While taking active measures to protect the public and employees and minimize exposure to COVID-19, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) continues to reduce hazardous fuels across the West and in Alaska and to plan for the upcoming fire season by maintaining and strengthening firefighting capabilities.
“We are committed to protecting our colleagues in the BLM and those with whom we come in contact during this challenging time; however, as westerners we know we must fight fire all year long and we will do exactly that,” said BLM Deputy Director for Policy and Programs William Perry Pendley. “Guided by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as well as state and local health authorities, we continue to implement proactive COVID-19 measures to protect employees and the public, but, when it comes to fire, we have no intention of standing down.”
The BLM Fire and Aviation program works closely with, and relies on, its state and local partners for all wildfire suppression efforts. During the COVID-19 outbreak, some state governments have declared they will not permit state and local resources to respond to wildfires outside of their local jurisdiction, which will greatly limit the national response capabilities of these valuable resources. The BLM is working with these governments to address concerns and to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, that shared resources are available to be deployed wherever need may be greatest.
“In order to ensure smooth interstate wildfire suppression operations, all wildland firefighters must be permitted to cross state boundaries without restriction to ensure safe and effective wildfire operations throughout the country,” said Pendley. “We beseech our federal, state, and local partners to ensure that ability.”
Every year, the BLM works with its Federal, state, and local partners to conduct initial attack on all wildland fire incidents to suppress wildfires as soon as they ignite. Aggressive initial attack is the single most important method to ensure the safety of firefighters and the public; it also limits suppression costs. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the wildland fire agencies will continue to work to suppress wildfires with the goal of reducing wildfire size and intensity.
The BLM is also working with its Federal, state and local partners to develop specific COVID-19 wildfire response plans to provide for wildland fire personnel safety. These plans outline best management practices to limit the spread of the virus and to provide a safe working environment for all wildland fire personnel.
In addition to large air tankers and Type 1 and 2 helicopters under contract with the U.S. Forest Service, the BLM will have on contract 34 Single Engine Airtankers (SEAT), 4 water scooping air tankers, 7 smokejumper planes, 19 tactical support aircraft, and 25 helicopters for wildfire suppression efforts this year. The BLM also has access to call when needed helicopters, SEATs, Large and Very Large Airtankers, water scoopers, and tactical support aircraft.
The DFPC is requesting three additional air tankers and one helicopter
The CR34 Fire in southeast Colorado 10 miles south of Springfield, February 13, 2019. Baca County Sheriff’s Office photo.
(This article first appeared at FireAviation.com)
The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) wishes to obtain additional aircraft for their firefighting fleet during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter to Governor Jared Polis and members of the General Assembly, the Director of the Division of Fire Prevention and Control, Mike Morgan, will be requesting $7.7 million to add three air tankers, a helicopter, and a fixed wing aircraft in order to provide aggressive initial attack and to supplement the limited number of ground resources available during the pandemic.
Currently the state owns two Multi-Mission Aircraft used for mapping reconnaissance. On contract they have two Exclusive Use (EU) Helicopters each with 12-person DFPC Helitack Crews, two EU Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATS), and three Call-When-Needed (CWN) SEAT contracts.
If approved by the Governor and the Assembly the additional aircraft, all on EU contracts, would include one large air tanker on a 120-day contract, two single engine air tankers (SEATs) on 150-day contracts, a Type 2 helicopter on a 120-day contract, and an Air Attack fixed-wing aircraft on a 180-day contract for aerial supervision and airspace coordination.
The 747 SuperTanker is on a CWN contract with Colorado but it needs to take and pass another grid test before it can be used on a fire in the United States. It has been certified by the Interagency Airtanker Board on an interim basis, but that has expired. After having made modifications to the retardant delivery system, the operator, Global SuperTanker, believes the aircraft will pass the test, but scheduling it during the pandemic has proved to be difficult.
