PNWCG STEERING COMMITTEE
Meeting Notes
November 17, 1999
In Attendance:
Bob Anderson, Spokane City Fire Dist. #9
Mike Edrington, SORO
Barbara Kennedy, SORO
Lanny Quackenbush, ODF
Jerry Williams, BLM
Cory Winnie, BIA
Mike Ziolko
John Viada, WDNR
Absent:
Mark Forbes, National Park Service
Andy Anderson, FWS
Earl Cordes, OR Fire Service
National Weather Service Update
Mike Ziolko provided an update on the working team regarding the weather office closures, the
Modernization Transition Committee from the Weather Service, and events in the Northwest. Mike asked for guidance from the committee on how strong a position they want to take. Mike proposed that the Fire Weather Transition Plan should be developed for all five NWS offices and include state participation (Salem and Olympia). He also recommended that we look at updating agreements between the states and the Weather Service.
John Viada and Mike Edrington discussed the possibility of a PNWCG master agreement rather than separate agency agreements. Mike agreed that if the states were satisfied with the master agreement, than separate state agreements probably weren’t needed, and it could be part of the transition plan.
The group discussed the pros and cons of having Weather Service staff located at the Forecast Center or the Northwest Coordination Center. The group agreed it would be more constructive to avoid telling the Weather Center how to run their shop, but to have a discussion based on the services needed. Bob Anderson summarized these services as accessibility to the coordination center for intelligence, access to up-do-date briefings, a dedicated person available when needed within an hour.
Bob proposed that Gerry Day work with Mike to define the services or products we want.
The group agreed that Gerry and Terry would make contacts with the MTC in concert with what
California is doing, for a coordinated effort. Mike Ziolko said the working team would contact
California and the Boise office. Barbara summarized the discussion as follows: Cory will go to both the December 1 and 8 meetings as the PNWCG representative, and Mike Edrington may also go.
PNWCG will look at the message and try to talk about services and needs. Terry, Gerry and the
California contacts will have early discussions with the MTC prior to the December 8 meeting. The working team will draft a response to the letter from the Weather Service.
PNWCG Charter
Barbara Kennedy passed around the revised PNWCG Charter for signature. Members present signed the Charter.
Firewise Community Workshops
Barbara Kennedy provided information about the structure, purpose and intended audience of the
Firewise Community Workshops, the first of which will be in the Northwest at Skamania Lodge
March 29-31, 2000. ODF and DNR can send Barbara the names of possible facilitators. Barbara would like the Fire Prevention Working Team to help take the program to the next level.

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Procedures/Actings/Meeting Cancellations
Barbara asked for input on canceling meetings and sending substitutes. Mike Edrington suggested sending a substitute (“acting”) if someone needed to miss and adjusting the agenda if needed. Bob
Anderson suggested using the webpage to share the agenda, and members can communicate by email if there is an issue. Barbara would like to be given advance notice of absence so the agenda can be put on the website in a timely way .
I don’t remember this; suggest dropping . Mike suggested that if a member could not attend after agenda was posted, the acting should be kept informed or the member should call someone else on the committee and ask them to bring up the issue. Barbara said she will add these suggestions to the working guidelines. Guidelines for canceling meetings were discussed. The group agreed that meetings would be held if four regular members were able to attend, as long as one of the four were a BLM/FS member.
Website
Barbara Kennedy explained the website setup. There are two folders under Steering Committee, one called Meeting Agendas and another containing information for immediately upcoming meetings.
Bob Anderson suggested including a revision date as agendas are updated and that working team members provide a brief summary of actions required. Mike would like a reminder be sent to field groups about the PNWCG website location. Barbara said she would take care of this.
Interagency Fire Planning
Barbara Kennedy summed up her understanding of the Committee’s position on Interagency Fire
Planning as supportive of the two pilot projects, but not clear about the entire project and without the resources to commit to the entire geographic area proposed. Barbara asked that the Committee bring the issue to closure so a response could be made to Laurie Parrett. After discussion, the group agreed to the pilot projects with the addition of Central Oregon. Mike Edrington suggested that the PNWCG ask for an update on the projects in the future. Barbara asked Mike to carry the Committee’s decision back to Laurie.
