Lincoln National Forest Participates in a Risk Management Session

John Prendergast, NIMO Safety Officer
providing background on risk mgmt

The week of November 7th, individuals from the Lincoln National Forest participated in a 3-day risk management session.  The first day consisted of an Introduction to Risk Management, as a significant number of their employees had not been through the basic session previously.  This gave them the ground work for the remainder of the weeks discussions.

Leadership panel discussion

On Monday afternoon a  leadership panel discussion was held, with representatives from the R3 Regional Office, Lincoln NF Supervisor's Office, District Ranger, and a Forest FMO.  This allowed participants to ask questions, of their leadership, and provide comments in regards to risk management and how they see it changing the way they do business on the Forest.

Supervisor's Office discussion group

On days 2-3, students were emerged into the newly developed "Risk Informed Decision-making".  This session allows the individuals to work through an incident using a variety of risk assessment tools and from three various decision making positions (strategic, deliberate, and time-critical).

Guadalupe Ranger District group

The students were broken up based on their organizational affiliation (Supervisor's Office/District Office) and were given background information on the scenario that they were to work through.  During the Strategic Risk Assessment portion (all of day 2), they were all asked to work and think like Agency Administrators.  This sparked a lot of great discussions.

Smokey Bear Ranger District group

 

Sacramento Ranger District group

On the third day, the participants were then provided with information on how to do deliberate risk management decisions and what tools they can use to help them with that process.  This decision space is similar to what an Incident Management Team performs.  Also on day three the time-critical decision space was discussed and several options for assessment tools were provided to the students to help them make their time-critical decisions.  These are the type of decisions that a line or field going person would make.

This was the first time that NIMO has put on both of these sessions (Introduction to Risk Management and Risk Informed Decision-making) at the same time.  It was a long, but successful, three days.  Currently, the session is geared toward a fire incident, however the message and tools can be utilized for all disciplines and projects within the Forest Service. 

There is risk in everything we do; assessing it is how we can lower the potential for a bad outcome.

8-24-16 Where Risk Management and Safety Intersect

The primary objective on every fire is listed in one form or another as “life safety’ or “firefighter safety.” That's also a primary focus of NIMO, even in the off season. And yet the words “firefighting” and “safety” seem to be incompatible. That is one of the reasons that the first objective listed on the August 24th #BeaverCreekFire Incident Action Plan (IAP) begins, “Risks to firefighters shall be minimized and will be commensurate with values being protected.” Portland NIMO, is on the Beaver Creek Fire and Safety Officer John Prendergast provided what we thought was a very good explanation of how risk management and safety intersect on an incident.

7/21/16 New NIMO Virtual Reality Project!

One of the NIMO workgroups is Learning and Innovation and we are involved in some very exciting projects that we continue to work on this summer due to the calm fire season.  Our focus is not only helping to spread the word about new and innovative ideas in the wildland fire community, but to champion innovative ideas and projects that embrace NIMO’s overall mission.

VR Goggles

We had the opportunity to experience the use of Virtual Reality headsets during our May all-hands meeting in Missoula and were immediately struck by how the power and impact of such completely immersive learning could be beneficial for firefighters.  Of particular importance to NIMO, due to 3 years of Risk Management workshops, is finding ways to encourage and support better risk-based decisions.

In pursuing our interest in how we could create such “risk decision” virtual reality training, we discovered that the NWCG training group was already working on such a project – in fact they had completed a very cool 360 video showing the inside of a smokejumper plane. After meeting with them in Boise in June, we have joined forces to create a short, full-immersion, 360 video (in app form) that we hope will be useful in fire refreshers, 130/190, future risk or safety engagements, etc. 

The goal is to create an experience in which many elements of fire are present, to allow the user to be completely “in” the scene, see the situation, and after removing the goggles, be able to engage with others in discussions about risk – what they saw, what they felt, what decisions they would make.

The goggles use cellphones to operate so the final ‘app” of the video would be available in both Android and iPhone formats.  And, of course, we still have to work out how to supply the goggles to groups but luckily, they are relatively in expensive.