The state’s Wildfire Emergency Response Fund (WERF), part of an effort to keep fires small, provides funding or reimbursement for the first air tanker flight or the first hour of a firefighting helicopter, and/or two days of a wildfire hand crew at the request any county sheriff, municipal fire department, or fire protection district.
The firefighting goals of the DFPC include:
Generating an incident assessment for every fire within 60 minutes of request or detection.
Delivering the appropriate aviation suppression resources to every fire within 60 minutes of the request.
Providing on-scene technical assistance and support within 90 minutes of request for support from a local agency.
Colorado has beefed up their ground resources this year, adding three additional 10-person modules (hand crews) which raises the total number of modules to four, with one in each quadrant of the state.
Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control
The DFPC continues to partner with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to increase the availability of bulldozers, road graders, and other heavy equipment for wildfire suppression. To date, 75 CDOT equipment operators have received basic training.
Like other firefighting organizations, Colorado realizes that the pandemic is likely to reduce the availability and productivity of firefighters. Staffing of Incident Management Teams (IMTs) may be constrained by a reduced number of personnel who are available to leave their home jurisdictions. The DFPC is developing cadre lists of State and local personnel who can form multiple Type 3 IMTs for suppressing wildfires.
The Eastern Geographic Area has released their Wildland Fire Response Plan (WRP) for the COVID-19 pandemic. The 83-page document was written, compiled, and assembled by the Eastern Area Type 2 Incident Management Team led by Steve Goldman, working under Tim Sexton’s Area Command Team. The three Area Command Teams were responsible for WRPs for the rest of the United States.
All of the teams worked directly with each Geographic Area’s Coordinating Group Chair, dispatch/coordination centers, and local units. They also worked under the direction and supervision of the National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group (NMAC), through a Team Coordinator (Joe Reinarz) and maintained frequent contact and communication through multiple daily briefings to the NMAC.
The plans were developed using a standardized template and a process for national standardization; but development included attention and inclusion of all specific concerns for the Geographic Area covered by each plan.
In this article we are covering the Eastern Area plan, but based on standardization and the use of a template there may be a significant amount of duplication between plans, which will facilitate inter-Geographic Area responses — if that even occurs under the pandemic.
Below are excerpts from the plan that I thought were interesting. The entire official document can be downloaded here. Information specifically about fire aviation can be found at FireAviation.com.
Managing fire for resource benefit and using more confine/contain strategy will assist in reducing the number of responders exposed to each other and the public.
The Eastern Area MAC group has limited the current Type 2 Incident Management Teams and one Interagency Hotshot Crew to assignments within the Eastern Geographic Area due to resource shortages, COVID-19 concerns related to travel and the beginning of the region’s fire season.
The new Interagency Resource Ordering Capability (IROC) system at the time this is being written is not fully functional, creating challenges.
Some states aren’t hiring seasonal staff due to current uncertainties and/or office closures
The “Module as One” concept keeps crews separated to minimize exposure and allow efficient contact tracing. The concept includes minimizing exposure by not mixing personnel and vehicles. Module personnel should be assigned together for the entire season, on the same schedule, same assignments, in same camp, etc. Modules’ vehicles, equipment, work areas, restrooms, etc. should be off limits to anyone outside of the module if possible. Modules should be as self-sufficient, following mitigation measures described in Appendix B to further minimize chances of exposure to coronavirus.
Federal agencies have travel restrictions in place and are managing wildfire response on a case-by-case basis. This will affect the ability of the GA to fully staff both of the Type 2 IMTs, which started normal rotation on 4/1/2020. Since many state resources are not able to travel out of state, critical overhead with Type 3 or higher qualifications may need to be mobilized using non-traditional transportation methods (agency aircraft) to allow rapid response.
Because of the severity of the pandemic there are some firefighters and support personnel who are not willing to respond due to personal or family health concerns.
Ensuring Midewin Interagency Hotshot Crew’s viability is important as all USFS Job Corps crews have been lost due to students being sent home.
The virus is expected to crest at the same time as the Eastern GA’s peak spring fire season (April-June) which could cause a confluence of peak fire activity with maximum impact from quarantine/isolation cases.
