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Week of Remembrance

2025 WOR: Letter to Leadership DRAFT

Letter to Leadership |  Day 1  |  Day 2  |  Day 3  |  Day 4  |  Day 5  |  Day 6  |  Day 7  

 

The Week of Remembrance (WOR) was established in 2014 based on the 7-day span between June 30th and July 6th—the respective dates of the Yarnell Hill and South Canyon Fire tragedies. For 2025, WOR renews the wildland fire community’s commitment to this effort by adopting a new format that will be repeated annually. In a formal partnership between the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center and the 6 Minutes for Safety subcommittee, WOR will recognize fireline fatalities that occurred in the fire season 10-years prior. 2025 pays tribute to incidents from 2015 as follows:

  • Day 1 will always pay homage to the Granite Mountain Hotshots who perished on the Yarnell Hill Fire and, this year, also will list the names of all wildland firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2015.
  • Days 2-6 each take a closer look into the details and lessons of a specific event from 2015.
  • Day 7 will always pay homage to those who perished on the South Canyon Fire and then will offer final thoughts to close the week.

Throughout, the authors of this content aim to transmit value for our ground level firefighters by maintaining the WOR tradition of “honoring through learning”.

Learning and honoring can be a challenge to accomplish together. The act of recognizing the fallen feels personal, solemn and solitary–like it should stand alone in quiet and remain untainted by the intellectual search for some learning opportunity. And it does, naturally. We welcome a moment of silence for each day of this WOR and all those to come. Making time and space to honor collectively is part of our healing and is a sobering nod to the fact that our workplace is inherently dangerous.

There also exists, naturally, an instinct to find meaning and make sense of tragedy. For the writer, gleaning lessons from these incidents can feel like a heavy, uncertain task. So, during WOR, we continually retrain our focus onto a search within these incidents for the relevant messages that will serve firefighters today and try to present them clearly. If successful in that mission, learning and honoring become one act. The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center does this work fulltime and the 6 Minutes for Safety subcommittee is indebted to their talents and insights, and grateful for their collaborative partnership to improve WOR. May it make our firefighters a little wiser, and our firelines a little safer.
 

Category
Week of Remembrance
References
Six Minutes for Safety Subcommittee
Mental Health Subcommittee

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NWCG Latest Announcements

ETC Equipment Bulletin: 25-003 Flame-Resistant Shirt Survey

Date: June 12, 2025
Questions?  Please contact:
Equipment Technology Committee

The U.S. Forest Service National Technology and Development Program (NTDP) is seeking input on the Forest Service-designed flame-resistant (FR) shirt, currently available through the National Interagency Support Cache system and FedMall.

NTDP is conducting a product review to improve future FR shirt designs. As part of this effort, a short survey is now open for federal employees who have worn any of three recent FR shirt models. Feedback will guide design improvements to better meet the needs of wildland firefighters.

To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act, responses are limited to federal employees. The survey is open through September 12, 2025. 

References:

NWCG Alerts

ETC Equipment Bulletin: 25-003

NEW! S-130, Firefighter Training (Blended) Now Available

Date: June 10, 2025
If you have questions, please visit our FAQ page. 
If your question is not answered there, you can 
submit your question using our Contact Us form. 
 

The S-130, Firefighter Training (Blended), equips new wildland firefighters with essential skills through a mix of online learning and hands-on training. The course features a required online component and an instructor-led exercise, reinforcing online concepts with practical performance-based training.

The course builds competencies in wildland fire operations, safety, and equipment use, applicable across various operational environments. Both the online component and instructor-led field exercise must be completed to receive a certificate of completion. Students are required to finish the prerequisite S-190, Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior, before enrolling in S-130, Firefighter Training (Blended).

References:

S-130, Firefighter Training (Blended)

S-190, Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior

Wildland Fire Learning Portal

EMC Memo 25-001: Interim Rapid Extraction Module (REMS) Training and Qualification Requirements

Date: June 3, 2025
Questions?  Please contact:
Emergency Medical Committee

The Emergency Medical Committee has issued interim guidance for Rapid Extraction Module Support (REMS) teams. Until further notice, Type I and II REMS teams must designate a team leader qualified at Firefighter Type 1 Squad Boss (FFT1) or higher. This temporary change replaces the Single Resource Boss (SRB) requirement, which is currently not feasible due to administrative barriers.

This memorandum does not include any other changes to the NWCG Standards for Rapid Extraction Module Support, PMS 552. This interim change takes effect immediately and will remain in place until further notice.

References:

EMC Memo 25-001: Interim Rapid Extraction Module (REMS) Training and Qualification Requirements

NWCG Standards for Rapid Extraction Module Support, PMS 552

Equipment Bulletin 25-002: Chaps, Chain Saw, M-2020, Nonconformities Affecting Use, Appearance, and Serviceability

Date: June 2, 2025
Questions?  Please contact:
Equipment Technology Committee

The Equipment Technology Committee issued Equipment Bulletin: 25-002 to address a manufacturing nonconformity affecting Forest Service specification, 6170-4K Chain Saw Chaps. The issue applies to chaps manufactured in 2024 and 2025 and distributed through FedMall. These chaps may have incorrectly bound edges that expose inner protective layers.

Independent purchasers should inspect all chain saw chaps received from FedMall beginning in 2024, prior to use. Review the full Equipment Bulletin: 25-002 for inspection criteria and recommended actions.

References:

NWCG Alerts

ETC Equipment Bulletin: 25-002