We are in the very early stages, so no details to share yet and many to work out.  But we are interested in your feedback?  Have you used these yourself?  What kind of situation do you think should be presented to make it a true risk-decision experience?  We’ll keep you updated as we move along.

7/20/15 Gene Madden Gets Emergency Medical Service Award

Larry Sutton (right) presents Award to Gene Madden

Gene Madden, Safety Officer with NIMO has been awarded the 2015 Outstanding Wildfire Emergency Medical Distinguished Service Award.

Larry Sutton, Assistant Director of Operations, US Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management presented the award at the NIMO All  Hands Meeting in Missoula, Montana May 17. 

"Gene has been a leader in fire emergency medical service efforts since 2000,"said Dan Smith, former Chair of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group.(NWCG) " He has been a passionate advocate for Wildland Fire EMS and truly care for the safety and well-being of wildland firefighters."

This is the second recognition Gene has received from NWCG.  In 2004, he was given the NWCG Chairmanship award. 

7/13/16 Workforce Development Workgroup Update #3

The Workforce Development Workgroup is engaged in many projects. The 2016 National Accelerated Training Program (NATP) is well underway and has just completed a successful trip to the Washington Office to engage with Forest Service and Fire and Aviation Management leadership. We are now starting to plan for the 2017 Program. In addition, we are currently involved with the S-520 Simulation rewrite, NIMO WO Shadow Program, and a new project to promote involvement of all employees in fire management. Please see the attached link for details of these projects and a summary of all our current activities.

Full Report Here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





 

7/13/16 12:17 pm NASA Works with U.S. Forest Service to Improve Fire Shelters

Under MTDC's Tony Petrilli’s project leadership, the Forest Service is actively collaborating with the world’s leading experts in textile engineering including those at NASA, North Carolina State University, University of Alberta and private industry.    These collaborative efforts insure that the most technically advanced solutions are being explored.

While the project is not complete, early indications are that current fire shelter materials are performing very well compared to newer competitors.   These results are a real credit to the current shelter (M2002 Fire Shelter) design team’s efforts.  Tony’s team and project collaborators will perform another round or prototype testing early this fall.

The video in the article has over 325,000 (and rapidly climbing) views less that one day from it’s release.   It was was released on NASA’s Facebook page which has over 16 Million followers!  It has spread rapidly throughout numerous social media channels.   

Article: NASA engineers say they're making progress in their efforts to help the U.S. Forest Service design a better emergency fire shelter for wildland firefighters.

https://www.pddnet.com/news/2016/07/nasa-works-us-forest-service-improve-fire-shelters

07/11/2016 Identifying Hazard Trees and Their Target Zones

In our continuing efforts provide you with the useful information collected by the National Technology and Development team, below are some links to information on how to identify hazard trees and sizing up their "target" zone.

Remember that these trees are out there in your work environment every day.  Take the time to look through these (and other available videos).  Keep yourself aware of what to look for and how to protect yourself and your crew.

Link to Wildland Fire Safety Training Annual Refresher (WFSTAR) Website which contains many safety refresher training documents and videos:  WFSTAR Link

The following are two separate links to the same video.  Two alternative sites to use:
Link to National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) YouTube Video:  NIFC Link
Link to Lessons Learned Center (LLC) YouTube Video:  LLC Link

7/4/16 NIMO Manages Saddle Fire with Color Country Type 3 IMT's

Saddle Fire ICP

The Dixie National Forest requested a National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) Team to respond to the Saddle Fire located on the Pine Valley Ranger District. An in-briefing occurred on June 20, 2016 and a delegation was issued to NIMO from the Dixie NF and UT DOF.

The Delegation was non-traditional in the sense that it tasked NIMO to work with Color Country Team 2, a Type 3 IMT (Chris Henrie, IC) that was presently assigned to the incident. NIMO was tasked with only providing additional management capacity, but mentoring the members of the Type 3 IMT to provide additional training and experience increasing the management capacity and skills of the Type 3 IMT.

On July 1, 2016 Color Country Team 1, Shawn Peterson, IC, merged with the NIMO organization as Chris Henrie's IMT demobilized. On July 6. 2016 command of the Saddle Fire was transferred to Shawn Peterson, Color Country Team 1 Incident Commander.

