External Operations Experience
Update:
Wildland Fire Management
Department of Energy
Operating Experience Work Group
April 14, 2015
Larry Stirling,
Office of Analysis (AU-23)
Wildland Fire Management
• Fire Season is approaching
• Extensive and systematic framework
established primarily by Department of
Agriculture and Department of Interior
through Wildland Fire Leadership Council
(WFLC)
2
Wildand Fire Management
• Guidance for Implementation of Federal
Wildland Fire Management Policy,
February 13, 2009
• Approved by Fire Executive Council
3
Wildland Fire Management
1. Agencies will use common standards for all aspects of
their fire management programs to facilitate effective
2. Agencies will review, update, and develop agreements
that clarify the jurisdictional inter-relationships and define
the roles and responsibilities among local, state, tribal and
federal fire protection entities.
3. Responses to wildland fire will be coordinated across
levels of government regardless of the jurisdiction at
the ignition source.
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Wildland Fire Management
4. Fire management planning will be intergovernmental in scope
and developed on a landscape scale.
5. Wildland fire is a general term describing any non-structure fire
that occurs in the wildland.
a. Wildfires – Unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires that are
declared wildfires
b. Prescribed Fires - Planned ignitions.
6. A wildland fire may be concurrently managed for one or more
objectives and objectives can change as the fire spreads across the
landscape. Objectives are affected by changes in fuels, weather,
topography; varying social understanding and tolerance; and
involvement of other governmental jurisdictions having different
missions and objectives.
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Wildland Fire Management
7. Management response to a wildland fire on federal land is based
on objectives established in the applicable Land/ Resource
Management Plan and/or the Fire Management Plan.
8. Initial action on human-caused wildfire will be to suppress the
fire at the lowest cost with the fewest negative consequences
with respect to firefighter and public safety.
9. Managers will use a decision support process to guide and
document wildfire management decisions. The process will provide
situational assessment, analyze hazards and risk, define
implementation actions, and document decisions and rationale for
those decisions.
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Wildland Fire Management
Guiding Principles
1. Firefighter and public safety is the first priority in every fire
management activity.
2. The role of wildland fire as an essential ecological process and
natural change agent will be incorporated into the planning
process. Federal agency land and resource management plans set
the objectives for the use and desired future condition
of the various public lands.
3. Fire Management Plans, programs, and activities support land
and resource management plans and their implementation.
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Wildland Fire Management
4. Sound risk management is a foundation for all fire management activities.
Risks and uncertainties relating to fire management activities must be understood,
analyzed, communicated, and managed as they relate to the cost of either doing or not
doing an activity. Net gains to the public benefit will be an important component of
decisions.
5. Fire management programs and activities are economically viable, based
upon values to be protected, costs, and land and resource management
objectives. Federal agency administrators are adjusting and reorganizing programs to
reduce costs and increase efficiencies. As part of this process, investments in fire
management activities must be evaluated against other agency programs in order to
effectively accomplish the overall mission, set short- and long-term priorities, and
clarify management accountability.
6. Fire Management Plans and activities are based upon the best available
science. Knowledge and experience are developed among all federal wildland fire
management agencies. An active fire research program combined with interagency
collaboration provides the means to make these tools available to all fire managers.
8
Wildland Fire Management
7. Fire Management Plans and activities incorporate public health and
environmental quality considerations.
8. Federal, State, tribal, local, interagency, and international coordination and
cooperation are essential. Increasing costs and smaller work forces require that
public agencies pool their human resources to successfully deal with the ever increasing
and more complex fire management tasks. Full collaboration among
federal wildland fire management agencies and between the federal wildland fire
management agencies and international, State, tribal, and local governments and
private entities result in a mobile fire management work force available for the full
range of public needs.
