WFDSS Unit 1 - Overview

1. WFDSS Unit 1 - Overview

2. Unit 1: OBJECTIVES • What is WFDSS and why? • WFDSS process and the “Guidance for Implementation of Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy” • Linkage between WFDSS, Letter of Delegation and an Incident Action Plan • Identify WFDSS Cost Levels for approving a Decision • Describe the components FSPro, RAVAR, and SCI • Roles and responsibilities of the home unit’s WFDSS team •  WFDSS Regional and National Support

3. WFDSS A web-based risk assessment/decision support and documentation system designed to enhance a manager’s ability to analyze fire conditions and develop risk-informed strategies for operational implementation. Replaces: • Wildland Fire Situation Analysis (WFSA) • Wildland Fire Implementation Plan (WFIP) • Long-Term Implementation Plan (LTIP) • Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) WFDSS Overview

4. Guidance for Implementation of Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy Issued in February 2009 by the Fire Executive Council. Some of the guidelines include: • Wildland fire is a general term describing any non-structure fire that occurs in the wildland. Wildland fires are categorized into two distinct types: • Wildfires – Unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires that are declared wildfires . (Note: This includes events formally termed wildland fire use. ) • Prescribed Fires - Planned ignitions. • A wildland fire may be concurrently managed for one or more objectives and objectives can change as the fire spreads across the landscape… • Management response to a wildland fire on federal land is based on objectives established in the applicable Land/ Resource Management Plan and/or the Fire Management Plan. • Managers will use a decision support process to guide and document wildfire management decisions. The process will provide situational assessment, analyze hazards and risk, define implementation actions, and document decisions and rationale for those decisions. (Handout 1.1.1)

5. WFDSS Appendix B: Wildland Fire Flowchart Wildland Fire Ignition This chart depicts, in general, the process to be taken given an ignition, regardless of source. Management actions depend on the provisions in the approved Land, Resource and Fire Management Plan and/or Fire Management Plan for an area. This chart is generally applicable to most agencies’ fire management programs. However, specific exceptions may exist. Unplanned Ignition “Wildfire” L/RMP or FMP allows protection objectives only Preplanned Response Implement Response to Wildfire Objectives Achieved Develop Response through decision support process Objectives Not Met Fire Report L/RMP or FMP allows resource and protection objectives only Planned Ignition “Prescribed Fire” Implement Prescribed Fire Plan Prescribed Fire Plan Objectives Achieved Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy – February 2009

6. Interagency Standards for Fire and Fire Aviation Operations Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management National Park Service U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Department of Agriculture Forest Service 2010 (Handouts 1.1.2) “Mandatory use of WFDSS is required for all agencies.” Decisions in WFDSS once approved and published becomes a system of record.

7. Linkages with other Documentation Intention - Objectives Delegation of Authority WFDSS Decision Action Report (DAR) Incident Action Plan (IAP) Incident Documentation Actions – Key Decisions Key Decision Logs (KDL) ICS 209 WFDSS Periodic Assessments Outcomes - “Telling the Story”

8. WFDSS Approval Requirements Recreated from 2010 Redbook

9. FSPro & RAVAR?

10. FSPro - Fire Spread Probability model(those tie dye maps) • Initially tested on 5 fires in 2005 • Grows fire simulations in 2D (like FARSITE) • Can model thousands of fires over a set time period • When combined with RAVAR, provides an understanding of risk

11. FSPro - Fire Spread Probability Model • Will Not • Tell you what day the fire will arrive at a given point • Give you possible fire perimeters • Give Fire Behavior Outputs - Flame length, Rate of spread, etc.

12. FSPro Probabilities with 4 Simulations: No Growth Calm winds South wind 25% West wind 75% 100% 50% 25% 50% 25%

13. Situation Page – FSPro (Outputs)

14. FSPro - Histogram

15. FSPro - Value at Risk

16. RAVAR • What is RAVAR? • Rapid Assessment of Values at Risk

17. RAVAR Risk is composed of two main parts: probability and change in value (losses or benefits) • FSPro – gives you probabilities • Then the RAVAR process adds values • Will aid in assessing risk. • RAVAR • Is good with losses of things (like structures) • Not Yet good with benefits or losses to resources

18. The Tier I Map and Report RAVAR • Identifies private structures, public infrastructure, public reserve areas, and hazardous waste sites • Public infrastructure includes water supply systems and reservoirs, major power lines, pipelines, communication towers, recreation facilities, and other significant landmarks. • Tier 1 also identifies designated wilderness and roadless areas, wild and scenic river corridors, and national recreation areas.

19. The Tier II Map and Report RAVAR • Identify highly valued natural resources and management priorities that may be affected by an ongoing fire event. • Examples of Tier II layers include sensitive wildlife habitat, recreation zones, and restoration priority areas.

20. WFDSS Overview

25. Stratified Cost Index (SCI) • In FY 2006, the FS adopted a performance measure designated the SCI. In FY 2007, the SCI was also incorporated into the WFDSS). • The SCI is simply a set of regression equations developed to estimate suppression expenditures on individual large wildland fires (fires greater than 300 acres). • Characteristics of the fire, such as fire size, the fire environment (slope, aspect, energy release component, fuel model, etc), housing values within proximity to the fire, and geographic area are used in a statistical model to come up with an estimate of the cost of the fire.