The NIMO Saddle Fire assignment showcased all 4 NIMO Workgroup's:

Saddle Fire Basecamp - "The camp in a hole
without cell service in a larger hole with marginal service"

Workforce Development: Two NATP Participants were assigned to the Saddle Fire and received experience in a multitude of areas. In the Spring of 2016, the Workforce Development Workgroup conducted Type 3 specific training to the Color Country IMT's. This incident showcased the value of that training prior to a complex incident.

Cohesive Strategy: The community of Pine Valley, UT, the State of Utah, and the USFS working together, showed that the Cohesive Strategy works. The ultimate outcome was that the community of Pine Valley was protected through that collaboration and cooperation, even with a large wildland fire on its doorstep.

Risk Management: Early in the incident, Life First was clearly the priority and firefighters did not engage the fire on steep ground with miles of under slung line. Instead, the decision was made to engage the fire on more favorable ground. The Saddle Fire had an outstanding safety record due to the Risk Based Decision Process following the "LIFE FIRST" principle.

Learning and Innovation: Cell service was non-existent at the Saddle Fire base camp, members of the L&I Workgroup used a combination of resources to bring service into base camp. This including engaging cellular companies, a private cell booster company, local emergency management, and the UT National Guard. Through this collaborative effort, cell service was brought into base camp best described by the cell company as, "A hole without cell service within a hole with marginal cell service."

The Saddle Fire was a very successful use of NIMO and allowed many of NIMO's off season Workgroup projects to come to fruition and help make the Saddle Fire a safe and successful incident.

06/23/2016 - Wildland Firefighter Physical Training Recruitment

"We need your help in developing a physical training program designed specifically for Wildland Firefighters."

The Missoula Technology Development Center-USFS, in conjunction with the University of Montana, California Polytechnic State University, and Colorado State University, are working to develop a direction on this wildland fire physical training (PT) program.  One of the early steps in this process is to understand what WLFFs currently do for PT, both pre-employment and during employment along with what types of programs they enjoy.  This program will be based on the best science available but also one that meets WLFF needs, is easy to use in multiple formats, and will help you do your job effectively and safely.

To see the full announcement, follow this Survey Link

Help them to understand what you are currently doing for PT, so they can work to standardize the requirements and hopefully improve your efficiency and safety.

06/22/2016 - National Technology Development Center (NTDC) Fire Shelter Project

The Fire Shelter Project Review was initiated in 2014. The project is pursuing advances in materials that may offer increased protection by slowing the transfer of heat through the shelter layers. Historically, many high-temperature resistive materials are relatively heavy, bulky, fragile and/or toxic. These are all attributes that are not suitable for fire shelters. A few entities are submitting promising materials for testing, one of those is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) located in Hampton, Virginia.

Please read the entire article to find out how the project is progressing and what it means to you out in the field.

Wildfire Magazine Article on the Fire Shelter Review Project

6/2/16 NIMO Assists R5 with Southern Sierra Tree Mortality

The Boise NIMO Team is in CA this week facilitating a planning meeting for Southern Sierra Tree Mortailty. The meeting included representatives from the R5 Regional Office, Sierra NF, Sequioa NF, and Stanislaus NF. Regional Forester Randy Moore opened the meeting with Leaders Intent. Randy and Deputy Regional Forester Jeanne Wade-Evans both actively participated in the meeting.

NIMO used the Intent Based Planning Process to identify Gaps. Factors were identified and validated centering around Political, Security, Economic, Social, Infrastucture, and Information Dimensions. Once the gaps were identified they were each categorized by priority and if they were currently actionable. Intent Based Planning is being taught by Misson-Centered Solutions in their NWCG L-481 Intent to Action course. More info on this course can be found at: https://mcsolutions.com

The objective of the meeting was to develop a Common Operating Picture between all USFS entities involved in Tree Mortality.

Tree Mortality is a long term event involving multiple Federal, State and Local agencies. NIMO will continue to be involved in Tree Mortality.

