Northwest Center Manager Meeting
October 26-27, 2011
Northwest Coordination Center - Portland, OR
Attendees:
Jada Altman – Dispatch Representative
Roberta Runge – Coastal Valley
Becky Monroe – Roseburg BLM
Susan Taylor – Puget Sound
Rette Bidstrup – Northeast Washington
Lynn Kenworthy – Dispatch Represe
Tammy Wodarczak – Klamath Falls
Mike Leach – Lakeview
Steve Arasim – Columbia Cascade
Donna Snyder – Umpqua National Forest
Dave Quinn – NWCC
Albert Kassel – Washington DNR
Gary Moberly – Medford
Sherry Kessel – Eugene
Mark Hayes – Central Washington
Renae Crippen – Blue Mountain
Valerie Reed – Central Oregon
Brett Amick – Vale BLM
Teri Youmans – John Day
Gina Papke - ROSS
Veronica Nee – Colville Agency
April Marchand – Colville
Dan O’Brien - NWCC
Kathi May – NWCC, Note Taker
October 26, 2011
Dan started the meeting off by welcoming everyone and listing 3 tools for everyone to use for
the next 3 days:
 Speak our values – Speak from the heart
 Listen – to others
 Be here – cell phones off, be engaged
Bobbie Scopa – Assistant Director of Operations
 Has been in her position for 5 months
 Spent a lot of time at NWC this summer to learn what NWC does in relation to the units
– still learning
 Thanked Dispatch for a tough job
 Budgets are shrinking, currently don’t have the actual percentage of cuts
 Forest Service policy is changing, currently a Draft Fire Doctrine is out
o Use best judgement regarding 10 & 18
o All about doctrine
o Interagency Cooperation
o Cohesive Strategy
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Physical changes with the Forest Service and BLM – Ken Snell is retiring at the end of the
year and Carl Gossard has taken a new position as the New Mexico State Director and
will also be leaving at the end of the year
PNWCG is looking for leadership from this group in Dispatch and Coordination
combinations which could
o Improve service
o Fix deficiencies
o Help with budgets
Change in team use this year – trying to be more efficient , looking at how best to
deploy teams in an efficient manner
Ben McGrane – Fire Procurement
 2012 preseason IBPAs must be done in VIPR, alternatives EERAs, Master Lists in ITEAM,
Credit Card or Commercial Hire
o Trying to stay out of VIPR if the item is more commercialized such as computers,
copiers. Items that can easily be procured locally with a credit card.
 Payment Location – The vendor will be paid for travel to and from the incident from the
equipment city and state they designated in their offer. Vendor must meet needed date
and time.
 Drive time will follow Federal driving limitations when driving to and from an incidents
 Rental Cars – change is needed, a group is being formed to make recommendations.
VIPR has rental car templates but the northwest won’t do since it’s commercialized –
current agreement will be going away. Rental of computers will also being going away.
 Fixed Wing Agreements – 2012 will be year 3 of 4
 IBPA & VIPR Change Boards
o Policy Boards to manage “Change Requests”
o National Board with Field Representation
o IBPA
 Terms, clauses, clarifications, payments, etc.
o VIPR
 Program structure, format of reports, IBPs, etc.
 Committee Updates
o New Committee Reps
o Equipment Rates Committee
 Re-tasking as Contract Equipment Committee
 Phasing out “Rate Guide” in favor of “Field” or “Estimate” guide
 New Position
o ICPI – Incident Contract Project Inspector
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 Approved position
 Replacing CRNW – grandfathered qualifications
 Scope covers all contract/agreement resources – VIPR, National, ODF
 Training – Task Book in development
Road shows again this Spring
Questions/issues
o AD’s and rental cars, who rents? Do they need a car? CiCi responded they will
be working on the rental car issue in November, looking into GSA rentals which
come with a GSA credit card for fuel. In this case AD’s can drive these vehicles.
o With DNR more agreements means more convoluted dispatch
o Vale BLM doesn’t have local Contracting Officers to sign agreements if resources
are not in VIPR
o Need to get the word out to the field (FMO/AFMO) as to how/why to order
contract resources
CiCi Chitwood – Incident Business
 2012 Incident Business Management/Procurement Meeting will be in Yakima, WA May
1 thru May 3, 2012. Team Meetings will be April 30 thru May 2, 2012. They are
combining Procurement/Incident Business and Dispatch meetings the same weeks in
the future since the audience is the same for both meetings.
