Fire Management History – Fire Policy

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2. Fire Management History – Fire Policy

3. Objectives • Understand how fire management has evolved into the current National Fire Policy, • Have knowledge of the basics of the National Fire Policy relevant to wilderness fire management and the WRA role.

4. Wildland Fire Management in a Changing Environment Areas of Focus • Learning from the past, • Understanding the present, • Defining the future.

5. Temporal and Spatial Development Operational Complexity and Capability Social, Economic, and Political Concerns Learning From the Past Program Development Fire Control

6. Conditions (social, political, economic, environmental) Defines course of action Sets program requirements Guides management actions/procedures Agency Experience Agency Perspective Policy

7. Wildland Fire Management Development: Technology and Policy Milestones Programmatic Development Fire Control Fire Use Prescribed Fire 2025 1950 1900 1925 1975 2000 1910 1960 1988 1934 1919 1949 1970 1994 Time

8. Suppression capability • hand tool development • SURFACE ACCESS • crew organization • detection Wildland Fire Management Milestones, 1900 - 1940

9. Aviation resources Wildland Fire Management Milestones, 1900 - 1940

10. Wildland Fire Management Development: Technology and Policy Milestones Programmatic Development Fire Control Fire Use Prescribed Fire 2025 1950 1900 1925 1975 2000 1910 1960 1988 1934 1919 1949 1970 1994 Time

11. Wildland Fire Management Milestones, 1940 - 1970 • smokejumpers • Improved handtools • hotshot crews • fire shirts • Prescribed fire • training and organization • fire suppression overhead teams • Science support • initial drought index (Keetch and Byram) • simple model for fire prediction (Byram)

12. Wildland Fire Management Milestones, 1940 - 1970 Smokey Bear wildfire fire prevention program

13. fixed wing aircraft, • single engine retardant planes, helicopters, heavy equipment Wildland Fire Management Milestones, 1940 - 1970 EQUIPMENT

14. Wildland Fire Management Development: Technology and Policy Milestones Programmatic Development Fire Management Fire Control Prescribed Fire 2025 1950 1900 1925 1975 2000 1910 1960 1988 1934 1919 1949 1970 1994 Time

15. Wildland Fire Management Milestones, 1970 – mid 1980s • PPE (pants, shelters, hoods) • multi-engine airtankers • large helicopters, crews • Fire Behavior Officer position • intensive training program, qualifications system

16. Wildland Fire Management Milestones, 1970 – mid 1980s • aerial ignition • greater use of prescribed fire, prescribed natural fire • fire behavior prediction, fire danger rating, fuel moisture monitoring • Incident Command System • POLICY CHANGE to include prescribed fire = name change to fire management

17. Wildland Fire Management Development: Technology and Policy Milestones Programmatic Development Fire Management Fire Control Prescribed Fire 2025 1950 1900 1925 1975 2000 1910 1960 1988 1934 1919 1949 1970 1994 Time

18. Advances in PPE • Advances in handtools, power tools, equipment • Logistical support Wildland Fire Management Milestones, mid 1980s – present

19. Wildland Fire Management Milestones, mid 1980s – present • Advances in fire retardant, foam capability • Advances in aerial ignition capability • Automated flight following

20. Wildland Fire Use 1970 Wildland Fire Use 2006

21. <1% 7% Oct. 28: 99% 86% 12% Oct. 22: 90% Sept. 24: 50%

22. Wildland Fire Management Milestones, mid 1980s – present • Prescribed fire and smoke management • Ecosystem restoration and maintenance and community protection • Information management and decision-making • Research knowledge • Fire effects and natural role of fire information and importance in planning • Geographic information systems • Internet application • Digital camera, Web cam, satellite imagery application • Prediction, simulation, expert knowledge modeling • Risk assessment

23. Conditions (social, political, economic, environmental) Defines course of action General Land Management Goals Sets program requirements Science Guides management actions/procedures Technology Agency Experience Facilitates effectiveness, efficiency, and programmatic accomplishment Agency Perspective Policy

24. Supportive Processes Main Processes Results/Outcomes Evaluation Federal Fire Policy Components Foundation Standardization Science Fire Management and Ecosystem Sustainability Prevention Interagency Cooperation Use of Wildland Fire Preparedness Agency Administrator and Employee Roles Wildland/Urban Interface Safety Suppression Planning Rehabilitation and Restoration Protection Priorities Communication and Education Response to Wildland Fire

25. Operational Clarification - Policy • “Only one management objective will be applied to a wildland fire. Wildland fires will either be managed for resource benefits or suppressed. A wildland fire cannot be managed for both objectives concurrently. If two wildland fires converge, they will be managed as a single wildland fire.” • “Human caused wildland fires will be suppressed in every instance and will not be managed for resource benefits.” • “Once a wildland fire has been managed for suppression objectives, it may never be managed for resource benefit objectives.”

