PNWCG STEERING COMMITTEE
December 18, 2002
MEETING MINUTES
Attendees:
Bob Anderson – Spokane Fire District #9
Pam Ensley – USF&W
Barbara Kennedy – SORO
Bill Lafferty – OR ODF
Leo Sidebotham – BLM
Cory Winnie – BIA
Ken Till – WA NPS
Dan Johnson – WA State Fire Marshall’s Office

2003 Meeting Schedule and Locations – Barbara Kennedy (Handout)
Barbara handed out the schedule for the year 2003. January and February meetings
will be held at the Marshall House. At the January meeting, the group will discuss
the Strategic Plan and the Group Charter, also allowing 30 minutes to discuss task
orders. It was proposed to allow a group to do a presentation to see if the PNWCG
wants to charter a new Fire Investigation Working Team. It will be part of the
working team reports, which will be the theme in February.
Date
Location
Theme
January 22
Marshall House
Strategic Plan-Charter
February 26
Marshall House
Working Teams
March 26
NWCC
Business
April 23
NWCC
Business
May 28
NWCC
Business
June 25
NWCC
Business
July 23
NWCC
Business
August 27
NWCC
Business
September 24
NWCC
Business
October 21
NWCC
Business
November 19
NWCC
Business
December 17
NWCC
Business

Confirmation of the 2003 PNWCG Chair and Vice Chair – Bob Anderson
Pam Ensley will be Chair with Skip Simmons will be Vice Chair.

IC Replacement for Team 3 – Leo Sidebotham (handout)
Due to the retirement of Joe Stutler from USFS, the Operations Working Team
recommended Bob Anderson as the replacement for the one-year remaining. The
Operations Working Team also recommended that Jeff Pendleton be promoted to
Deputy IC. PNWCG voted and all agreed (Bob Anderson abstained from voting).
Jeff and Bob both accepted the positions.

Update on Contractor Meetings – Bill Lafferty (handouts)
The Contract Working Team traditionally makes rounds and gathers information from
contractors. They realize that the government has limited resources and want a higher
level of administration. There was a Management and Contractor Association
meeting in Salem, OR and the people attending the meeting see some improvements
that can be made. They also recognized that the National Contract at the current time
locks them into staying close to their home area. They have some ideas on a
mechanism to deal with training and contracting and would like the government to
respond. Their expectations for turn around time may be too high. They had
concerns regarding dispatch, need to be able to report in two hours, and felt that better
dispatch training needs to be accomplished. On a previous task order, Don Artley and
Ed Daniels were asked to see what it would take for contract crews to run well, and
also to build a budget or chart type document describing their ideas. They will need
to look into training records and do spot checks, using $450,000 and staffing three
FTEs. They are trying to zero in on a rate to charge to finance it. A .5-1% may be the
amount to collect. Laurie Perrett has Paul Rose working on it. Don Artley is going to
the National Fire Plan meeting. Bill would like everyone to inform his or her
agencies to gain support. They almost have enough information to do a presentation.

Supervision of the NW Coordination Center – Leo Sidebotham
Leo and Laurie Perrett think that there needs to be a direct line of supervision. There
are a lot of issues that come up day-to-day that need leadership. Leo suggested
folding it back under SORO with the exception of important issues, which will come
back to the group. Leo recommended Gerry Day work for Jerry Williams on day-today issues. Gerry Day is fine with the idea. Cory Winnie thinks that the Board (the
funding agencies that control the center) should make the decision and would like to
see a list of what will be resolved by whom.
Decision: Decision will go to the NWCC Board, not PNWCG.
Action Item:
Leo will talk with Laurie, and Jerry Williams will probably do up a list.

Timber Faller Issues – Bill Lafferty (handout)
Bill Lafferty received a letter and brochure from NW Timber Fallers. Down in the
Medford, OR area, some fallers are trying to become a professional fire fighting
service. There are some issues with training and capability checks. Currently, there
is no way to know what skills fallers have when employed. NW Timber Fallers has
asked to do a presentation for PNWCG, possibly at the March 14th Training
Association meeting in Salem, OR at the ODF office from 10:00am-3:00pm. Bill
does not know whom they are in contact with in the agencies yet. All members
agreed.

