NRGA FPAC CONFERENCE CALL
Date: 11/4/2011 1400-1600
(406) 329-3631; pc 2580 after the beep
Participants:
√ Brad Gillespie (SWT) √ Jesse Duhnkrack (NPS) □ John Barborinas (BIA) □ Kevin Knauth (BLM)
□ Linda Kerr (NPS), √ Paul Mancuso (NPS), □ Richard Sterry (FWS), √ Shane Del Grosso (FWS),
□ Ken Schmid (BLM), □ Anne Rys-Sikora (FS) √ Shari Miller (FS) √ Lori Clark (FS-CHAIR)
√ signifies the participant was on the call (□ = not on the call)
□ Information
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Agenda Topic #1
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Agenda Topic #2
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Agenda Topic #3
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Agenda Topic #4
MEETING OBJECTIVES
Roll call and any additional agenda topics
Lori Clark
Highlights from National FPA Call
Info from 11/3/11 National Call
Lori Clark/group
SWT Updates
News?
Brad Gillespie
FPAC Business
NWCG Meeting in November
Reps for FPUs ( Bob Rebarchik
replacement?)
Review of AOP/Charter
Update contacts for FPUs in AOP
FPAC Vice Chair
FPA Memo- kickoff calls with FPUs
Communication strategy for
SWT/FPAC/FPU leads
Round Robin
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Agenda Topic #5 Other
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Please add topics that aren’t on agenda
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here
Lori Clark
All
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Agenda Topic #6 Other
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NOTES:
FPAC Business:
 NRCG Meeting: Lori Clark will be attending the Fall NRCG Board meeting in Missoula, Mt on the
15th of November to provide a briefing and update on FPA to the Board. She will be drafting a
briefing paper and will send it out to the FPAC for input from other agency perspectives and
would appreciate feedback from FPAC members. Jesse requested that Lori ask about agency
liaisons to the Board, and wondered if Tim Reid was still going to act in that capacity (Lori will
ask this question of the Board).
 Vice Rebarchik: FPAC Reps Needed for the Bitterroot and Headwaters FPUs since Rob Rebarchik
has taken another job within the FWS. Shane Del Grosso is going to contact another FWS
employee (Lewis Harchez (SP?) to see if he can take on at least the Bitterroot FPU, but with the
budget situation and the uncertainty of the FWS filling Rebarchik’s position, it is difficult to make
too many commitments.
Still looking for someone to take on the Headwaters---Lori is willing to represent, if nobody else
is willing to act as the FPAC liaison to this FPU.
 AOP/Charter: Lori asked for FPAC members to review the AOP ad Charter and submit any
additions or corrections to her so that she can send it to the NRCG Board Chair early next week.
Lori asked if we should add FPA Engagement duties to the AOP that the FPAC will have during
the 2012 cycle. Jesse felt it was not necessary and its better to not lock into duties as thins may
change. There was agreement, so the AOP will not have any engagement info added to it.
 Update Contacts in AOP: Lori already completed this, but if there are more additions or
corrections to either FPU Lead or FPAC member contact information, please let Lori know ASAP
 FPA Memo/Kickoff – the NRGA participated in a GA-level FPA engagement brief on October
25th---this was call was led by Sue Weber and Brad Gillespie; and addition FPU-level engagement
brief was held on November 2nd to brief the FPUs on what to expect ---that call was led by Lori
Clark and Brad Gillespie.
Additional briefs are not planned at this time, but may occur if the need arises.
 Communication Strategy: Lori drafted a communication & involvement strategy with input
from Brad Gillespie and Shari Miller---the spreadsheet lists dates, events, participants and
actions associated with the FPA engagement process for the 2012 analysis…this was sent to the
FPAC for their review and Lori asked for further input from the group.
In regard to the Reviews, Jesse referred to the language in the Guidance document stating that
reviews will take place. He further emphasized that the reviews should include how the
interaction between the SWT and FPUs worked out---as this will provide an indication of either
apathy or confidence from the FPUs in the ability of the model itself. The MAT needs to
determine what these reviews will look like and who has the authority for the reviews.