For more information on CA Tree Mortality go to: http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/catreemortality/home



Boise NIMO IC Joe Reinarz facilitates the discussion to identify gaps as Boise PSC1 Dana Carter documents the gaps identified

05/31/2016 Professional Development: Mentoring and Coaching for NIMO Employees

One of NIMOs missions is to develop future leaders of Fire and Aviation Management and the Forest Service.  As such, it is important that employees within the NIMO program also take advantage of opportunities to develop themselves into better leaders and/or mentors.  Since the Forest Service already has an active Mentoring/Coaching program in place, the Workforce Development Workgroup has taken on a project to facilitate mentoring and coaching for NIMO employees.

Mentoring will come from within the Forest Service, however may extend beyond the boundaries of the NIMO program.  The mentors will take advisory roles; offering options and career advice based on their experience.  The mentor will work with the mentee to help define and achieve the mentee's career goals based upon a path they both agree to.  The average life span of the mentorship is one year, but can be extended for additional time, if needed.

Coaching is predominately identified as a "learning coach" within the Forest Service.  They are typically outside of the employees work unit and serve as a catalyst for the employee.  They don't offer advice but they let the employee make their own decisions using probing questions that spur the employee to ask and answer all the "right" questions for themselves, regarding how they achieve their career goals.  This, also, has a term of one year, but can be extended if necessary.

Individuals who participate in the mentoring and/or coaching programs are tracked by HRM.  Participation in these programs is also included as part of the employees yearly Performance Appraisal.  The link below provides the workflow process for the Forest Service Training & Employee Development's USDA Mentoring Portal Process Flow.

USDA Mentoring Portal Process

If interested in signing up for the Forest Service Mentoring and/or Coaching, see the following links:

HRM Mentoring Program
HRM Coaching Program

5/23/2016 Little Bighorn Battlefield Staff Ride

The Boise NIMO Team participated in a Staff Ride of the Battle of Little Bighorn facilitated by OMNA International on May 22-23, 2016. Prior to the actual visit to Little Bighorn Battlefield Boise NIMO Team members read "A Terrible Glory" by James Donavan and "The Last Stand" by Nathaniel Philbrick. The pre-reading set the stage for the visit to Little Bighorn Battlefield.

Schedule of Stands Visited and Themes of Each

The staff ride started out in Sheridan, WY and followed the route Custer and the US Cav took, along the way a series of stands were visited where active discussions took place that connect leadership actions and decisions from Little Bighorn to today's world.



Little Big Horn River from Reno-Benteen Hill

Discussions centered around:

• Understanding Dynamic Decision-making
• Reacting Effectively to Change
• Understanding Decentralized Decision-making

Boise NIMO Team at Weir Point discussing Responsibilities of Lookouts

 The Staff Ride concluded with an Integration Dinner where each Team Member shared their "Nuggets" that they will carry forward this upcoming fire season.


Link to OMNA International




05/19/2016 Missoula Technology and Development Center Wildland Firefighter Projects

On May 19, the entire NIMO organization had the opportunity to take a tour of the Missoula Technology and Development Center (MTDC) in Missoula, MT.  During this tour we were exposed to several projects which are being worked on for improving the safety and well-being of the wildland firefighting community.  Below are several of the projects that we were presented with and how they can help out in the field.

Figure 1 - Bengi Hegg, EMT, Explaining
Wildland Medical Kit Standardization
Project

 One of the first projects we were introduced to was an overview of the project standardizing the individual and field medical kits (Figure 1).  The items contained in the kits are varied which make it difficult for a person to go from one geographical area to the next and know what is available in the kits.  The project is taking information provided from subject matter experts and field going personnel; then modifying those kits available through the cache system.

Imagine being out in the field, being smoked in, and running low on supplies.  The helicopters are not able to fly, and there are no roads to your camp.  This is not an unusual scenario.  The MicroFly automated cargo delivery system (Figure 2) may allow for this to be a thing of the past.  This

Figure 2 - Gadot Apuzzo, Equipment
Specialist, Explaining MicroFly Cargo
Delivery System

system can be dropped out of a plane flying at a safe height (above the inversion).  It has a GPS guidance system in which it will direct the package to be delivered to a location identified by the recipients.  The MicroFly has been tested (by the T&D group) and performed well in field test cargo drops (landing within 100 yards of targeted drop spot).  After the successful field testing, it was successfully tested on the Bear Lake Fire on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in 2015.  To date, there is only one functional system, however the plan is to have at least one located at each of the Smokejumper bases.

