Northern Rockies Coordinating Group
Fall Meeting Notes
Nov. 18-20, 2008
Present: Phil Gill, Dave Soleim, Maure Sand, Len Dems, Andy Randall, Bob Rebarchik,
Ted Mead, Patti Koppenol, Tom Corbin, Tracey Nimlos, Brett Waters, David Geyer,
Dave Hall, Geremy Olson, Tim Murphy, Doug Martens, Paul Fieldhouse, Eric Lepisto.
Via video-conference: Chuck Stanich, Kitty Ortman, Mike Goicochea, Kathy Elzig,
Larry Bush, Nancy Gibson, Jim Reuter, Biddy Simet, Marianne Baumberger, Jeannette
Turk, Jim Gray, Rita Chandler, Steve Webb, Steve Knecht.
Zone Reports:
ND Zone: Prescribed Fire accomplishments were down quite a bit this year, caused
partly by county burn bans. The biggest issue in the zone continues to be county burn
bans and restrictions. This has caused issues for the federal agencies. The ND Fire
Council is working with the counties to come up with a solution. Agreements are in
place with the Nature Conservancy to help with Rx burning.
EMT Zone: Moderate activity this fire season including about 15 trespass fires.
Central MT Zone: worked well with the 3 restricitions coordinators in the zone rather
than just one.
SW MT Zone: quiet season across the zone with fewer than average starts and acres.
There was one Type 2 incident on the Salish-Kootenai tribal lands. The Forest Service
had a couple of wildland fire use fires. The zone is working on an interagency Type 3
team plan. They are reworking the zone charter and reviewing how they will have
representation from local gov’t on the board. Moving forward with implementing
WildCad. Larry Bush will be taking over as zone rep for the SW MT.
NW MT Zone: Dave Soleim will be moving into the zone chair position. The Flathead
NF has filled their FMO position with Rick Connell. Below average fire season this year.
Did not need to convene their MAC.
North Idaho Zone: IDL hosted 2 Type 2 teams in the Grangeville area. The Clear/Nez
hosted 2 Type 3 teams. The NezPerce tribe filled their FMO position and is looking at
how to join the dispatch center. The fire prevention shops are looking at trying to get a
co-op together for the zone.
South Central MT Zone: Park County has a new fire chief. Gallatin county CWPP was
completed. Mar county CWPP is almost signed. Yellowstone NP had 6 human caused
fires this year, one that went to 10,000 acres. Gallatin NF had about 50 fires this year.
Still building on their Type 3 IMT in the zone, with multiple qualified individuals. The
zone ran another successful engine academy this year.
Committee Reports:
Operations Committee: has reserved a portion of their winter meeting agenda for BOD
issues. Working on updating the IMT succession strategy for 2009-2010. Will discuss
the theme and agenda items for the IMT meetings. Suggested adding a day to IMT
meetings so the sections can meet together DECISION
Kusicko will transition to Jim Nichols as IC in 2010. Mark Grant is grooming Jim Grant
from the Eastern Area to take over as IC. Glenn McNitt will retire in 2010. He needs a
deputy to begin grooming for his replacement. Heintz and Secrest will be ICs for 2009
on the east side. Diane Hutton will continue as Fire Use IC. Brad McBratney will build
his FUMT with members from NR and SW. Type 1 IC Wally Bennett will step down
and Ops committee recommends Greg Poncin as replacement. Team positions will need
to be readvertised. Doug Turman will take over as IC for Larsen’s team which will also
need to readvertise team positions. We need to look for federal deputies to back up these
2 state ICs.
Mike Goicoechea put together a draft briefing paper from the smokejumpers. NR Mob
guide was changed in 2008 to change the way jumpers can be used expanding beyond
initital attack. Jumpers try to put a Type 3 IC on every load. They feel by 2009 season
they will be able to stand up a full Type 3 team from the 3 bases. They are looking for
feedback and ideas from the board. Will also be used as a building ground for people to
feed into the Type 2, Type 1 and Fire Use teams. Take into consideration that this could
be a platform for the field S420 course. They would like to build an operating plan that
makes them as flexible as possible.
Ops committee will invite Joe King to their meeting to discuss private insurance
resources.
Prevention Committee: Northern Rockies will support the IAWF chief’s conference next
year and will teach the new P101 course in Billings. Need a new NRCG liaison for the
committee. The new restrictions and closures website is being reviewed and updated
again. The committee is putting together a GA wide campaign for use in the Northern
Rockies by people on the ground. Terina Mullen will be working with Rose Davis on
some prevention messages. Jeannette Turk will be taking over as chair of the prevention
committee.
Training Committee: the National and NR training websites have been updated. Position
task books can now be initiated before required training. NRTC has new billing/cost
sharing policies that they will share with the BOD. There is also an updated cancellation
policy for NRTC. There are new training courses available online and they are
continuing to add more nationally. S420 in the field was very successful this past season.
Equipment Committee: held 2 equipment inspector workshops this year in Missoula and
Billings. Currently have a task board working on the road grader specs.