Other Business
The strategic planning meeting scheduled for January was moved to February so a business meeting to discuss working teams could be held in January.
Criteria for Establishing New Working Teams
The Committee will have a proposal in January to establish the GIS working team. After discussion, the group agreed that criteria for establishing a working team would be: it is relevant to the PNWCG mission; it is standing work that is truly interagency; and it is independent of another working team.
A task force was defined as a group of dissimilar resources working on a single objective that is to be completed in a defined time period and then disbands. A task force could be created by the PNWCG
Steering Committee or by a working team. Barbara will add this summary to the working guidelines.
The consensus was to hear out the GIS proposal, decide if it was a relevant issue, and whether or not it should be a working team or task force.
News From the Forest Service National Directors’ Meeting
Mike Edrington reviewed news from the National Directors’ Meeting, beginning with the situation with the Alaska IMT, which could not meet the national standards when called for a fire in southern
California. Jerry Williams said that the plan was for the OPS Working Team to meet with their
Alaska counterparts and come up with alternatives for the PNWCG to consider.

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Survey and Manage Impacts to Federal Agencies - BLM and Forest Service asked Federal Court to lift the injunction to allow harvesting of timber under the interim EIS. The court allowed timber sales but not prescribed fires in northern California, and the Cascade Range in Oregon and
Washington. Mike said this just meant prescribed burning might be put off for a few years or the area where it is used will be shifted.
Mike also reported on a draft of a letter from NWCG to Terry strongly suggesting a change from a
21-day assignment to 14. State or local standards would still be honored. Some states already have
14 days. Forestry Service will have the PACK test next year.
The comments on the Area Delivered Firefighters Study have been reviewed and alternatives for best buy for federal funds is being analyzed by computer. Best buys may be keeping three jump bases and closing four others, and shifting money from helicopters to smoke jumpers. A group is looking at facilities cost and long- and short-term gains. Mike said much work remains.
Mike concluded with a brief update on the Brookings meeting. Scenarios for the future are going more towards a more centralized, stand-alone fire department approach, either inside the Forest
Service or without, rather than traditional Forest Service fire and aviation.
Interagency Contract Team
Barbara distributed two memos from the Interagency Contract Team. The Team would like to have the participation of all PNWCG agencies on the contract committee, particularly Park Service and
Fish and Wildlife Service. Barbara will contact Andy and Mark to put someone on the Team. The second memo concerned certification issues for two-person engines. Bob Anderson and Jerry
Williams recommended rejecting the proposal. Barbara suggested having the Training Team look at another approach to the issue. Lanny said he would discuss it with John Boro from Operations and
Ed Daniels from Training and possibly have them at the next meeting to clarify the issue.
520/620
Jerry Williams reported that there were a number of nominations for 520. The Training Team is working on plans for mentoring these people. There was only one name for 620, Bonnie Wood.
OPS Working Team Update
Jerry Williams reported that Dave Neilson of California was the successful bidder. There will be a meeting with him on December 6. Jerry asked for a contact from the state representatives for a contact regarding fire cache. Lanny named John Boro and Jim Leisch as contacts. John Viada named Lane Jolly and Mike Smith.
A strategy to start integrating interagency Type 2 teams has not yet been decided upon but would be discussed at the December meeting. Jerry expressed a concern about getting overcommitted by assignments when only three people are doing the work.
NWCG
Bob Anderson reported on the Training Working Team tasks approved earlier to modify NWCG training courses relevant to wildland urban interface. The training Working Team will be assigned to look at each of its curriculums as they are redone to make sure the tasks are addressed. The NFA has approved two new courses to be developed: one dealing with wildland interface for chief officers; and one firefighter-level class about structural fires.