It is recommended that additional aircraft be contracted by land management agencies to transport fire crews and overhead, and that those contracts allow much greater flexibility to stop at multiple jetports to avoid the travel and co-location of crews at mobilization centers.
Plan for shifts in wildfire response strategy, ranging from highly prioritized IA to limit numbers to reducing overall firefighter exposure by prioritizing responses.
[Consider] pursuing opportunities for monitoring of low risk fires.
[Consider] Exploring opportunities for managed fire, more indirect attack, focused use of heavy equipment, and designation of management action points using natural barriers.
Implement swift initial response to minimize possibility of large fire occurrence, but do not employ higher risk tactics to keep fires small.
Within agency protocols and to the degree possible, augment fire response resources with non-fire staff to help sustain fire response capability.
Consider opportunities for application of aviation and mechanized assets to reduce assigned personnel.
Prioritize initial attack and focused use of aviation assets.
Preparing and implementing virtual incident management by IMTs – GAs consider conducting simulated virtual IMT incident management prior to most active fire season periods.
Identify and obtain necessary technology.
Designate IMT sections/personnel that can complete work virtually and what minimum requirements are for managing incidents safely.
Limiting large fire response to when life is imminently threatened.
Consider existing staffing and action guides and existing dispatching run cards and guidelines and how they will be affected by a 10, 30, or 50% reduction in strength of force of wildland firefighting and management resources.
Technology:
Prepare for more remote operations, briefings, sensing, and surveillance.
Identify technology needs, costs, and proactively implement actions.
Pursue increased use of UAS (seek waivers).
Use broadband channels to reach affected communities.
Greater use of UAS platforms.
Expedite contracting of UAS equipment.
A one-day drive rule for all resources traveling to an incident by motor vehicle, including the use of vans, busses and aircraft should be considered. If traveling as a group, additional vehicles need to be considered in order to allow for social distancing and to provide transportation in the event someone becomes symptomatic or tests positive and has to return home. Additionally, it is important for the traveler to understand that food, lodging and other commercial services may not be readily available, or if available may not be safe to utilize due to COVID-19 concerns. For that reason, anyone responding to an extended attack or complex incident should be prepared to be self-sufficient while traveling to the incident and for several days after arrival. Agency aircraft may need to be considered for transportation of personnel.
CREW OPERATIONS
Prevention
Best practices to prevent exposure:
• Utilize “Am I Fit?” checklist (Appendix C) or other CDC daily self-check.
• Integrate social distancing and daily decontamination protocols into operations.
• Consider initial attack response from dispersed pre-determined locations to limit exposure to large groups.
• Crew should be self-supporting for several shifts for meals and spike camp.
• Consider additional vehicles to allow social distancing, extra gear and extra clothing.
• Maintain a sufficient inventory of decontamination supplies.
• Develop and drill crew/module on COVID-19 response.
• Implement “Module as One” practices; follow COVID-19 Protocols and SOPs.
• Designate a crew/module person as safety monitor for COVID-19 protocols and SOPs.
• Ensure technological capability to participate in a virtual/ remote environment.
Incident Response
Best practices during mobilization/at incident and through demobilization:
• Follow guidance included in All Personnel Safety Guidance Appendix A.
• Follow “Module as One” concept throughout the incident.
• Utilize “Am I Fit?” checklist (Appendix C) or other CDC daily self-check.
• Utilize virtual/remote briefings or brief only key personnel to minimize numbers and maintaining separation distance.
• Include COVID-19 prevention, mitigation and concerns in daily crew briefs.
• Avoid unnecessary contact with incident personnel and public.
• Limit the sharing of apparatus, supplies, and equipment amongst adjoining resources.
• Decontamination is recommended prior to leaving the incident.
• Social distancing, sanitization, cough etiquette, etc. remain a priority on and off the fireline. (i.e. “Module as One” concept, spike camps)
• During mobilization discuss COVID-19 mitigation plans particular to the incident.
