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March-April 2009 |
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Wildland/Urban Interface Checklists
For those of us in the West and South, the wildland fire season will soon be upon us. In California, firefighters respond to a larger number of fires involving the wildland/urban interface than in any other part of the country. Massive wildfires consuming hundreds of homes are commonplace on national news broadcasts.
This extraordinary fire problem gave birth to the Incident Command System (ICS) and one of the best mutual aid response systems anywhere. All fire departments in California are signatories to the California Master Mutual Aid Agreement affording any requesting agency the assistance they need.
Strategy and tactics developed and used in fighting interface fires is decidedly different from those employed in fighting the “standard” structure fire. There are a number of different types of responses involving various resources and overhead personnel. The typical response by municipal firefighters usually involves a strike team of Type 1 engines (sometimes Type 2 or 3) and a Strike Team Leader [1].
Requests for mutual aid from local jurisdictions or parties to the California Fire Assistance Agreement (California Office of Emergency Services, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) are coordinated by the Office of Emergency Services. It is incumbent upon municipal fire agencies to respond as rapidly and efficiently as possible [2]. Some responses may require traveling from one end of the state to the other. Delays, inefficiency, inability to properly maintain and complete required forms, puts an undue stress on the system.
The check lists available here were developed for San Francisco Fire Department responders to ensure the myriad procedures and protocols are followed and in a timely manner. While some terminology and procedures are San Francisco Fire Department specific they can be easily changed and adapted to fit your needs.
Click here for Wildland/Urban Interface Checklists for Municipal Firefighters.
To access and download ICS Forms, go to http://www.nimsonline.com/download_center/#forms.
[1] A Strike Team of Engines is 5 of the same type (1, 2, 3, etc), a Strike Team Leader (usually a chief officer) and common communications. (back to text)
[2] Within the California Mutual Aid response system there are two types of responses, Immediate and Planned. Immediate is just that, as though you were responding to a fire in your district. Planned Need gives the responder some time usually enough to have them on scene in time to go to work for the next operational period. If the emergency is a considerable distance from the responding agency, clearly an Immediate Need dispatch would be unreasonable. (back to text)
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