26. Stratified Cost Index (SCI)

27. Roles of WFDSS Team • Strategic Objectives & Management Requirements • Established by LRMP/FMP and preloaded into WFDSS • Incident Objectives & Incident Requirements • Agency Administrator with Resource Specialist’s Input • Courses of Action - Strategic Direction • Agency Administrator with Fire Specialist’s Input • Rationale • Agency Administrator and/or approving official

28. WFDSS Implementation • At the regional office, our goal is to build capacity at the local level. • There are regional and national resources available to help with • Fire Behavior Analysis • RAVAR • DAR development Support : • Excerpt from CA Mob Guide • National Decision Support Center (Handouts 1.1.3) (Handouts 1.1.4)

29. WFDSS ImplementationTake home messages • Get a WFDSS User account on both the WFDSS Production and WFDSS Training Sites • Identify a local WFDSS team • Ensure that team members knows their roles and responsibilities • Identify backups; have a contingency plan • Make sure everyone has an account with appropriate user privileges and correct contact information • Develop your own scenario and practice with your team on the WFDSS Training Site

30. WFDSS Unit 2 – Decision Process

31. Unit 2: OBJECTIVES • List the parts of a completed DAR and recognize how it relates to the tabs on the WFDSS screen. • Obtain data on incident situation in WFDSS • Write narratives sufficient to document a decision in WFDSS • Validate, Approve and Publish a Decision in the WFDSS Training System • Conduct a Periodic Assessment • Exercises

32. WFDSS - Users Roles UNIT LEVEL • Viewer • Dispatcher • Author • Data Manager • Fire Behavior Specialist (FSPro) REGIONAL LEVEL • Geographic Area Editor • Fire Behavior Specialist (FSPro) NATIONAL LEVEL • National Editor • RAVAR Analyst • Super Analyst • Help Desk • National Fire Decision Support Center (Handout 1.1.4)

33. WFDSS - Incident Privileges INCIDENT LEVEL • Individual Ownership (Author) • Group Ownership (Author & Group Owners) • Editor • Reviewer (Also can be an Editor) • Approver (Also can be an Editor) You can not be both a Reviewer and an Approver

34. Decision Support Process One Decision Process; Two Phases 1. Situation Assessment and Analysis • Incident Information • Fire perimeter maps and additional GIS data • Strategic LRMP/FMP Objectives & Requirements • Current and forecasted weather • Current and projected fire behavior • Values at risk 2. Decision Documentation and Rationale • Incident Specific Objectives and Requirements • Courses of Action • Rationale • Published Report • Monitoring with periodic assessment (Handout 2.1.1.) Fire Behavior Analysis

35. WFDSS at the System Level

36. Create a Incident in WFDSS

37. WFDSS at the Incident Level

38. Planning Area

39. Relative Risk

41. Unit Level - Objectives Strategic Objectives (Handout 2.1.1) These are broad statements, specified in land and resource management and fire management plans that describe an existing resource condition that should be maintained. Objectives deal with large areas over long time periods and project intended outcomes of management activities that contribute to the maintenance or achievement of desired conditions. Management Requirements Management requirements are derived from land and resource management plan and fire management plan standards and guidelines information. They provide the foundation, framework, and limitations for potential management activities. Management Requirements are not commitments or final implementation decisions.

42. Incident Level - Objectives

43. Incident Level - Objectives Incident Objectives (Handout 2.1.2) Incident objectives are objectives specific to the particular incident. They are precise statements that reflect tactical accomplishment milestones to be accomplished on the incident. Incident Objectives can serve as a means for tracking incident accomplishments and workload demand thresholds. Incident Requirements Incident requirements provides the incident management organizations direction in incident management. They provide the foundation, framework, and limitations for potential suppression or management related activities.

44. SMART Objectives The relationship between incident objectives, strategies, and tactics: • Incident objectives state what will be accomplished. • Strategies establish the general plan or direction for accomplishing the incident objectives. • Tactics specify how the strategies will be executed. Key Points Incident objectives should have the following SMART characteristics: 1. Specific – The wording must be precise and unambiguous in describing the objective. 2. Measurable – The design and statement of objectives should make it possible to conduct a final accounting as to whether objectives were achieved. 3. Action Oriented – The objective must have an action verb that describes the expected accomplishments. 4. Realistic – Objectives must be achievable with the resources that the agency (and assisting agencies) can allocate to the incident, even though it may take several operational periods to accomplish them. 5. Time Sensitive – The timeframe should be specified (if applicable). ICS-300: Intermediate ICS for Expanding Incidents—Student Manual September 2005

45. Strategic Objectives From the Land Management Plan: “Utilize local cultural resource specialists or Native American representatives if possible prior to engagement and in the planning process to identify Native American traditional areas, and protect these areas when possible.”

46. Incident Objectives Based on the Strategic Objective from the LMP: “Provide protection to Traditional Cultural Properties with the Pit River Area from suppression damage by utilizing minimum impact suppression tactics (M.I.S.T.) with available fire fighting resources during suppression activities.”

47. Incident Objectives “S” Cultural Properties/Pit River Area “M” Provide Protection/From Suppression Activities “A” Utilizing/M.I.S.T “R” Available/Fire Fighting Resources “T” During/Suppression Activities

48. Management Requirements From the Land Management Plan: “For All Threatened, Endangered, and Forest Service Sensitive Species of animals and plants: Utilize local technical specialists if possible prior to engagement, and in the planning process.”

49. Incident Requirement Based on the Management Requirement from the LMP: “Locate incident bases, camps, and helibases outside Goshawk Protected Activity Centers (PACs) in Mill and Mountain Home Creeks.”

50. Exercise 2-2 • Review Handout 2.1.4 – Sample Pending Decision and based on the situation awareness write: • Three (3) Incident Objectives as a Word Document • Three (3) Incident Requirements as a Word Document • Be able to discuss the decision-making rationale for the objectives and requirements