PNWCG Steering Committee Notes-DRAFT
14 April 1999
Bob Young - ODF
Clark Seely - ODF
Terry Brown - USFS
Ken Till - NPS
Earl Cordes - Oregon Fire Chiefs
Bill Donaghu - BIA
Barbara Kennedy - Facilitator
Cory Winnie - BIA
Mike Edrington - USFS
Terry Hueth - BLM
Paul Rose - USFS
Dennis Macomber - FWS
1. February notes were approved as read.
2. Time recorder contracts and other Fire Business updates - Paul Rose.
Contracts for these services are being let due to downsizing and unavauilability of agency
personnel. Forest service Regions 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 are included in the contract, and the
contract is written so that personnel could also work on state incidents. Five service
providers have bid on the contract, which will be awarded in May. Costs are comparable
to using agency personnel.(Attached files not available)
3. 3 10-l Update - Bill Donaghu.
The Training and Operations Working Teams offered a range of recommendations
that will facilitate the recruitment and training of incident management positions
currently identified as being chronically difficult to fill. (See attachment #2)
The recommendations were approved by the committee.
4. Engine typing standards and equipment performance - Terry Brown.
The consensus of the committee is that 3 persons/engine is both the safest and the
most effective staffing level. However, acceptance of this standard will require
additional consideration.(Attached file not available)
5. Master agreement update - Barbara Kennedy.
Copies of the master agreement operating plan were distributed. Steering committee
members will review and return at May 12 steering committee meeting with signatures.
(Attached file not available)
6. Nomex personal protective equipment (PPE) for WDNR - Barbara Kennedy.
Forest Service units in the NW Area are asked to inventory their stocks of PPE and
make any excess available for use by the Washington Department of Natural Resources.
Excess stocks should be sent to the Redmond cache by 5/l 5/99.(File not available)
PNWCG Steering Committee notes for April, 1999.
7. Prioritization of Work Plans - Committee
A. Engine/Tender and Crew Agreement Working Team program and associated will
require additional information. Clark Seely will lead.
B. Weather Working Team proposal and associated costs were approved.
C. Operations Working Team proposal and associated costs were approved. Mike
Edrington will discuss with Jerry Williams.
8. Agency meteorologists and PNWCG executive secretary - Gerry Day.
The decisions made in December 1998 to go forward with creating 3 meteorology
positions at the NW Coordination Center, as well as a shared Executive
Secretary/Coordination Center position, were reviewed in light of recent budget
developments. A range of options was delivered, with associated costs. A compromise
option was adopted. This calls for filling two agency meteorology positions at NWC
and sharing some of their duties with meteorologists currently working for ODF and
WDNR. This proposal will require additional consultation before job descriptions
can go to a Federal personnel office for classification.
A proposal was made and accepted to recruit Barbara Kennedy as the Executive Secretary
for PNWCG. A cost sharing agreement for her services will be arranged.
9. Participation with PNW Incident Management Teams - Terry Hueth.
Alaska and NW Area Type I teams will be integrated with personnel from both areas.
Names of perspective team members will go into a pool and ICs will approve.
Next scheduled meeting is 0900 on May 12 at Ft Vancouver NHS.
Attached #2
With the inception of the Performance Based Qualifications System, the focal point of fne line
qualifications shifted from individual academic skill to ability to perform critical tasks as defined by the
National Wildfne Coordination Group (NWCG). Use of the Position Task Book (PTB) to document a
trainee’s actual performance of critical tasks added a significant element to the qualification/certification
process that had not existed previously. Creation of the PTB made fire or incident assignments a major
training commitment for all member agencies of NWCG.
Though PNWCG recognizes the critical importance of line experience, as of yet, we have not done an
adequate job of working with Agency Administrators and the Incident Management Teams (IMT’s) to take
full advantage of the training opportunities available on incidents in the Pacific Northwest.
Clearly, we must better utilize existing training opportunities in order to certify the IMT members and
fnefighters that we will need to replace the experienced personnel leaving our respective agencies.
Agency Administrators and IMT’s are responsible for providing training opportunities on fire/incidents.
Both must recognize that frreline/incident assignments, (including RX bums), have replaced classroom
training as the primary training need. In order for Performance Based Training to work effectively,
Agencies must commit staff time and financial resources to provide the field training opportunities, and
IMT’s must commit to make training assignments a standard on every incident.
To that end, the Training Working Team and Operations Working Team of PNWCG offer the following
recommendations:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Training specialists should be assigned to Incident Management Teams, or should be available for
mobilization during initial mobilization.
Operations Working Team will identify ICS/IMT shortage positions. Potential trainees for the
shortage positions will be selected from a list of interagency nominations submitted to the Operations
Working Team by the Training Working Team.
All trainee mobilizations should be on an interagency basis. Additional priority lists should be
generated at the local agency level.
Sub-Geographic Areas should generate prioritized training and currency dispatch lists.
The recruitment and retention process for national and area teams should be modified to replace
trainees as soon as they become qualified, with additional trainees.
PNWCG needs to develop an evaluation process for trainers and evaluators.
PNWCG /TWT will develop a workshop for training specialists to facilitate better utilization of
training opportunities on incidents and to ensure they are aware of changes in PMS 3 lo- 1.
OPS/TWT will report back to PNWCG with a post fire season evaluation of the program that is
implemented in 1999. The monitoring of the program must be part of the process.
To enable us to continue training high quality personnel for NWCG and the Incident Command System,
the PNWCG Training and Operations Working Teams urge immediate implementation of these
recommendations.
Thank you,
Sincerely:
Bill Donaghu, Chairman TWT