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Health Department Contact Information for Home Units Guidance

Source:  Wildland Fire Medical and Public health Advisory Team (MPHAT)

For Employee or Fire Incident COVID-19 Response

To be included in IMT Briefing Package.

  1. Visit the county health and the state health department website to locate:
    1. The COVID-19 call numbers
    2. The COVID- 19 contact (when available)
    3. Any information about how the county health department wants employers to respond or report COVID-19 cases
  2. Call the county COVID-19 call line. You will likely leave a message or talk to an operator. Please be patient if you do not talk with a person or if your questions are not answered right away, public health authorities may be busy.
  3. If you are able to talk with someone, let them know about your anticipated COVID-19 procedures. Use the information below as a guide:
    1. A COVID-19 Coordinator name and contact information (if known).
    2. Any MPHAT/Agency/ICT COVID-19 policies or other pertinent information.
    3. Testing policies or actions (if known) including
      1. What the district plans to do with symptomatic individuals, close contacts, positive cases, and testing (if known). Use the back of this document as a starting point.
    4. How to engage and any guidance from the health department about their policies such as:
      1. Does the health department want regular check-ins from the district? If so, at what interval, who is the point of contact, and what information do they want to receive?
      2. When a worker becomes symptomatic, does the health department want to be notified and coordinate testing and follow-up care? If not, does the health department have recommendations on who in the county can provide care and where should the worker go to obtain a test.
      3. Hospital, urgent care, and testing locations.
      4. How engaged, what is the process for, and what will the timing be for case investigation and contact tracing and outbreak investigations?
        1. What is a workplace outbreak (more than 2 cases) and when does the county want to be notified and how?
      5. Is the health department in agreeance with the district sending asymptomatic or mildly sick personnel to their home unit (away from this county). If so, does the health department have guidance?

 

Local and State Health Department Information
State Health Department COVID-19 Contact information including:
  • 24/7 phone number
  • Websites
  • Email addresses
  
Local Health Department COVID-19 Contact information including:
  • 24/7 phone number
  • Websites
  • Email addresses
  
Local County Health Department Point of Contact Name and Contact Information  

 

Health Department Guidance On
Check-in procedures with Health Department
  • How often?
  • Who is the point of contact?
  • What information should be shared?
  

Does the health department want to be notified of symptomatic workers? If yes, what is the process?

If not, where can workers receive care and obtain tests in the county?		  
Hospital, urgent care, and testing locations and names  
If testing is performed outside of a clinical laboratory (e.g. rapid point of care device testing) how are results reported results and at what interval to the health department?  
For case investigation and contact tracing, how engaged with the health department be, what is the process for this, and what will the timing be for these processes?  
What is a workplace outbreak (>2 cases) and when does the county want to be notified and how?  
If workers are from off-district, can asymptomatic or mildly sick COVID-19 positive workers be sent back to their home unit? If so, does the health department have guidance on this?  
Other guidance:


 		  

 

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Questions?  Please contact:
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References:

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PMS 412 provides guidance for wildland fire investigations. This guide outlines recommended procedures, practices, techniques, and methods to promote a systematic approach. The last update to this publication was in 2016.

References:

NWCG Guide to Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination PMS 412

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Questions?  Please contact:
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The updated NWCG Standards for Airtanker Base Operations (SABO), PMS 508 standardizes operations and procedures at interagency airtanker bases to ensure safe, efficient, and effective operations in support of interagency goals and objectives.

References:

NWCG Standards for Airtanker Base Operations, PMS 508

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Date: March 14, 2025
Questions?  Please contact:
Joe Schindel at mschindel@blm.gov
 

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References:

2025 Core Component Module Package

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