9. Standardization of policies and procedures among federal wildland fire
management agencies is an ongoing objective. Consistency of plans and operations
provides the fundamental platform upon which federal wildland fire management
agencies can cooperate, integrate fire activities across agency boundaries, and provide
leadership for cooperation with State, tribal, and local fire management organizations
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References
•
Managing the Impact of Wildfires on Communities and the Environment A
Report to the President In Response to the Wildfires of 2000, September 8,
2000
http://www.forestsandrangelands.gov/resources/reports/documents/2001/
8-20-en.pdf
•
Review and Update of the 1995 Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy
(January 2001) is the primary interagency wildland fire policy document.
(DOE participated in the development):
https://www.nifc.gov/PIO_bb/Policy/FederalWildlandFireManagementPolicy_
2001.pdf
•
The Interagency Strategy for the Implementation of Federal Wildland Fire
Management Policy (June 20, 2003) was developed and approved under the
authority of the Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC) to set forth direction
for consistent implementation of the federal fire policy:
http://www.sierraforestlegacy.org/Resources/Community/SmokeManagemen
t/AirQualityPolicy/FedWldFireMgmtPolicy.pdf
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References
•
Interagency Prescribed Fire: Planned and Implementation Procedures
Reference Guide, September 2006: http://www.fws.gov/mountainprairie/fire/PDF's/rxfireguide.pdf
•
Modification of Federal Wildland Fire Policy Guidance. Issued May 2, 2008
by the WFLC. This memorandum directed federal agencies to test and
implement new guidelines for wildland fire management.
•
Guidance for Implementation of Federal Wildland Fire Management
Policy, February 13, 2009:
https://www.nifc.gov/policies/policies_documents/GIFWFMP.pdf
•
•
Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures
Guide, April 2014: http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/RxFire/pms484.pdf
•
The National Strategy: The Final Phase in the development of the National
Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy:
http://www.doi.gov/news/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=526008
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References
•
Forging a Science-Based National Forest Fire Policy: http://issues.org/201/franklin/
By Jame Agee and Jerry Franklin
Revisions to the Annual Operating Plans for Master Cooperative Fire
and Stafford Act Agreements due to Implementation of Revised
Guidance for the Implementation of Federal Wildland Fire
Management Policy, National Wildfire Coordinating Group, April,
2009: http://www.nwcg.gov/general/memos/nwcg-009-2009.pdf
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Resources
• USDA Forest Service: Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)
The Fire Effects Information System is an online collection of reviews of the scientific
literature about fire effects on plants and animals and about fire regimes of plant
communities in the United States. FEIS reviews are based on thorough literature searches,
often supplemented with insights from field scientists and managers. FEIS provides reviews
that are efficient to use, thoroughly documented, and defensible. Approximately
15 to 30 new or revised reviews are published in FEIS each year.
http://www.feis-crs.org/beta/
• Rocky Mountain Research Station
The Rocky Mountain Research Station is one of seven regional units that make up the USDA
Forest Service Research and Development organization – the most extensive natural
resources research organization in the world. The core geography of the Station is the twelve
non-coastal western states.
http://www.fs.fed.us/rmrs/
Reports on annual research accomplishments (e.g., Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program
2014 Research Accomplishments) are available
http://wwwnew.firelab.org/sites/default/files/images/downloads/FFS_AnnualReport_FY2014.pdf
•
•
Conducted in association with the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory
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Resources
APPS on Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS)
FRAMES: Fire Research and Management Exchange System, University of
Idaho and University of Montana
FRAMES provides a method of exchanging information and transferring
technology among wildland fire researchers, managers, and other stakeholders in
an online environment. The FRAMES portal provides essential searchable
information, a platform for data sharing and storage, development of new tools,
and support to federal wildland fire management agencies in the United States
throughout the various stages of wildland fire, including planning, operation, and
post-fire monitoring. Online courses
https://www.frames.gov/
•
BehavePlus
The BehavePlus fire modeling system (link is external) is a Windows®-based
computer program that can be used for any fire management application that
involves modeling fire behavior and fire effects.
https://www.frames.gov/partner-sites/behaveplus/home/
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Resources
•
FARSITE
FARSITE is a fire growth simulation modeling system. It uses spatial information on topography and fuels
along with weather and wind files. It incorporates existing models for surface fire, crown fire, spotting, postfrontal combustion, and fire acceleration into a 2-dimensional fire growth model.