After Action Review 2011 Fire Season – AAR
Positive
Support to other centers – others called and offered help to a center
EIC got 6 task books signed
DSL works well in some areas
Platypus/Smartsource computers worked well
Social Media Communication
WildCad worked well
Shadow Lake Collaboration between COC & EIC
CPC & JDC Collaboration
Cache ordering in ROSS
Dedicated ACDP if you have aircraft on your unit
Aircraft Coordinator
Daily call was better
SW Oregon had a call once a week with ODF units – ODF relations were better
BMC used Tri Region Agreement
CCC Interagency Task Force – bugs were worked out and worked well
IHC Rotation
DNR/FS T2 Helicopter Agreement
Using an Apprentice when busy - provides exposure to field personnel
Preseason ROSS Practice session worked well
In/Out Board worked well
Incident within an incident plan in place – Snowgate FLA
Needs Improvement W - Work Group T – Task Group R – Ranting S – Shelf
1 solve today , 2 if time solve today, 3 solve in the future
Rental Cars – AD’s protocol
Finding and acknowledging you need help
Computer access
W/T3
IPADs – New Technology
KFC had hard $$ but couldn’t get approval to procure extra computers
Computer fire lab computers were a nightmare
IT not understanding Dispatch/Fire needs
BLM approval for WildCad updates
Lack of documentation on resource orders W1
Mobilization of contract resources – need to get folks on the ground educated
Medical team ordering
W1
Caches – shipping resupply
Team Configurations
Dan will work on
Daily NW Conference Call – redundancy – call form needs to be updated W1
Weather on the daily call needs to be looked at
Available resources
FMO & AFMO needs more education on dispatch/resources, pay process, inspections and
shift tickets
Contract Group needs to be on the same page – some inconsistencies
KFC FMO/AFMO’s won’t use National T2IA crews
LFC has issues with National T2IA crews
IHC rotation
IHC days off
IHC availability status
Task Force in ROSS needs to be added, will need NWCG approval
Critical Incident Support – incident notification to GACC W/T
Staffing and filling positions
Communicating staffing and Organization administrative funding
Need to pick up the phone
W1
Orders UTF’d with no documentation and no phone calls
Computer speed – IT services to fire
Keep GACC in the loop on Accidents/Incidents
Aviation work group
Dan will work on
Working relationships with PNWCG doing things thru appropriate channels
Reporting standards
DMS
W-T2
Web Status
W-T2
CWN vs ARA Aircraft W1
BLM In/Out board
Jason Steinmetz – NIMS
 Jason explained his job in the Washington Office – he is the Liaison for Forest Service
NIMS working with FEMA and other agencies
 Looking at All Hazard T3 Task Books, T1 & T2 Task Books and a NIMS Qualification Guide
 FEMA likes ROSS and the IQCS system
 Moving as a nation to have one guide
o still have each agencies own guides under the National Guide
 Use the same mnemonics but have endorsements attached
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o working on this issue and/or massive database to include fire mnemonics and all
hazard emergencies
ICS would have core competencies
Trying to get forms to work for all agencies and incidents
Working on crosswalks for courses
Fire is under ESF4 how will this change? Jason passed around a handout
Gina Papke – ROSS
 ROSS is upgrading existing host computer centers this will allow ROSS to be hosted at
multiple host sites, much faster processing and more storage
 Application Reengineering
o All ROSS screens are being reengineered, JAVA Client is removed
 ROSS Phase 2 Development
o New Module for reporting support for Incident Prioritization and
o Resource drawdown, reengineered Contracts and Agreements screens
 Security Changes– Federal Agencies must meet the requirements of the Federal
Information Security Management Act (FISMA)
o This will affect ROSS users
o Accounts will serve multiple applications
o Standard Account – password expiration – 60 days
o Privileged Account – password expiration – 30 days
o Users will be given 5 attempts to login and then receive a 15 minute pause.