• Avoid prolonged smoke exposure if possible; rotate personnel and/or avoid smoke.
• Maintain clean PPE each day to prevent virus spread.
Exposure Response
Best practices in the event of a presumptive exposure.
• Personnel should report symptoms or potential COVID-19 exposure to supervisor immediately and initiate onsite self-isolation/self-quarantine. For the good of the crew and all personnel assigned to the incident, do not hesitate to report a suspected exposure or symptoms.
• Supervisor will report through chain of command to IC.
• Incident staff will interview person affected for and determine locations and other personnel that might have been exposed, using COVID-19 approved protocols.
• Decontaminate any equipment and locations before returning to service.
• Person will be demobilized to home unit if possible.
• Follow existing public health orders for transportation arrangements back to unit.
• Incident staff will work to identify and inform others potentially exposed, check for symptoms and determine if there is a need for decontamination or further action.
• Follow agency protocols and regulations regarding use of affected person’s name(s) and information.
“Initial attack should be the highest priority for commitment of resources”
National Park Service photo.
On April 9 the U.S. Forest Service issued protocols for firefighters in their Pacific Northwest Region, Washington and Oregon, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It only applies to FS personnel in those two states and is intended to be complementary to the Northwest Geographic Response Plan being developed by an Area Command Team.
Survey first responders to develop lists of those pre-disposed to respiratory illness and factor this into their assigned roles and tasks on large incidents.
Build extra capacity in all of our workforce, but especially supervisors, for managing line of duty deaths (Casualty Assistance Program).
Technology:
Remote operations, briefings, sensing and surveillance, fuel modeling/sensing; fire behavior modeling/projections.
Preparation for those modules that have or potential to have reduced personnel, by identifying collateral duty/overhead personnel and militia prepared to help with staffing engines, IHC’s and hand crews.
Operations will prepare with the expectation that resource limitations will occur at all Preparedness Levels.
Contracting: MRE’s, medical equipment, PPE, remote sensing, UAS, contract personnel and equipment.
During the Fire
Priority: Initial attack should be the highest priority for commitment of resources with the purpose of containing fires during initial attack and preventing long duration fires.
Initial attack response should align with direction to limit the risk of exposure and spread of COVID-19. This should involve strategies and tactics that minimize the number of people needed to respond and that reduce the incident duration while not compromising firefighter safety and probability of success. The efforts to reduce overall exposure may require consideration to increased staffing, albeit for less duration.
Emphasize containment in order to minimize assignment time, mop-up standards should be evaluated for all incidents and limited to minimize additional fire spread.
Make decisions that will minimize the number of responders needed to meet objectives.
Consider zone and point protection suppression strategies associated with protection of human life, communities and critical infrastructure when sufficient resources for perimeter control are not available.
Weigh the risk of responding in multiple vehicles; driving is still the one of our highest-risk activities.
Stock vehicles with disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizer, soap and physical barrier protection (face shields, masks). Disinfect vehicles and equipment and wash PPE after each response.
Do not share PPE, flight helmets, radios or other equipment.
Use MREs, freeze dried, single-serve sack or boxed meals instead of food lines. Evaluate drinking water supply options to minimize exposure and handling of water containers.
Monitor smoke and Co2 Exposure to firefighters, rotate in and out of smoke if necessary.
Consider shorter tours (<14 days), shorter shift lengths. Incorporate additional time into shifts to provide for hygiene, cleaning and additional rest.
Remote operations, briefings sensing and surveillance, fuel modeling/sensing; fire behavior modeling/projections.
Use technology to communicate using virtual tools.
Increase use of UAS and webcams.
Plan for increased use of networking capabilities, and areas with limited or not existing network capabilities may need additional services.
Camps:
When possible, shift operations and logistics from single, large camps to multiple, satellite camps that support the separation of people.
Incident Command Teams may utilize hotels where individual rooms allow for separations
Briefings should be conducted via radios and/or other virtual tools, to reduce face to face interactions.
