2023 Week of Remembrance Day 4

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7

Dude Fire (Arizona) – June 26, 1990

Today’s topic is dedicated to all wildland firefighters.
May we never stop learning.

June of 1990 will long be remembered as one of the hottest months in Arizona history. On June 26, record temperatures were reported at 122 ºF in Phoenix and 106 ºF in Payson. In addition to the extreme temperatures, Arizona had been in a severe three-year drought. This combination produced a critically high fire danger throughout the state, especially in the Mogollon Rim country on the Payson Ranger District of the Tonto National Forest (TNF) north of Payson. Fuels in the area are primarily ponderosa pine with an understory of mixed oak, manzanita, needle, and leaf litter, and scattered large (greater than 6-inch diameter) dead logs. Much of the understory brush was heavily draped with very dry pine needles. Live fuel moisture in the manzanita and oak was very low (76%). Fine dead fuel moisture was 3% and 8% for larger dead fuels.

At 12:30 p.m. on June 25, a dry lightning storm started a fire under the Mogollon Rim. The fire was on a steep, southwest-facing slope at 6,400 feet elevation. The fire was estimated from the air at 5 acres at 1:30 p.m., at 50 acres one hour later, and at over 100 acres by 4:15 p.m., with a spot fire one mile east of the main fire. By 6:00 p.m., a Type 2 Incident Management Team (IMT) had arrived and a Type 1 IMT and 18 crews had been ordered. Brisk down canyon winds pushed the fire, and it was 1,900 acres by 5:00 a.m. on June 26, threatening the forest subdivision of Bonita Creek Estates. A convection column, aided by combustion, began forming over the fire by 10:00 a.m. The column continued to grow and became a fully mature thunderstorm by 2:00 p.m. Radio and frequency issues caused a breakdown in communication between the crews and the IMT. The team transition mid-shift resulted in confusion between the crews and supervision. The thunderstorm also began to decay, creating strong downbursts channeled by the topography. This caused dramatic down- and cross-slope fire spread on nearly all sides of the fire. Members of the Perryville Fire Crew would not be able to escape from the fast and erratic fire spread. Five were injured. Six died on the fireline.

Discussion Points:

What was learned from the Dude Fire? Are those lessons still being shared to grow our safety awareness? Are you mentoring others who can learn from your experiences?
Do we have practices/policies in place now that are designed to prevent this type of tragedy? Risk Assessments, Incident Strategic Alignment Process, Strategic Risk Assessment, training, policy?
Do we have the same hazards in the fire environment, or have they changed? Discuss issues like recent radio recall or, dependence on technology.

Resources:

Have an idea or feedback?

Share it with the NWCG 6MFS Subcommittee.

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NWCG Latest Announcements

NWCG Equipment Technology Committee Releases New Equipment Bulletins

Date: September 27, 2024
Contact: Equipment Technology Committee

The Equipment Technology Committee (ETC) has released three new Equipment Bulletins:

ETC-EB-24-003 Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) in fuel containers.
ETC-EB-24-004 Two-compartment fuel and oil container (Dolmar) unavailable in the United States (US) and reminders for upkeeping current inventories.
ETC-EB-24-005 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Inspection, Care, and Maintenance.

These bulletins remind field going personnel of important issues related to equipment for wildland firefighting efforts.

References:

NWCG Alerts

ETC-EB-24-003 Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) in fuel containers

ETC-EB-24-004 Two-compartment fuel and oil container (Dolmar) unavailable in the United States (US) and reminders for upkeeping current inventories

ETC-EB-24-005 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Inspection, Care, and Maintenance

The Experiential Learning Subcommittee is looking for your feedback on Staff Rides

Date: September 20, 2024
Contact: Ashleigh D'Antonio and George Risko, Leadership Committee

The Experiential Learning Subcommittee needs to hear from the field about where the greatest need lies regarding staff rides and their accessibility.

Do you have an event you would like to turn into a learning experience?
Do you have a staff ride built, but are struggling to implement the delivery?
Do you need help building capacity?
What other ideas do you have to support experiential leadership training?

Fill out this short survey below to help us help you.

References:

Staff Rides: Feedback

Staff Rides

Updated NWCG Single Resource Casual Hire Information, PMS 934

Date: September 19, 2024
Contact: Incident Business Committee

The Incident Business Committee has updated the NWCG Single Resource Casual Hire Information, PMS 934. This update expands the provisions for hiring emergency personnel.