Figure 3 - Gadot Apuzzo,
Explaining MicroFly
Cargo Delivery System

Each year, there are certain projects that are based around reviewing and potentially improving the personal protective equipment (PPE) for use in the field.  The MTDC are currently looking at improvements to the neck shrouds (Figure 3), fire shelters (Figure 4), and chaps.  In the near future, the MTDC team will begin looking at improvements to the wildland firefighter’s helmet.  If you are interested in learning more about the Fire Shelter project, you can refer to the Fire Shelter page on the NIFC site.

Figure 4 - Tony Petrelli, Equipment
Specialist, Explaining Fire Shelter Project

Short haul extraction (Figure 5) is another project that the MTDC personnel are working on, in an effort to improve the safety of the gear and the survivability for the injured firefighter.  Having all of the equipment needed for extractions in one, easy to use, package is critical.  The MTDC project is reviewing the equipment and making improvements as necessary.

Figure 5 - Gadot Apuzzo, Equipment
Specialist, Explaing technical details of
Short Haul Project

It is imperative that we learn from the elements that wildland firefighters are exposed to during any given day/assignment.  The MTDC Physiologists are working on projects to study items like heat stress, smoke exposure, and hearing exposure on the wildland firefighting communities.  They have developed specialized sensing equipment that is designed to track information such as air quality/particulates (backpack sensors), heart rates and core body temperature (Figure 7 – the “purple pill”), and other physiological information.  Information gathered will likely be used to make improvements to existing technology and/or safety gear and will be used to make physical training safer and more effective for the wildland firefighters.

Figure 6 - Joe Domitrovich,
Exercise Physiologist, Explaining
Heat Stress, Smoke Exposure,
and Hearing Exposure Projects

The MTDC is looking for Incident Management Teams (IMTs), Crews, or individuals who are willing and interested in assisting with this testing; so if you are interested, please contact any of the individuals identified above or contact Joe Domitrovich, Exercise Physiologist.

Figure 7 - Heat stress core temperature
measurement capsule

05/11/2016 GMUG Risk Management Workshop

Students learning about Strategic Risk
Assessment (SRA).

 Members of the NIMO Risk Management Workgroup provided line officers, staff officers, and fire management personnel on the Grand Mesa Uncompahgre and Gunnison (GMUG) National Forests with a Risk Informed Decision making session.  This session provided participants the opportunity to learn about Strategic, Deliberate, and Time Critical risk management processes and tools using a simulated fire case study.

5/13/16 A New Primer On Risk Terminology

Risk management is being increasingly promoted as an appropriate method for addressing wildland fire management challenges. However, a lack of a common understanding of risk concepts and terminology is hindering effective application. In response, this General Technical Report provides a set of clear, consistent, understandable, and usable definitions for terms associated with wildland fire risk management. The material presented herein is not brand-new or innovative per se, but rather synthesizes the extant science so that readers can readily make a crosswalk to the professional literature. The broad objectives of this effort are to provide context and information to support application of risk terminology across all levels of risk management, and to facilitate clear exchange of data, information, and ideas among fire management officers, staff, and scientists. 2016 Risk Terminology Primer Download

5/12/16 NIMO Risk Management at CA IMT Meetings

Left to Right, NIMO LSC Zeph Cunningham,
Steve Parr and  NIMO SOF Tom Johnson

"Firefighter safety, and the safety of the public, is a core value and is intrinsic in all areas of wildland fire management." (www.nifc.gov ) Risk Management has been a key focus area for NIMO.  NIMO is working with others in the coordination,collaboration and development of the next iteration of Risk Management. 

 

The NIMO Risk Management Workgroup assisted with coordinating  an Interagency Risk Summit last December.  The goal of the Summit was to clarify and establish a collective course for incorporating risk management as an integral component of wildland fire management, both within the Forest Service and the greater wildland fire community.  It summarized existing science- based risk management definitions into a set of clear,relevant and understandable definitions.

