CEFA is an acronym for the Program for Climate, Ecosystem and Fire Applications. It was formed on October 1, 1998 through an assistance agreement between the Bureau of Land Management Nevada State Office and DRI.

CEFA resides within the Division of Atmospheric Sciences of DRI, and works closely with the Western Regional Climate Center. The national oversight group for CEFA is the Fire Environment Working Team under the National Wildfire Coordinating Group.

The primary functions of CEFA are:

• Perform studies and applied research to improve the understanding of relationships between climate, weather, fire and ecosystems.
• Develop decision-support tools for fire applications incorporating climate and weather information.
• Serve as a liaison between the fire, natural resource and scientific research communities by providing product training, education, science delivery, and eliciting user feedback.
• Provide experimental fire weather, fire danger, fire behavior and smoke dispersion/transport forecasting products for operations and research.
• Perform societal interactions studies emphasizing partnerships and the role of climate in planning and policy.
• Provide climate and weather information directly for fire and ecosystem decision-making and strategic planning.