SWT Updates:
Brad Gillespie noted that the SWT has weekly conference calls to air out issues that the individual SWT
Reps are seeing in their calibrations. Issues are either then resolved collectively and results posted on
the MyFireCommunity website or elevated to the IAT or MAT for further consideration and resolution.
In regards the issues related to Performance Measures, Line Officer Briefings and WFU elimination from
FPA, Brad feels that these do need to be addressed, and that some resolution may result from the
individual work between FPU Leads and SWT Reps, because there will be a more clear understanding of
what the model can do.
Highlights form National FPA call on Nov 3, 2011:
Executive Director - Jeff Whitney:
1) Hold budget steady
2) OG supports continued work of the SWT through 2012
3) Science Team proposed to hire their own programmer due to costs associated with contract
change orders with IBM
4) Project Manager is in charge of the operating budget for the OG---looking at ways to cut costs
Project Manager Update – Faisal Ahmed
Project status and progression was presented to the OG last week, Faisal will be developin a proposal
relative to various project level decision that need to be made
Business lead update – Jaymee
FPA Team spend some time looking at the FPA application---specifically at quality control associated
with the move from pre-production to production. They wanted to assure that all the information was
moved correctly. A meeting was held on Tuesday, November 3 to make a go/no go decision on whether
to open up the FPA system—the decision is that they feel the system is stable and it is now open for use.
Sue Weber Retired on October 31, 2011; Kole Berriochoa has announced his retirement at the end of
December
SWT Update – Brad Gillespie
SWT had a 3 day workshop in Fort Collins where there were 2 emphasis items. One was on developing a
framework to use of consistency in calibration. They developed a draft document that does a good job
of addressing the calibration process. However, with all of the variability associated with information
across all of the FPUs—this is not a one-size fits all document. This emphasizes the importance of
working with individual FPU Leads.
The Second emphasis item was working on developing GA-level and FPU level briefings associated with
the engagement roll-out. The SWT has gone out on the street with the GA and FPU briefings but feel
there is an obvious need for addressing the concerns being raised during these briefings (consistent
concerns are: Line Officer Briefings, WFU elimination, and Performance measures).
Next FSIM Webinar – Karen Short:
Due to lack of interest, the next FSIM webinar will not be scheduled until after the first of the year. The
webinar will be recorded and posted on the MyFireCommunity website so that people can view it at
their convenience. Karen Short will send a Doodle poll to determine the best date/time for the next
webinar after Jan 1, 2012. The Large Fire Team will continue to load items to the FSIM share center
(reports, maps, etc).
Update on Prevention Model – Kole Berriochoa :
Prevention model is working better and as designed. There have been no changes made to the model in
the last year, but there have been changes since the field was last involved. Kole hosted a conference
call for those interested in better understanding the science behind the model on Nov 2, 2011.
The future plan is to continue with the Prevention Model for this year and look for issues, and outliers,
then put together an interagency prevention group to look at the current model and the info and
determine if other alternatives are needed---specifically will look at what should be used for prevention
hours.
Reviews for 2012 – Calibration and Final Analysis – Jesse Duhnkrack
Suggest the FPA team in Boise put together a group that could look at the Calibration and Final Analysis--who is responsible to ensure the reviews are complete and who do they report to?
For the final analysis, we need to confirm that calibration is carried over and is free of errors
Need to orchestrate building the reviews—because calibration reviews need to confirm successful
calibration and discuss issues (positive and negative)
There is currently no formal review process –but the reviews should have input from the SWT Reps as
the GA Leads do not have the level of technical expertise, and need the SWT input
Other:
ListServ---was on the table as a topic, but has dropped off the radar screen—Jaymee will resurrect the
topic and will talk to the Webmaster about this
Call ended @ 1233
/s/ Lori Clark, NRGA FPA Chair