The workgroup was  tasked to attend all of the National and GACC IMT Meetings and to share information about the Summit.   Zephaniah Cunningham,Tom Johnston and Kit Bailey presented the Interagency Risk Assessment matrix, Line of Duty Death (LODD) response, and Coordinated Response Protocol (CRP) to the eleven Incident Management Teams in Region 5 (California).  The information was well received and the question and answer session was lively. One of the “problems” facing IMT’s is how to get the risk levels (high, moderate, low), mitigations and the risk processes to the ground at the engine operator and crew person level.  It is critical that everyone has a conversation about risk before and during tactical operations. 



5/12/16 Manti-LaSal NF Type 3 Training and Simulation

Manti-LaSal NF Agency Administrator
conducting IMT In-briefing

A member from each of the four NIMO Teams presented two days of Type 3 IMT Training to the Manti-LaSal National Forest in Price, UT. The training concluded with a full scale simulation of a Type 3 Wildfire.

On Day 1, the two Manti-LaSal T3 IMT's went through a review of the ICS Planning Process and Team processes. Concurrently, the Agency Administrator's from the Manti-LaSal NF, Local Emergency Management, and County officials worked through a day of discussions centered around Values at Risk, Risk Management, and Delegations of Authority. The Agency Administrators wrote the Delegation of Authority that was used for the second day Wildfire Simulation.

Manti-LaSal T3 IMT conducting
a Tactics Meeting

On Day 2, the IMT's were in-briefed by the Agency Administrator's, received a Delegation of Authority and WFDSS, flew a Google Earth helicopter flyover of the fire. Each IMT set Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics for the next operational period. An Incident Action Plan was developed using the ICS planning process. Each simulation concluded with an operational period briefing.

Manti-LaSal T3 IMT conducting a
Command and General Staff Meeting

Training's like these are part of NIMO's mission to create capacity and capability within the Forest Service and help agencies develop better fire capability at the local, community level.

5/12/16 Wildfires Near Me Webinar Recording Available

We held the webinar May6th to officially launch the beta version of Wildfires Near Me. There were a good number of people on the call and we are thankful for those of you who were able to attend. For those of you who were not able to attend, we recorded the session and uploaded it to the Wildfires Near Me YouTube Channel. 

It's a recording of a one hour webinar so we realize it's not the best format but if you have some time it does show a full walk-through of the app and all of it's functionality. Check it out below and let us know what you think!  https://youtu.be/PEKETCY9r8A

5/12/16 NIMO Supports Big Bend Healthcare Coalition Hurricane “What” Exercise

Gene Madden and Leon County Emergency 
Manager, Kevin Peters, lead group discussion

More than 150 healthcare workers from eight counties across north Florida participated in a functional exercise at Florida State University’s Donald L. Tucker Civic Center in Tallahassee, May 4th. 

Atlanta NIMO Safety Officer, Gene Madden, participated as an evaluator of the overall organization and exercise.  Florida, known to be a common target for hurricanes, hasn’t had one come ashore in over ten years.  Florida’s Big Bend has not had a Category 3 or stronger hurricane make landfall since 1950.

The Big Bend Healthcare Coalition Hurricane (BBHCC) partners came together to operationally define their dependent and interdependent roles, responsibilities, and capabilities within the context of the Continuum of Healthcare and Support System.

The exercise provided an interactive environment where the participants could react to scenario events and develop priorities and action plans and, more importantly, build and strengthen relationships.

Members of the Big Bend Health Care Coalition
listen to instructions for the functional exercise.

Interestingly, during the exercise, the Center’s fire alarm was activated (an incident within an incident). Everyone evacuated quickly and safely. After it was determined that a workman had accidently activated the alarm, the group returned and continued as if nothing happened.

State and county emergency managers plan to continue developing and strengthening their overall disaster plans for healthcare and other functional areas in the future.

 

5/2/16 Only 4 Days Until the Launch of Wildfires Near Me!