26. Operational Clarification - Policy • “Wildland fire use is the result of a natural event. The Land/Resource Management Plan, or the Fire Management Plan, will identify areas where the strategy of wildland fire use is suitable. The Wildland Fire Implementation Plan (WFIP) is the tool that examines the available response strategies to determine if a fire is being considered for wildland fire use.”

27. Operational Clarification - Policy • “When a prescribed fire or a fire designated for wildland fire use is no longer achieving the intended resource management objectives and contingency or mitigation actions have failed, the fire will be declared a wildfire. Once a wildfire, it cannot be returned to a prescribed fire or wildland fire use status.”

28. Operational Clarification - Policy • “The Appropriate Management Response (AMR) is any specific action suitable to meet Fire Management Unit (FMU) objectives. Typically, the AMR ranges across a spectrum of tactical options. The AMR is developed by using FMU strategies and objectives identified in the Fire Management Plan.” • “The Wildland Fire Situation Analysis (WFSA) is used to determine and document the suppression strategy from the full range of responses available for suppression operations.”

29. Wildland Fire Use • Wildland fire use is a direct component of wildland fire management. • Equal to wildfire suppression • constitutes an emergency action, • receives the same considerations, attention, and policies as wildfire suppression, except for ignition source and management action success differences.

30. Wildland Fire Implementation Plan • Wildland Fire Implementation Plan (WFIP). • Consists of three stages prepared progressively. • Each stage constitutes a stand alone implementation plan. • Progression from one stage to the next is dependent upon fire activity, potential duration, and relative risk. • As each stage is prepared, it is attached to the previous stage and becomes the guiding document until objectives are accomplished or progression to a higher stage occurs.

31. Ecological Significance Seriousness of Potential Consequences Temporal and Spatial Development Operational Complexity and Capability Flexible Policy Social, Economic, and Political Concerns Understanding the Present Program Development Fire Management Fire Control

32. Current Situation • Unnaturally severe wildfires, damaged watersheds, critical habitat losses, firefighting costs, and property losses are increasing, • Current situations are not representative of fully functioning situations, • Fire exclusion is unnatural and economically wasteful.

33. Wilderness Fire Management Non-wilderness Wilderness WUI Goals Protection of life and property Protection of goods and services Resource benefits, protection of processes Temporal considerations Short-term Short-moderate Short-long term Management action focus Tactical operations Strategic planning Mixture Fire absence Mixture Philosophy Fire presence

34. Wilderness Fire Management Non-wilderness Wilderness WUI Management Strategy Minimize loss Mixture Maximize benefits Contentious to desirable and acceptable Public perception Contentious to cautious Unacceptable Supportive, undesirable, maybe good Supportive - cautious Cautious Management perception All - monitoring Direct attack All Tactics

35. Ecological Significance Seriousness of Potential Consequences Climate Change Temporal and Spatial Development Operational Complexity and Capability Flexible Policy Science, Technology, and Information Management Social, Economic, and Political Concerns Defining the Future Program Development Land Management Fire Management

36. Wildland Fire Management Development: Technology and Policy Growth Programmatic Development Fire Management Fire Control Prescribed Fire 2025 1950 1900 1925 1975 2000 1910 1960 1988 1934 1919 1949 1970 1994 Time

37. Appropriate Management Response • Cornerstone of Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy, • Largely misunderstood, • Not a replacement for PNF, alternative suppression action, or wildland fire use, • Allows managers to implement the most appropriate response given a set of situational circumstances and objectives, • “Allows managers to do what they should, not what they could.”

38. Appropriate Management Response • Appropriate Management Response = Any specific action suitable to meet Fire Management Unit (FMU) objectives. • Ranges across a spectrum of tactical options (from monitoring to intensive management actions). • All wildland fires that are not prescribed fires require an Appropriate Management Response. • AMR ranges from aggressively suppressing the incident as wildfire to managing the incident as a wildland fire use event.

39. Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics • Those tactics that accomplish delaying, directing, or checking the spread of fire with little or no environmental impacts, • May involve a variety of tactics, tools, and timing, • Can be used on all fires.

40. Cost Management • Management of costs associated with fire management activities has become critically important. • Referenced in Federal Fire Policy.

41. Key Points • Federal Fire Policy is the most flexible fire policy ever, • Fire Management Plans direct fire program, • Fire management strategies are selected based on land and resource management plan and fire management plan objectives, • Apply fire management tactics most appropriate for specific situation, • Utilize Wilderness Resource Advisors, • Utilize Delegations of Authority, • Wildland fire use has a significant role in wilderness, • WFIPs guide wildland fire use implementation.