5109.17 and Chapter 10/ FS Fire and Aviation Qualifications Guide

1. 5109.17 and Chapter 10/ FS Fire and Aviation Qualifications Guide Greg Philipp Anthony Conte Region 8 Fire & Aviation Management Workforce Development Team

2. Key Drivers • 5109.17/Forest Service Fire & Aviation Qualifications Guide vs. 310-1 • Why can’t we combine and have 1 Interagency Qualification Guide? • Forest Service Fire & Aviation Qualifications Guide is step in the right direction, but isn't it an unnecessary layer. • IFPM • Do individuals have ample training opportunities to meet IFPM standards? • Are home units supporting opportunities for required training? • Are we ensuring that people are moving forward appropriately and not being “fast tracked”? • Training needs/Opportunities • Do we have the administrative and financial support from home units? • Training budgets are constantly cut, can we host more local training? • Why don’t we encourage and train more people to take on training responsibilities? • Career tracks (different levels, FAMCAT, mentors) • Why don’t we have formal career tracks to measure an employees growth? • Why don’t we have a structured mentoring program to coach employees on career tracks and processes?

3.  Strategy/Policy Discovery Questions Responses • What is the importance of this strategy / policy? • How is it currently being implemented? • What is most important about this strategy/policy to R8 FAM competitive success and mission completion? • What does this strategy/policy suggest that R8 FAM will need to be / do / have in order to position itself for future success? • The majority of individuals interviewed recognize the importance of this policy, but most feel that we should operate off of 310-1 like other agencies. • The majority feels that this policy is very important, especially since the introduction of IFPM. • Leadership needs to decide where we are going with educational requirements. Are we making selections based on qualifications (IFPM) or on educational background (401 series)? • Leadership needs to commit to training needs, training/travel dollars are always first to be cut.

4. Interviews Questions Responses • What is the regional mission? • How does fire support that? • Over the next 5-10 years, what do you believe are the top 3 changes that we will see in the South that will affect our mission? • For each change, what skills, strategies or resources do you think that we will need to adapt to those changes?  (And do we have that already or do we need to develop it?) • Thinking about this future environment and the role fire plays in supporting it, what do you think… • We will need more of: • We will need less of: • We will need to stay the same: • The majority feels that there is a lot of support from R8 fire to work towards our mission, but many feel that district/forest leadership lacks support in some areas. • The majority feels that the top 3 changes in our future will be hiring processes/diversity hiring, technology, increasing workloads due to decreasing budgets. • Many feel that we can adapt to change better with solid leadership in place, but many see a decline in leadership. • More training. More communication, coordination and cooperation with partners. • Less supervision and more leadership.

5. Resources 5109.17 http://www.fs.fed.us/cgi-bin/Directives/get_dirs/fsh?5109.17!.. Forest Service Fire & Aviation Qualifications Guide http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/publications/fsfaqg/fsfaqg.pdf 310-1 http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/docs/pms310-1.pdf IFPM http://www.ifpm.nifc.gov/default.htm FSFPM http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/management/ifpm/index.html FAMCAT http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/famcat/