas.
