RT-130, Wildland Fire Safety Training Annual Refresher (WFSTAR)

WFSTAR Annual Refresher

The intent of RT-130, Wildland Fire Safety Training Annual Refresher (WFSTAR) is to focus line-going personnel on operations and decision-making issues related to fireline safety in order to recognize and mitigate risk, maintain safe and effective practices, and reduce accidents and near misses.

Target Group

RT-130 is required for designated positions in order to maintain currency, for all personnel assigned to positions with fireline duties, and for any position assigned to the fireline for non-suppression tasks.

Firefighters who receive initial fire training are not required to take RT-130 in the same calendar year.

Hours of attendance requirements for RT-130 are determined by each agency and issued through agency-specific directives systems.

BIA, BLM, USFWS, NPS, and USFS RT-130 hours requirements are stated in the Interagency Standards for Fire and Fire Aviation Operations (Red Book), Chapter 13.

Course Content and Delivery

The RT-130 modules provide a range of training options to meet NWCG position training requirements and agency-specific RT-130 course-hours requirements. The intent of the NWCG Executive Board is that, regardless of the agency-specific RT-130 course-hours requirements, all RT-130 training covers the core components identified below.

RT-130 Core Components

1. Local Topics: (replacing Current Issues) Review and discuss local topics and areas of concern that can impact firefighter safety in the upcoming fire season. Topics may include:

• WFSTAR Year In Review.
• Previous fire season statistics.
• Current national and local Predictive Services products for upcoming fire season.
• Local Fire Management updates and expectations.
• Local staffing and availability updates.
• Local and national aviation updates and availability.

2.  Incident Reviews and Lessons Learned (replacing Other Hazards and Safety Issues) Review and discuss lessons learned from past local, regional, and national incident response. Topics may include:

• The Lessons Learned Center Annual Review Summary.
• Responding to an incident within an incident utilizing the Medical Incident Report.
• Local lessons learned.
• Case studies, accident reports, facilitated learning analysis, or lesson learned reports.

3. Fire and Aviation Operational Safety: (replacing Entrapment Avoidance) Review and discuss the risk management principles and tools that promote safe and effective incident operations. Utilize the appropriate sections of the IRPG. Topics may include:

• Aviation for fireline personnel.
• LCES, Standard Firefighting Orders, Watch Out Situations.
• Common Denominators of Fire Behavior on Tragedy Fires.
• Common Tactical Hazards.
• Downhill Checklist.
• Equipment.
• Safety Zones.
• Weather and fire behavior.
• Wildland Urban Interface. 
• Chainsaw Operational Safety.
• Driving Safety.
• Heavy Equipment.
• SAFENET and SAFECOM reports.
• All hazard response.
• Other hazards and safety issues.

4. Human Factors, Communication and Decision Making:  Discuss the complexity of human factors, their impact on communications and decision making.  Topics may include:

• Operational Leadership.
• Communication Responsibilities.
• Situational Awareness.
• Command Presence.
• Leader’s Intent.
• Mental Health.

5. Fire Shelters and Entrapment Avoidance: Review and discuss shelter use, deployment site selection, shelter inspections, personal protective equipment, and practice proper deployment techniques.  Topics may include:

• Conduct hands on fire shelter proficiency drills in different environments.
• Case studies related to entrapment avoidance.
• Annual updates and reminders for fire shelters from NWCG Fire Shelter and Protective Equipment Subcommittee.

Additional Fire Shelter Resources:

• 2021 Training Update/Reminders
• General Fire Shelter Information
• National Technology and Development Program fire shelter deployment stories can be found in the Case Study category in the WFSTAR catalog.