http://firelab.org/project/farsite
•
Landfire (USDA RMRS and USDOI)
LANDFIRE is a program that provides over 20 national geo-spatial layers (e.g. vegetation, fuel, disturbance,
etc.), databases, and ecological models that are available to the public for the US and insular areas.
http://www.landfire.gov/
•
USDA Forest Service: Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)
The Fire Effects Information System is an online collection of reviews of the scientific literature about fire
effects on plants and animals and about fire regimes of plant communities in the United States. FEIS reviews
are based on thorough literature searches, often supplemented with insights from field scientists and
managers. FEIS provides reviews that are efficient to use, thoroughly documented, and defensible.
Approximately 15 to 30 new or revised reviews are published in FEIS each year. http://www.feiscrs.org/beta/
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Resources
National Fire Danger Rating System
• In 2014, RMRS fire danger rating system developers sought and gained
approval to update the U.S. National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS). This
system has remained static for nearly 40 years, despite many scientific and
technological advances that could significantly improve the system. These
system updates have been approved by the Fire Danger Subcommittee of the
National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) and by the NWCG Executive
Board. The new system will be implemented and tested over the next two
years and is expected to be fully operational in January 2016.
http://firelab.org/project/national-fire-danger-rating-system
National Digital Forecast Data Base (NDFD) Fire Danger Point Forecast
Tool
A simple, point forecast interface that produces seven day fire danger
forecasts from the National Digital Forecast Database
http://www.wfas.net/
•
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Resources
• Weather Information Management System
The Weather Information Management System (WIMS) is a mission critical, national system,
managed and maintained by USDA, Forest Service's Fire and Aviation Management (F&AM)
branch for interagency use. WIMS serves as the processor for the National Fire Danger
Rating System (NFDRS), using weather observations and NWS forecast to generate indices,
including Burning Index (BI), Energy Release component (ERC), Staffing Level (SL) and the
Adjective Rating
http://firelab.org/project/weather-information-management-system
• WindNinja
WindNinja is a computer program that computes spatially varying wind fields for wildland
fire and other applications requiring high resolution wind prediction in complex terrain.
http://firelab.org/project/windninja
• WindWizard
WindWizard is a computer model designed to calculate the effect of topography on local
wind flow. Outputs from the model are wind speed and direction every 100-300ft over the
terrain. Simulations can be completed on a laptop computer in about 1 hour.
http://firelab.org/project/windwizard
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Resources
• Treesearch (United States Department of Agriculture - USDA)
Treesearch is an online system for sharing free, full text publications by Research
and Development scientists in the US Forest Service. Included in Treesearch are
scholarly works published by the agency as well as those published by others,
including papers appearing in journals, conference proceedings, or books. All
publications appearing in Treesearch are based on peer reviewed research to
make sure they provide the best scientific information possible.
http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/
• Research Data Archive (USDA)
Archive preserves and publishes short and long-term research data collected from
studies funded by:
Forest Service Research and Development (FSR&D);
Joint Fire Science Program (JFSR); andAldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute
(ALWRI)
http://www.fs.usda.gov/rds/archive/
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Resources
• Fire Modeling Institute
FMI helps facilitate efficient science delivery to fire management. Its mission is to connect
fire managers with technical experts and scientists, using the latest fire science and fire
modeling systems to respond to fire-related resource management needs.
http://firelab.org/about-fmi-0
• National Fire Decision Support Center
The NFDSC is a collaborative effort between Fire and Aviation Management and Research
and Development. It is located at the National Interagency Fire Center and provides a key
link between wildland fire science development and the appropriate application of that
science. http://www.wfmrda.nwcg.gov/nfdsc.php
Wildland Fire Management Research, Development, and Application (WFM RD&A)
Program
Created to promote application of wildland fire scientific knowledge; develop decision
support tools; and provide science application services to the interagency wildland fire
community.
http://www.wfmrda.nwcg.gov/
•
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Resources
• Fire Danger Rating
– The U.S. National Fire Danger Rating System
(NFDRS) produces indices such as Energy Release
Component (ERC) that indicate the potential for fire
activity.