Just a reminder to PAO's, as well as dispatchers and other fire leadership, that the webinar to familiarize fire people with the Wildfires Near Me app will be May 6.  Please go to this link and sign up for the webinar:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7799720355545609730

This is not a webinar meant for the public, although the public will begin using the app May 6th as well.  This webinar is to help you, dispatchers and fire leadership understand more about what the app can do and where we feel it will help. It is NOT a downloadable app, its a web app at www.wildfiresnearme.wfmrda.com

If you would like to be a test community, please send an email to keriksen@fs.fed.us.  Testing simply means that you would actually let your community know about the app's existence and uses. We will provide a press release that can be used to publicize the tool, available to be sent out May 6th.

04/27/2016 Color Country/Dixie NF Type 3 IMT Training

The Phoenix National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) team presented a 2 day Incident Management team training for the Color Country Interagency/Dixie National Forest Type 3 organization.  The class took place at the Dixie Applied Technology College's Emergency Response Training Center on April 26-27, 2016, in St. George, UT. 


Bob Houseman instructing students
in SMART objective writing.

Students came to the training with a wide variety of experience but all had a strong enthusiasm to learn.  Agencies included Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and local county Fire Departments.  The three teams were instructed in Incident Command procedures/processes and then performed exercises to practice what was taught to them.  On Wednesday, they were tested with a 5 hour exercise in which they were expected to document and display everything that they had learned the previous day.

04/20/2016 Region 3 - Santa Fe/Carson NF Risk Management Session

Risk Management is critical at all levels of our organization.  Learning how each of the levels of the organization shoulder the risk and communicate to the other levels is one of the objectives of the newest versions of the Risk Management sessions that the National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) is providing to sites throughout the organization.

Students having discussions over the
strategic risk assessment exercise.

April 19-20 the Santa Fe and Carson National Forests held a combined Risk Management session in Espanola, NM. Participants included 160-200 personnel; which included Forest Supervisors, Deputy Forest Supervisors, District Rangers, Forest Fire Management Officers, Engine Crews, Hotshot Crews, and many other levels of the organization.

Students analyzing the map while
assessing the deliberate risk.

The session objectives included an introduction to the Strategic Risk Assessment (SRA) (Agency Administrator level of risk), Deliberate Risk Assessment (Incident Management Team level of risk), and Time Critical Risk Assessment (fire crew/real time risk on the ground); and the various tools associated with each of level of the risk assessment.  Each of the Districts and Hotshot Crews were broken up into separate groups and were required to work through the scenarios and perform a report out for the entire audience.


Santa Fe NF Forest Supervisor,
Maria Garcia

Carson NF Forest Supervisor,
James Duran

The two Forest Supervisors each laid out their leaders intent for the session which included opening up the communication lines between all levels of the Forest/District organization, and providing a basic knowledge to grow from for the rest of this pre-season, and into the remainder of this season.

R3 Deputy Regional Forester,
Jim Upchurch

Region 3 Deputy Regional Forester, Jim Upchurch attended the session and had a candid discussion in regards to the Life First initiative which is going to be presented to all Forest Service employees in the near future.

NIMO Cadre (left to right): John
Prendergast, Terri Knauth, Jaci
Stimach, Brian Watts

Brian Watts, Terri Knauth, John Prendergast, and Jaci Stimach provided the training throughout the two days to this large group of eager students; some of which were being introduced to the Risk Management process for the first time.

4/20/16 NIMO Takes Leadership Lessons From The Civil War

The National Incident Management Organization participated along with all the National Incident Commanders and Area Commanders on a Staff Ride of the Civil War Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.

A Conference Group at Chatham Heights with a
replica Pontoon Bridge used by the Army of the
Potomac to cross the Rappahannock River.

The day ended with an Integration Dinner where each participant shared one lesson they learned that then will carry forward into Fire Leadership this season. NIMO will be able to use these lessons learned as they continue to develop and mentor upcoming leaders in Wildland Fire

The Staff Ride was facilitated and lead by @THEOMNA. Participants were divided into conference groups and visited points on the battlefields where key leadership decisions could be discussed and learned from

4/20/16 - NIMO Conducts Type 3 Training on the Klamath NF

Klamath NF Agency Adminstrator giving
Leaders Intent to the Type 3 IMT 

Members of NIMO are on the Klamath NF conducting Type 3 Training and concluding with a Simulation. Type 3 training builds capacity at the local unit which allows for more effective Managment of Wildfires. 

