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RT-130, Wildland Fire Safety Training Annual Refresher (WFSTAR)

RT-130 Decorative banner. Group of photos depicting wildland firefighters performing various duties.

Smoke, Roads, and Safety

Smoke, Roads and Safety; Best practices for predicting and managing smoke over roadways.
Category: Hazards
Core Component(s):
Incident Reviews and Lessons Learned, Fire and Aviation Operational Safety
Estimated Delivery Time: 30 minutes
Video Length: 13:03
RT-300, Burn Boss Refresher

Intent

Identify the hazards associated with smoke impacts to roads that impact both the public and fire personnel. Examine procedures to decrease the impacts of smoke, and provide mitigation and response information to implement a Roadway Response Plan (RRP). Identify helpful tools that are available for predicting, accessing, and monitoring the risk.

Facilitator Preparation

  • Review the video and module tools.
  • Consider additional activities and discussion questions relevant to location and agency.
  • Review and share the Roadway Response Plan located under Resources.

Facilitating the Discussion

  • Show the video.
  • Consider whether one large group discussion or multiple smaller group discussions will best engage the participants.
  • Facilitate the group discussion using the selected questions. Give the participants a chance to comment and reflect on each other’s answers.

Discussion Questions

Inform the participants:

This module focuses on the hazards associated with smoke on roads and will provide information on how to address the potential impacts. It will provide mitigation and response information and identify some helpful tools that are available to assess and monitor the risks associated with smoke on roads.

  1. How often have you encountered smoke on the road when driving to and from prescribed fires or wildfires? Do you consider the potential hazards to other fire personnel and the public?
  2. What are the five weather conditions that can worsen smoke impacts to roadways?
  3. What is the purpose of a Roadway Response Plan (RRP)? Have you responded to smoke impacting a roadway?
  4. Does your home unit utilize RRPs? Has your home unit had incidents of smoke impacting roadways? Has your unit pre-identified roadway areas that are susceptible to being impacted by smoke?
  5. How can RRPs be used in wildland fire planning and response?
  6. What are some of the tools shared in the video you can utilize at your home unit to predict the likelihood of smoke impacting roadways?

Resources

Video Information

  • This video is also available as a download (zip file, size 885 MB) with .srt file for closed captioning (you may need to right click and Save As). For information on how to add closed captioning to a video, see this how-to page.
  • Note: For Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, right click the word download and select Save Link As; for Internet Explorer (IE), right click and select Save Target As.

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Questions?  Please contact:
Equipment Technology Committee

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If you have questions, please visit our FAQ page. 
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The S-130, Firefighter Training (Blended), equips new wildland firefighters with essential skills through a mix of online learning and hands-on training. The course features a required online component and an instructor-led exercise, reinforcing online concepts with practical performance-based training.

The course builds competencies in wildland fire operations, safety, and equipment use, applicable across various operational environments. Both the online component and instructor-led field exercise must be completed to receive a certificate of completion. Students are required to finish the prerequisite S-190, Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior, before enrolling in S-130, Firefighter Training (Blended).

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