National Wildfire Coordinating Group
Fire Equipment Working Team (FEWT)
Logistics Committee Meeting - April 24, 2006
Attending
Rich Rusk, Chair Laurel Simos Tony Doty Tory Henderson Matt Paul Hannermann Martin Maricle Jim Starling John Lillehaug Sally Browning Mike crawley
Committee Business The original committee charter was distributed, and the appointed committee members authenticated.
A suggestion (and decision?) was made to meet either in person or via conference calls at least twice per year to maintain communication among members.
It was noted that Ed Ryan was moving to a new job (or retiring?), and Tony Doty had been nominated to fill that vacancy as BLM representative. It was stated that the paperwork was being processed to make that official.
National Logistics Workshop and Team Meetings
Discussion occurred regarding the necessity of holding the National Logistics Workshop (NLW) every year. Budget constraints may force it to every other year. A suggestion had been heard earlier that perhaps the cadre look into holding the NLW the same week (share the week and facilities) as the Great Basin (GB) Incident Management Team meeting (held jointly this year with R5).
Tory asked the question “Why does the NLW have to be only in the GB? Could it rotate to other locations around the country?” Perhaps in the East one year and West the next. Why not have a NATIONAL Team meeting in a central area of the country? What about every other year? What about using NetMeeting in the intervening years to meet? Perhaps send a few delegates to a smaller meeting, then those folks could return to their respective zones/geographic areas and pass the information along to their peers.
The above discussion was centered on the question of affording to fund the NLW each year, with travel costs increasing, and budgets decreasing.
Other mediums:
- Annual brochure/newsletter for disseminating important information and keeping people up to date on changes.
- Website pages/announcements
- ICs need to be in the information loops so they can be sure to make information available to team members, or at least make sure they know where to find it.
Sign Kits
May be a hot issue. The question of who will pay for the sign kits, where will they be kept, is the policy firmly set on the use of these signs, and when will it be required was asked.
A suggestion was made that perhaps the signs could be filed electronically as PDF files, to be printed out, laminated and posted as needed. There was discussion about size requirements that this may not satisfy. The manual for Uniform Traffic Devices is available through the MTDC website and can be downloaded for those who haven’t received the sign booklets.
Subject Matter Experts (SME)
Issues include the size of the Medical Kits (500-person and 100-person), bath towels, and potable water tank standards.
The big question is how to get the right SMEs to respond to the request for help in giving feedback to the kits and in improving them. What is needed is focused, specific responses, not – “It’s not big enough”.
A related issue is the level of care necessary to provide appropriate medical care at incidents. The NWCG has been challenged to define the level of care necessary. The question to be answered is, “What’s your objective?”
Another new, related question is the need for AEDs (Automatic External Defibrillator) at each incident.
The discussion moved on to how to get information out and responses back. It will be important to cover as wide an area as possible, while still targeting the right people. Need to send the Medical information out to the Safety Officers as well as Logistics folks.
Functional Groups
What are the Bin items that need to be elevated?
The task is to bring possible solutions to the table along with the identification of the problem.
Send the SME requests (and other requests for participation) out to the Logistics Section Chiefs, as well as the focus group, to get maximum exposure and circulation.
Type 3 Qualifications (LSC3)
Paul Hannemann has a prototype taskbook for Type 3 Logistics Chief that he would like to send out to the committee for some feedback. It was suggested that Cliff Hall, BLM Boise, might be a good contact for feedback.
Tory offered to check to see where NWCG is on establishing Type 3 qualifications. Type 3 qualifications statements were recently pulled out of the 310-1 revision.
The identification of the qualifications, experience, etc. needed to function as a Type 3 Logistics Chief need to come from qualified individuals – from the Logistics community, and then forward this information up to NWCG. The basic question is “What should the LSC3 know/be able to do to function at that level?”
There is a need to get Type 3 teams developed for all-hazard incidents. This will be the training ground for Type 2 and Type 1 LSCs in the future.
Miscellaneous
Additional committee charters are being considered/prepared for inclusion in FEWT. These are:
- Engine Committee (size, typing, inventory)
- Ignition (Firing)
The NWCG working teams are in evolution as far as organizing what sub-committees will be included where, what they will be called, how they will be tasked, etc.
The pants and gloves survey received over 2,000 responses.
Note: A reference was made to a website available that has planning tools for mitigation of environmental impacts resulting from fire suppression – haccp.nrm.org
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