After 2 groups of 5 failed attempts, they are lock out.
 Annual self assessments, audits, risk assessments and certification and accredidation
Specific Dispatch Issues
Canadian Airtankers - Jada Altman
Jada handed out an information paper on the Canadian Airtankers
Rette Bidstrup brought up an issue this summer of Air Attack terminology, Albert Kassel will
send a briefing paper to Dan O’Brien after the Spring Northwest Compact meeting to share with
everyone
Standards to Facilitate Reporting
Dan O’Brien would like to make reporting more efficient – the aviation report Isaiah Hirschfield
posts to the NWCC website each morning takes quite a bit of work, seems there should be an
easier way
Albert Kassel said Jeannie Abbott has created a web site everyone can edit their own data
Name Requests
FMO/AFMO not understanding, NICC has stated a justification in the “special needs” block on
the resource order is needed to process name requests
Dan O’Brien will take to the Coordinating Group to get the word out
Aircraft Ordering – CWN vs ARA
The ordering process needs to be cleaned up – What’s the best way to do business, everyone
Should be doing it the same way
AD Utilization – Dan O’Brien
Are we using them effectively, training agency employees to some day replace AD’s?
Extension Requests – Dave Quinn
Length of extensions – NWC stance is if the extension is for an AD and an agency employee
is available – deny the request for the AD
Which form to use? Nationally an electronic version of the extension request form is being
looked at
Units would like NWC to fax a copy of the form back to the home unit if request is denied
Document extension approved or denied on the resource order form
Dan O’Brien will send direction out in the spring with processing procedures
Incident Replacement
New procedure this year – needs to be a topic at the following meetings so everyone knows
IHC, Rappellers and Smokejumpers
October 27, 2011
Reviewed the day before and looked at the agenda for today
Selkirk Demo - Jerry Garrett & Dale Guenther
 After the positive comments by the group Dale will proceed with an RFQ
 If implemented in the Northwest it needs to be all the GACC and not just a few
 PNWCG would have to approve and support with budgets
Work Groups:
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
ROSS Documentation
Incident Replacement
CWN vs ARA
Daily NW Conference Call
Medical Mobilization
DMS (if time)
Web Status (if time)
Tammy, Teri, Mike, Rette, April
Val, Bret, Susan, Jeannie
Jada, Steve, Mark, Lynn
Sherry, Gary, Donna, Veronica, Becky
Teri, Becky
Jada, Steve, Mark, Lynn
#1 ROSS Documentation
Issue: Lack of ROSS Documentation
Why: Lack of training, laziness, not convenient, ROSS is slow
Resolution: Improve training, accountability, ROSS Change Board to create documentation
Pop-up when cancelling or UTFing a request. Training should be integrated in ROSS practice
and monitored by the Center Managers to Dispatchers, integrated more into D-310.
Issue: Lack of Travel Documentation in ROSS
Resolution: Submit change requests to the ROSS Change board to add a mandatory pop-up
documentation box.
Issue: Lack of communication when creating a New Request, Cancelling a Request, UTFing a
request and faxing pertinent documentation (manifest, etc). When should dispatchers pick
up the phone?
Resolution: We need to change our behaviors. Kathi says NWC doesn’t need a call each time,
but some IA Centers would like the GACC to call them with new requests, etc.
Issue: Keep the GACC in the loop on incidents, activities and accidents
Resolution: GACC to provide direction of specific issues and time frames for expected
notification by the Centers. Centers should notify the GACC when other Managers are notified.
COC shared their Run Card/Notification they use.
#2 Incident Replacement
The letter dated July 8, 2011 issued by NICC was passed out and discussed. Bret and Val are
continuing to work on this topic with a due date to Dan O’Brien by November 21, 2011.