– FireFamilyPlus, an agency independent Windows
application is a primary tool in the fire
behavior/danger suite of programs which share
data and models that are used in a variety of
environments to address a range of business needs
– http://firelab.org/project/firefamilyplus
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Resources
• NDFD Fire Danger Point Forecast Tool
– Internet-based system,
– Used to assess the current state of the fire season, and
more, including national and regional maps of fire
danger
– Provides daily maps of dry lightning
– Provides access to experimental and emerging
technologies that improve fire season assessment
capabilities
• Uses weather data from more than 2000 fire
weather stations
• http://www.wfas.net
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Resources
• North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange
http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/disturbance/fire/nafse/
• Lake States Fire Science Consortium
http://lakestatesfiresci.net/
• Tallgrass Prairie and Oak savanna Fire Science
Consortium
http://www.tposfirescience.org/
• Oak Woodlands & Forests Fire Consortium
http://www.oakfirescience.com/
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Resources
• National Interagency Fire Center
• The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC),
located in Boise, Idaho, is the nation's support
center for wildland firefighting. Eight different
agencies and organizations are part NIFC
http://www.nifc.gov/
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Resources
• Missoula Technology and Development Center
The Missoula Technology and Development Center (MTDC)
began as the support facility for Forest Service fire
management in the late 1940's, when a small group started
developing techniques for parachuting men and cargo. In
the early 1960's, the center's role was expanded to a
Service-wide technical center with a nationwide program
that now encompasses all Forest Service equipment needs.
Today, MTDC works with Federal and State agencies,
universities, private firms, and research groups to meet its
responsibilities to resource managers.
http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/techdev/mtdc.htm
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Resources
• National Advanced Fire and Resource Institute
A national level training center serving the interagency
wildland fire community through the development and
implementation of fire, fuels, resource and incident
management skills and educational processes
http://www.nafri.gov/
• Earth Observatory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Global Fire Monitoring
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalFire/
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Resources
• Joint Fire Science Program
The Joint Fire Science Program funds scientific research on
wildland fires and distributes results to help policymakers, fire
managers and practitioners make sound decisions.
http://www.firescience.gov/
• Remote Automatic Weather Stations (RAWS) – National
Interagency Fire Center
There are nearly 2,200 interagency Remote Automatic Weather
Stations (RAWS) strategically located throughout the United States.
These stations monitor the weather and provide weather data that
assists land management agencies with a variety of projects such as
monitoring air quality, rating fire danger, and providing
information for research applications.
http://raws.fam.nwcg.gov/
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Resources
• San Dimas Technology & Development Center (USDA
Forest Service)
The San Dimas Technology and Development Center
(SDTDC) was established in 1945 to standardize fire
equipment, and serves emerging technological
requirements of the Forest Service and its cooperators.
http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/techdev/sdtdc.htm
• Wildland Fire Chemicals (USDA Forest Service)
Provides technical support to Forest Service Fire and
Aviation Management (F&AM) on matters relating to fire
chemical products.
http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/fire/wfcs/index.htm#qpl
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Resources
• ForWarn Satellite-Based Change Recognition and
Tracking
ForWarn provides near-real-time tracking of vegetation
changes across landscapes in the United States. Useful for
both monitoring disturbance events as well as year-to-year
variability, derived products can also be used to develop
insights into seasonal and inter-annual dynamics.
http://forwarn.forestthreats.org/
• National Weather Service, National Operational
Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center National Snow
Analysis Maps
http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nsa/
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Resources
• USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications
Center (RSAC), Active Fire Mapping Program
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/
• Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity
A multi-year project designed to consistently map the
burn severity and perimeters of fires across all lands of
the United States from 1984 and beyond.
http://www.mtbs.gov/index.html
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Resources
• GEOMAC – Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination, Wildland Fire Support
The Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination or GeoMAC, is an internet-based
mapping application originally designed for fire managers to access online maps of
current fire locations and perimeters in the United States. Using a standard web
browser, fire personnel can view this information to pinpoint the affected areas.