Business Committee: Accomplishment Report for 2008 is attached. A large chunk of
what the business committee wants to accomplish is training. A new I-Suite for locals
course was developed targeted to those using I-Suite on their home unit, but not
necessarily going out on large fires. The business committee has asked to have a
business message presented at all the courses at the NRTC this year in order to enhance
the business skills of people in operational and other non-business positions.
“Methodologies for Cost Share Agreements” is available on the NRCG business
committee website.
Question to the board: in 2005 the BOD tasked the business committee to devise a plan
for agencies to cross-bill each other for cost and use of equipment. Does the BOD want
the business committee to pursue this? DECISION –discuss on January conference call.
Shared Fire Use Management Team with the SW Area: we submitted a letter to the
SWCG proposing we share 2 national fire use teams. The SWCG met and agreed with
the proposal. The 2 GA coordinators will work out the details for recruiting and
managing the teams.
WFDSS/Fire Policy zone workshops: target audience is fire managers and agency
administrators. George is working to get Zimmerman, Lasko, Bahr or Sexton to come to
the Northern Rockies to put on these workshops. Workshops would be held in Billings,
Coeur d’Alene and Missoula in February. The focus of the workshops is to understand
the concepts, rather than learning to run the software. We need to invite county
commissioners as well as invitations to MACO and fire wardens and fire chiefs groups.
We will need to continue this discussion over the next few months as to whether or not
the GA is ready to move to full WFDSS implementation. We will need to have all our
partners ready. FURTHER DISCUSSION on our January conference call. Chuck will
share his AAR from the prototypes from last year.
Issues from a Type 3 Incident regarding support:
1) 250 person Caches, if ordered by the IC and there is concurrence by the Interagency
Dispatch Supervisor, need to be filled by the Northern Rockies Cache (& I suspect other
National Caches). The Lindberg Lake Incident ordered a 250 person cache and it was
denied. (The Incident had up to 230 firefighters). This put the Incident behind the power
curve (scrounging from local DNRC and Forest Service District) and it took days to catch
up to providing Operation's needs.
2) Northern Rockies Cache also denied Lindberg Lake's order for a #4390
"Radio Starter Kit". This outdated Policy also needs to be changed. If
there is a Communications Leader on the Type 3 Incident (which there was) who can take
responsibility for the accountability, maintenance and care of the radio's and repeaters,
and communications equipment is available (not already committed to Type1 and 2
Incidents) it needs to be sent. Communications is a safety concern! For more indepth
information on items #1 and 2 above, see the Lindberg Lake closeout difficult challenges
section.
3)
Type 3 Teams need a "training curriculum developed" for each Command and
General Staff Section position, and come together for 2 or 3 days of organized
training by function (much like 420) where on the last day there is a simulation
exercise for the entire short Team. Also, seasoned mentor lists need to be
maintained to send a mentor out with new or unsure Type 3 Team members. I
would like to be involved in preparing a Logistics Curriculum for the Type 3
Logistics Chiefs. I would be able to prepare Logistics lesson plans and student
workbooks with key Logistics Plans needed (Commo, Medical, Transportation,
Camp map and schedule, Security plan,etc.); checklists on order needs and
processes: how to layout and organize an ICP/Base Camp; rehabilitation of the
ICP / Base and spike camp sites; demobilization; and general message inputs and
role player scripts for the last day's Team s.
Ted Giese would be willing to support a training session for Type 3 logistics.
We will take the 1st two items to the NMAC/GMAC meeting and mention the 3rd item as
well. The 3rd item needs to be raised to the national level, but we need to take this on as a
geographic area group as well.
We will ask the Training Committee to look at putting together a training package for
Type 3 organizations (sort of an S-320). TASK: The groups could exercise at the engine
academies that are put on around the region. There have been some exercises done for all
risk groups as well.
Update on Tasks the Portland NIMO Team is working on for the Northern Rockies: see
attached paper.
MT Interoperability Group:
Chris Christensen from the MT Public Services Division made a presentation on the
continuum of interoperability and how we can improve communications through
governance, standard operating procedures, technology, training and exercises, and
usage.
MT is broken into 8 consortia geographically and one technology consortia. The system
is riding on a microwave backbone. The MT Interoperability System is available to all
responders and can be operated independently or be patched in on the system. It uses a
VHF spectrum.
Chris can be reached at cchristensen@mt.gov or 406-449-7370. There is also a website
available with further information at www.mtinterop.gov. Ted Mead is on the board of
MT Interoperability. At this point, DNRC has not been funded to move onto the trunk
system, however. The MT Interoperability group has started asking for money to move
more state agencies onto the trunk.
NRTC Funding Process Proposal: a subgroup of the Training Committee worked on and
presented this proposal to the full Training Committee to bring forward to the BOD. The
funding proposal is attached. The board recommends all training bills be processed in
June, otherwise the proposal is approved. The proposal should take effect immediately.
NRTC Student Cancellation Policy: see attached. The new proposal is that cancellations
must be received at least 30 days prior to the start of the course. APPROVED
Fire Contracting Update: the Type 3 kitchen solicitation was cancelled because of lack of
responses received. New Faller and gray water solicitation are in place this year. In 2007
water handling equipment inspections were conducted by private sector inspectors to
inspect equipment and verify personnel qualifications, and this continued in 2008.