#3 CWN vs ARA Aircraft
Direction is already written for CWN aircraft. Anyone can order from AMD with a courtesy call
to the closest host unit. Both agreements are in ROSS. The GACC will follow up with NICC and
provide better direction to the units.
#4 Daily NW Conference Call
A new form was presented for comments. Once final editing is done the form will be submitted
to Dave Quinn, who will send to all units for use in the 2012 fire season.
#5 Medical Mobilization
Issue: Lack of national direction for dispatching Incident Medical Specialist (IMS) personnel and
EMT’s.
Resolution: Verbiage in the NW Mob Guide needs to be cleaned up regarding the ordering of
teams vs individual resources.
Issue: Lack of clarification /direction on the difference between dispatching and AD hiring
of IMS vs Emergency Medical Personnel.
Issue: Significant difference between the AD rate of IMS Members/Managers and Paramedics.
Resolution on the last 2 issues: The issues will be elevated by Terri to CiCi Chitwood the IBA.
#6 DMS
Issue: With the current DMS issues range from Spam, each user must maintain their own
address list, change passwords every 60 days and you can’t tell when someone else in the
office has already taken care of an email.
Resolution: One solution is to set up a Gmail account for each center. Mailing lists can be
created with greater ease, detailers can access the account and the account can be accessed
from anywhere. Each center should maintain at least one DMS account in order to access
the ROSS archived data. To provide everyone with access, NWC will add a page to Chapter 50
of the Mobilization Guide that shows the addresses for each center on one page to use for a
mailing list. Jada will send out info on how to setup a Gmail account.
#7 Web Status
Issue: With contractors if they have issues with passwords or password reset they call the
GACC to reset the password. At times the GACC doesn’t have time to do this. Are the units
willing to manually status them or does this cause more issues?
Resolution: Units can and do status them manually with no problems.
October 28, 2011
Reviewed previous day and the agenda for today. Would like to get out a little earlier than 12 if
possible.
Task Groups
 IT Services to Dispatch (Gary, Rex K, Jada)
 Critical Incident Support (Katie, Sherri, Renae)
 ROSS Reporting Standards (Isaiah, Lynn, Jeannie)
 Communication Plan (Dan)
 Mobilization 101 for Ops Folks (Val, Rette)
PNWCG Tasking
 Can we streamline our organization, attending to attributes that we desire, careerladders, full-service staffing for example without degrading the quality of services
we provide?
 Models best serving the Northwest area
 Customer needs
 Create a Task Group (Strategic Thinking Group) and take time to fully discuss, don’t
rush, fully research – Dan O’Brien, Renae Crippen and Steve Arasim
Spring Meeting
 Center Manager and Assistants, max attendees 2-3 per center
 Agenda Items
o Dispatch Services
o PNWCG Tasking
o 2012 Preparedness
o Leadership Workshop
 3 full days – Tuesday thru Thursday
 Dates – the week of April 2 thru 6, 2012
 Location to be determined
No Conference Call for November, next call will be December 1, 2011.
Attendees voted on the new Vice Chair who is Steve Arasim. The charter needs to be edited
to reword “staggered vice chair/chair”. Needs more explanation. Need to add the Dispatch
Representatives to the charter.
Items to be followed up:
 Teri will get with CiCi about the Medical personnel
 Kathi will follow up with NICC on the ARA aircraft
 Val & Brett will follow up on Incident Replacement
 Sherry will follow up with a new Conference Call form
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Follow up in the Spring – entering vendors in ROSS
Dan passed out a white paper from Mac Heller/R5 regarding IFPM requirements on entry level
Forestry Technician, Fire Dispatch positions. The Center Manager Committee agrees with part
of the issues but not all in order to support the letter from Mac. It was agreed Dan O’Brien will
take the Northwest issue of hiring entry level Forestry Technician, Fire Dispatch positions to the
National Coordinators meeting in November.
Recognition of Individuals and Achievements
Dan thanked Donna Snyder for her work this summer with all the activity the Umpqua had this
summer.
Renae thanked everyone for all the work that was accomplished this week.
Dan thanked Val and Susan for all the work since their centers don’t have center managers.