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.