References:

NWCG Single Resource Casual Hire Information, PMS 934

IBC Memorandum 24-03

NWCG 2024 Spring/Summer Highlights

Date: September 13, 2024

Welcome to our latest highlights from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, where we explore the latest updates, insights, and efforts that develop interoperable wildland fire operations among federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial partners.

The Performance Support Package, which for ABRO includes the Incident Position Standards and Next Generation Position Task Book were developed through the Incident Performance and Training Modernization (IPTM) effort. The Performance Support Package will support trainees, those qualified in the position, and evaluators.

NASA JOINS NWCG!

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is officially an associate member of NWCG. As such, NASA is beginning to collaborate with wildland fire management agencies with the goal of increasing collaboration across agencies and leveraging NASA data, technology, and innovation for nation-wide efforts in wildland fire management. NASA has a rich history of research, development, and technology transfer in the areas of Earth science, space technologies, and aeronautics that support the NWCG mission.

WWW.NWCG.GOV HAS A NEW LOOK AND DESIGN

The NWCG web team dedicated the past two years to making a significant upgrade to the www.nwcg.gov site. This upgrade involved a comprehensive redesign of over 7,700 web pages.

The modernization of NWCG’s website involved migrating to Drupal 10, a cutting—edge content management system, and leveraging Amazon Web Service GovCloud for secure and efficient hosting. These upgrades help ensure that the NWCG website remains current in content management practices, offering enhanced customization, improved performance, and an overall superior user experience.

NWCG Leadership Committee

The Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program announced the Professional Reading Program’s 2024 list!

The years books include:

Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean
The Wisdom of the Bullfrog by William H. McRaven
The Art of Clear Thinking by Hasard Lee
Emotional Agility by Susan David
Writing to Persuade by Trish Hall

Learn more at the NWCG Leadership Committee

INCIDENT PERFORMANCE AND TRAINING MODERNIZATION

In 2023, NWCG kicked off the Incident Performance and Training Modernization (IPTM) effort. A training system overhaul focused on developing a performance-based training system designed to shift training to on-the-job when appropriate.

Over the next five years, NWCG intends to analyze all positions within the NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire Position Qualifications, PMS 310-1. To date we are currently working on 30 incident positions, and planning for 20+ in calendar year 2025.

Subject Matter Experts from a variety of geographical areas and agencies recently completed the position analysis for 16 positions. From this analysis, Incident Positions Standards and a Next Generation Position Task Book will be developed for each position.

Incident Performance and Training Modernization

NEXT GENERATION POSITION TASK BOOK

In April 2024, NWCG launched the new Next Generation Position Task Book (Next Gen PTB) which is a key component of the IPTM effort. This revised evaluation tool is designed to work in conjunction with the newly developed Incident Position Standards.

Major Next Gen PTB changes:

Structured to improve constructive conversations between evaluators and trainees.
Reference new Incident Position Standards.
Include only tasks required to be evaluated for successful performance.
Trainees will be rated on their performance vs. initialing whether a task was completed.
Must include written feedback when trainee does not meet the standard.
Will be position specific (no combined PTBs).

Screen shot of the Next Gen Position Task Book

Banner image of the Wildland Fire Learning Portal website

NWCG’s training course catalog is now available on the Wildland Fire Learning Portal (WFLP).

To access the training course catalog, visit WFLP and either set up an account or login as a guest.

6MFS

2023 Week of Remembrance Day 4

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7

Dude Fire (Arizona) – June 26, 1990

Today’s topic is dedicated to all wildland firefighters. May we never stop learning.

Discussion Points:

Resources:

Additional Resources

Have an idea or feedback?

Share it with the NWCG 6MFS Subcommittee.

NWCG Latest Announcements

References:

References:

References:

NASA JOINS NWCG!

WWW.NWCG.GOV HAS A NEW LOOK AND DESIGN

NWCG Leadership Committee

INCIDENT PERFORMANCE AND TRAINING MODERNIZATION

NEXT GENERATION POSITION TASK BOOK

NWCG National Wildfire Coordinating Group

Today’s topic is dedicated to all wildland firefighters.
May we never stop learning.

NWCG

National Wildfire Coordinating Group