With the growing concern of western wildland fires in the summer of 2000, this
application also became available to the public.
http://www.geomac.gov/
• Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team
Develops and delivers forest health technology services to field personnel in public
and private organizations in support of the Forest Service's land ethic, to promote
the sustainability of ecosystems by ensuring their health, diversity, and
productivity.
http://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/technology/
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Resources
• USGS Water Data for the Nation
This web site serves current and historical data. Data are retrieved by
category of data, such as surface water, groundwater, or water quality, and
by geographic area. Subsequent pages allow further refinement by
selecting specific information and by defining the output desired.
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis
• National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Storm
Prediction Center
This page has the United States severe report database (tornadoes 19502014, hail/wind 1955-2014), converted into shapefile (.shp) file format as
well as a Geographic Information System (GIS) database. The data can be
viewed in graphical, tabular, and statistical formats depending on enduser programs
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/gis/svrgis/
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Resources
• U.S. Drought Monitor
This climatic stress mapping effort shows the location of
dry, moderate, severe extreme and exceptional drought in
near real time. Both current and archived data are
available.
http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
• Vegetation Drought Response Index
The Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI) project
relates near real time weather conditions to effects on the
ground. These supportive data show climate stress and
meteorological data such as days with precipitation.
http://vegdri.unl.edu/
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Resources
• RAWS USA Climate Archive
Archived and near real time weather data for rural stations are
available through the Remote Automated Weather station network.
These have been useful for documenting daily temperature
extremes in fall and spring.
http://www.raws.dri.edu/
• Historic Palmer Drought Indices
Monthly maps of drought conditions in the contiguous U.S. as
measured by the Palmer Drought Severity Index, Palmer
Hydrological Drought Index, Palmer Modified Drought Index, and
Palmer Z-Index (Palmer, 1965) are provided for January 1900—
February 2015.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/drought/historicalpalmers/
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Resources
Landscape Management System (LMS)
• A cooperative project between the University
of Washington, College of Forest Resources,
Silviculture Laboratory, Yale University School
of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
• Its purpose is to develop the concepts and tools
needed to help forests provide the wide range
of values people want -- including
commodities, wildlife habitat, fire safety,
employment, and carbon sequestration.
http://landscapemanagementsystem.org/
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Resources
• National Fire Protection Association
NFPA 1141, Standard for Fire Protection Infrastructure for Land
Development in Suburban and Rural Areas
This standard covers the requirements for the fire protection
infrastructure in suburban and rural areas where there is an intended
change of land use or intended land development.
NFPA 1142: Standard on Water Supplies for Suburban and Rural Fire
Fighting
This standard identifies a method of determining the minimum
requirements for alternative water supplies for structural fire-fighting
purposes in areas where the authority having jurisdiction determines
that adequate and reliable water supply systems for fire-fighting
purposes do not otherwise exist.
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Resources
NFPA 1143: Standard for Wildland Fire Management
This standard provides minimum requirements to fire protection
organizations on the management of wildland fire, including prevention,
mitigation, preparation, and suppression.
NFPA 1144: Standard for Reducing Structure Ignition Hazards from
Wildland Fire
This standard provides a methodology for assessing wildland fire ignition
hazards around existing structures, residential developments, and
subdivisions and improved property or planned property improvement
that will be located in a wildland/ urban interface area, and provides
minimum requirements for new construction to reduce the potential of
structure ignition from wildand fires.
http://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/document-information-pages
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What next?
• Steps are up to you.
• Consider reviewing wildland fire management
programs, plans, documents, coordination
actions as needed.
• Review, as appropriate, references and
resources.
• Take appropriate actions.
• Be prepared for the fire season.
37
• Contact Information:
Larry Stirling
Office of Analysis (AU-23)
202-586-2417
john.stirling@hq.doe.gov
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