PNW MAC Chair (How to Organize for 2003) – Pam Ensley
Pam suggested having a person be Chair of MAC and Coordinator. Also need to
further define the roles in the MAC Guide. It was decided that the PNWCG Chair
and Vice Chair will be the MAC Chair and Vice Chair. If the MAC Chair will be
unavailable, they will be responsible to select a chair in their absence.

Fast Report Action Items – Bill Lafferty (handouts)
It was originally forwarded to the Operations Working Team in December. Bill felt
that the Forest Service should revisit some of the issues, the policies may need
adjustments. The Operations Working Team has received the list of items that they
are to work on. Bill felt that some should go to the National Boise Fast Team and
that NWCG should decide which ones to send to them. Conversation needs to be
open at all levels before recommendations can be made. The Health & Safety Team
is taking the information to their meeting in January; ODF is sending Dan Schultz to
that meeting. The group needs to send formal letters to NWCG stating the issues to
work on. Bob Anderson felt that the issues need to be sorted, listing priorities inside
of categories and identify the top issues and who should work on them. Laurie is
going to write up a task order to the Operations Working Team. On 4.2, Bill felt that
it had all been covered all though there may be a need to revise it and give
recommendations. The following is a list of priorities that the group identified:
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
Compliance with 30 mile previous action and hazard abatement

Recommend NWCG establish a feedback system to address
theses issues
A national task group evaluate existing 30 mile requirements to identify
actions that significantly enhance fire safety vs. minimal benefit, yet
require lots of commitment of personnel to implement
30-mile direction issued early enough to allow time for implementation of
fire season 2003
After thorough reevaluation/revision of 30 mile, NWCG should make
provisions binding to all Feds
Develop periodic refresher training for 30 mile
1.7
1.11
Streamline document requirements
30 mile direction is consistent among all agencies and GA’s
8
8.1
8.2
NWCG include response to pocket guides
Increase supply/inventory of pocket guide
Spanish version of pocket guide
12
12.5
Shift Lengths
Modify l-suite software to facilitate management and reporting of 30 mile
shift length guidelines
Clarify methods for calculating shift length
12.6
14
Length of Assignment
14.21 BMH updated to conform to current policy
20
20.1
20.2
Other Agency Specific Guidance
All Feds adopt Redbook
Correct inconsistencies among agency manuals/Redbook with index to
Redbook
21
21.2
Other Issues
Address radio technology (narrow banding) problem as a high priority
Action Item:
Leo Sidebotham, Laurie Perrett, and Bill Lafferty will draft up two letters, one to
NWCG with specific issues, and another to all parties including local line officers and
National Working Team to let everyone know who is going to work on what. A
deadline of the January meeting was set.

0210-3 Task Order Update – All
A letter was sent out to all members and sent on to the working teams. Laurie Perrett
has followed up with the Operations Working Team and they are on board, as well as
the Contract Working Team. ODF has not reviewed it yet. Need to follow up with
the working team chairs, and make sure that Roy Montgomery is clear on his role.
Roy is to report progress to PNWCG each month. Leo Sidebotham will get a copy of
the letter to Roy.

2002 Federal Fire Management Issues – Bill Lafferty (handout)
The handout given is a first draft and they will probably add some items, and do not
want media to have all items. Two of the pages are aviation specific and the rest are
miscellaneous issues. The Regional Forester and the State Director have already seen
the list of issues. The main focus is to try and gain some conversation regarding the
issues, particularly with the Forest Service, and hopefully suggestions will be made.
Gordon Foster helped with the draft and put the final touches on it. Leo Sidebotham
felt that the list is not beneficial and could be mixed up with issues that are already
being dealt with. Bill felt that there is a couple that are good and may need to be
looked at. He also thought that they possibly need a reply on each issue from the
Forest Service, they are expected to report on the progress made and make
recommendations on what needs follow up. Pam Ensley said that he may need to go
to the Line Office and Executive level to get the issues addressed and get support. It
was decided to table the issue for now and possibly discuss at a further date.

Hot Shot Letter – Bob Anderson
Bob received a letter from the Hot Shots. Everything in the letter with the exception
of active involvement is being addressed by the Interagency Contracting Task Group.
If agreeable, Bob will draft a letter letting them know that their letter was sent to the
Contract Working Team and the PNWCG Steering Committee, as well as send them a
copy of the task order. Everyone agreed.