Type 3 experienced and qualified Command and General Staff are key to the future of the Type 1 and 2 Incident Management Teams. One of NIMO's priority missions is to build Incident Management capacity within the Wildland Community.

4/19/16 NIMO Participating and Supporting National AC/IC Meeting

All 4 NIMO Type 1 Incident Commanders are attending and participating in the 2016 National Incident Commander/Area Commander Council Meeting in Fredericksburg, VA this week.

A NIMO Logistics Section Chief and a Plans Section Chief are providing support to the meeting.

A multitude of National Topics are being covered including a NMAC update, IHC update, AHIMT presentation, National Director/National Line Officer Panel, UAS update, AFUE program presentation.

The Meeting will take a learning day on Wednesday and @THEOMNA will provide a Staff Ride for the Civil War Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.

4/18/16 Wildfires Near Me Gets Closer To Launch Date!

May 6th Launch Is Coming Soon!

The Wildfires Near Me web app, that NIMO PIO Kris Eriksen and Ben Butler with the NIFC Research and Development team have been working on for 2 years, is almost ready to launch!  We wanted to remind you to go to the page (www.wildfiresnearme.wfmrda.com) and log in, and then fill in your profile information.  Equally important, see the link below to sign up for the May 6 webinar to display all the capability of the final application.

The app remains in Alpha for now until the official launch date.  That means it's still being tweeked with changes regularly - but you can play with it and use the feedback link at the top to tell us what you like and don't like. It will continue to evolve until May 6th when it will move into Beta and remain stable for the season.  

We're on Social Media
There is also a Facebook Page now and a twitter account @wildfiresnearme.  Go add those to your social media sites so you can be sure of getting updates as they happen.  Ben also did a short video about how to get email and text notifications which might be helpful -   Wildfires Near Me Email & Text Notifications

We want to hear from you!
How is Wildfires Near Me working for you? Do you like what you see so far? Do you think this will be a useful tool for you and for the public? Reach out to us and let us know what you think. You can use the feedback button from within the app or find us on Twitter @WildfiresNearMe. We'll also take suggestions from our Facebook page.

Official Beta Launch Party Planned!
We would love for you to join us on May 6th for the official beta release of Wildfires Near Me! We will be announcing all of the features and functionality we have included in the app and giving a full tour. Please share this information far and wide and don't feel like you need to keep our app a secret. We are building this to be a public information app and welcome anyone out there to come and check it out!

Register for the Launch Party HERE: 

Thank you for taking the time to use and get to know our app! We are very excited about the changes we are working on and will be getting them out to you very soon. Stay in touch and we'll see you at the launch party!

~ The Wildfires Near Me Team & NIMO

4/7/16 Workforce Development April 2016 Report

So in case you didn't know, NIMO does have 4 teams: Portland, Boise, Atlanta and Phoenix but those teams are used primarily for managing fires. The rest of the year, NIMOs work in workgroups: Risk Management, Cohesive Strategy, Learning and Innovation and Workforce Development. There is also a special projects workgroup that is used for, well, special projects that pop up! The work groups are comprised of people who have an interest or a particular skill in one of the Workgroup areas. 
The work groups report out during the year on what they are doing. Here is the April 2016 report for the Workforce Development Workgroup.

4/4/16 NIMO OSC and PSC Job Openings! Apply now!

NIMO doesn't have openings very often but we have Operations and Plans open now.  Please pass along this information to anyone you think might be interested and qualified. 

OPERATIONS SECTION CHIEF
This position will close April 11^th and candidates must attach IQCS records or a red card to show they are Type 1 qualified. 

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/434605100/

PLANS SECTION CHIEF

This job is open to both Federal employees and Partners. Anyone who applies must attach a copy of their IQCS records or Red Card to be considered eligible.

Demo

https://www.usajobs.gov/Search/?Keyword=434757600&Location=&homeRadPublic=public&search=Search&AutoCompleteSelected=False&CanSeekStatusJobs=False

Merit

https://www.usajobs.gov/Search/?Keyword=434758400&Location=&homeRadPublic=all&search=Search&AutoCompleteSelected=False&CanSeekStatusJobs=False