Dispatching and managing the best value equipment rotation is creating a large workload
for the dispatch centers. An issue we saw this year was contractors being pushed to
exceed driving limitations to get from MT to CA. MT Dept. of Labor went out to
incidents in MT to do compliance checks on contractor’s workers compensation
insurance. MT Dept of Labor plans to continue these checks in the future. DECISION
ITEM: approval of NR Solicitation plan. FS is moving to a new software solicitation
program called VIPR in 2009. The FS Acquisition zones will do some pre-season IBAs
non-competitively. The NWCG change on engine typing will be made in 2010 in the
NR.
The board would like Brian Shiplett to take our Interagency Contract Rep position and
task book to the IOSWT.
Protocols for Insurance Company Use of Private Firefighting Resources: Brett Waters is
leading a group to establish guidelines for the Northern Rockies. They will have a final
draft for consideration at our January conference call.
Future of NRTC: presentation by Paul Fieldhouse. Paul feels we are not spending
enough time on succession planning. NRTC has several ongoing initiatives including S420 in the field, line Safety Officer training (not an NWCG course), Managing Wildland
Fire for Resource Benefit (has course equivalency to S-580 for some agencies), agencyled L380 course, and Simulation Development and Delivery course that Paul feels are
worthy of consideration. Possible additional efforts include succession planning, Type 3
Workshop package, OSC to PSC2 bridge course (proposal attached), Center for
Leadership Training Excellence (utilizing the existing facility at Condon), FUTA
partnership, and video and other technology delivery. Paul recommends NRCG forward
the OSC to PSC bridge course to NWCG.
Paul needs direction from the board as to whether to continue to sponsor more courses or
become more involved in special projects such as futuring and new course development.
A way to alleviate workload could be to discontinue process for NRTC to approve
300/400 level courses that are offered at the zone level. We need to look at zones having
more ability to put on these courses.
Headwater Economic Group (a non-profit group): Mark Haggerty, based in Bozeman,
presented “A Montana Wildfire Cost Study: Contribution of Homes to Suppression
Costs”. One of the things they have looked at is residential development near the
wildland urban interface. www.headwaterseconomics.org/wildfire.php has a lot of data
from their studies. The study showed that approximately 30% of fire costs are directly
related to protecting homes.
Geographic Area Response Guide: this ties to WFDSS and some of the things NIMO is
working on for us. The first step is to gather the data we would need in a geospatial
format to prepare an interagency response guide. The concern is that agencies don’t have
the workforce to complete the geospatial data we would need to gather. There are
numerous uses for having this type of information in one place, such as pre-planning,
winter discussion of issues such as structure protection, offset protection discussions, etc.
We will figure out in more detail what type of tasking we would like to do and what type
of group to assign it to. Each agency will check on the availability of an individual to
participate in gathering the geospatial data needed.
EXECUTIVE SESSION:
Organizational Contracting Needs: The interagency group handling fire contracts in the
NR proposes more organizational support for CORs in the zones (possibly collateral
duties) and a procurement tech position. ACTION ITEM
Ground Safety Officer: no agency has the ability to fill this position at this time. We will
ask Jim Kelton and Bob Gilman to prepare a briefing of the duties we need performed by
this position.
Topics for NMAC/GMAC meeting: Items from above on support of Type 3
organizations, WFDSS implementation, radio frequencies assigned without starter kit,
SW/NR Regional Fire Use team (and coordination of FUMTs in general).
NRTC Funding Proposal: approved other than billing should occur in June for all
agencies. Cancellation policy is approved. The board supports further S420F courses.
Ask Paul to write the task statement to the Training Committee on the training package
for Type 3 orgs. Ask Paul to propose an appropriate balance of training courses and
development work. We would like to remove the restriction on zones putting on 300 and
400 level courses.
Succession planning: ask Paul to write a task statement on succession planning to Paul,
NRCC and the Training Committee and coordinate with efforts of the Ops committee.
NRCG supports continuation of development of the S440 bridge course with the NIMO
group.
Request to add a day to the IMT meetings: rather than adding a day, NRCG would like
the agenda restructured to include the request for additional meeting by cutting time from
another section, possibly the general session.
Approval of NR Solicitation Plan: approved
Objectives for Geographic Area Response Guide group: Patti and Tom will work on
these in Jan.
NRCG BOD Committee Liaisons:
Business – Ted Mead
Prevention – Patti Koppenol
Operations – Phil Gill
Training – Brian Shiplett
Aviation – Jim Kelton
Equipment – Brett Waters
Native American Crew – Tom Corbin
FPA – Len Dems
The NRCG Chair for 2009 is Len Dems (NPS) and vice-chair is Mike McMeekin (MT
Sheriff’s & P.O. Assoc.)
Next meeting is April 6-7 in Missoula. We will ask Kathy to begin the IMT meetings at
noon on Tuesday so that NRCG can meet before the IMT meetings start.