Expanded medical support (as needed and if possible).
Module isolation: (dispersed camping).
Two-way isolation: closed camps with security, no leaving camp to travel into community.
Define and implement more rigorous cleaning and sanitation protocols.
Provide extra hand washing stations if possible.
Communication: When possible, shift operations and logistics from single, large camps to multiple, satellite camps that support the separation of people.
Incident Command Teams may utilize hotels where individual rooms allow for separations.
Briefings should be conducted via radios and/or other virtual tools, to reduce face to face interactions.
Expanded medical support (as needed and if possible).
Module isolation: (dispersed camping).
Two-way isolation: closed camps with security, no leaving camp to travel into community.
Define and implement more rigorous cleaning and sanitation protocols.
Provide extra handwashing stations if possible.
After the Fire
Rest, Recovery and Reassignment: take precautions to limit potential spread of COVID-19. This may include:
Continued screening and testing.
Module isolation (Fire modules should not report to the office but a designated location that allows for the crew to interact and work without exposing them or other employees. Work should allow for the continued separation of crews as long as they continue to remain available nationally.)
Increased employee support (be prepared to provide it virtually)
EAP
Peer Support
Hospital and Family Liaison
Tracking: Forward and backward monitoring of all module-to-module, person-to-person and community interactions.
Communication: Appraise community of status including quarantines and rehabilitation.
Communicating potential exposure.
Communicating our limited capacity for response.
Community response.
AAR Specific to Wildfire Tactics and COVID-19. We need to institutionalize what we learn from the COVID-19 crisis and incorporate that into our enterprise risk management as well as local SOPs.
In an effort to gather perspectives from personnel in the field about fighting fire during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Forest Service held virtual focus group sessions in each of their regions. We acquired a report about the sessions, and below are the highlights from the undated document — which may have been circulated the week of April 5, 2020, or earlier.
The report was titled, “What does fire season look like amidst the COVID-19 pandemic? Concerns, perspectives, and ideas from the field.”
This document will discuss the concerns, perspectives, and ideas garnered from the field on how to approach fire season 2020. While the concern is real for the upcoming fire season, COVID-19 has exposed blind spots, pinch points, and weaknesses in the wildland fire system and within the Forest Service as a whole. Whatever actions are taken this season should not be looked at as a temporary fix for a temporary situation. Rather, they should be looked at as possible permanent changes to how we fight fire into the future that make us, as a group, more resilient.
We have a unique opportunity to focus on what is important in life. We have the opportunity to put things into place that help us do our jobs better and make life better for the employees in the long run. We need to ensure that whatever the changes, our primary responsibility is to care for the safety of our people during and after assignment.
What people want most is a message from national leadership acknowledging that this fire season isn’t going to be normal and that we are going to have to use different strategies. Some of those strategies may not be well taken by the public and it is going to take some political courage to follow through.
METHOD
To engage the field in a timely manner, HP&IOL held virtual focus group sessions in each region to gain a variety of perspectives. Each focus group session hosted a diverse set of resource types including IHC, engine, crew, aviation, IMT members, dispatch, and line officers. Notes from each region were combined and distilled into this summary document.
It should be noted that the participants of the focus groups were extremely appreciative to be given the opportunity to express their concerns and ideas and to be a part of the planning process.
HIGHLIGHT REEL — THE TOP SEVEN
From the perspective of the field, we need to crank up discussions and hard thinking. We can do a lot of things to reduce risk of exposure to the virus, but it will likely increase risk elsewhere. When all is said and done, we can’t let the pandemic and its associated precautions distract our resources from the basics of wildland fire and the risks associated with it. Put plainly by an IHC superintendent, “There is concern that this will be a high fatality year due to all of the distractions playing out right now.” While we don’t have control over the distractions on a personal or professional level, it is very important for leadership at all levels to understand these distractions and what the unintended consequences of those are going to be.
MISSION-CRITICAL, STRATEGIC DIRECTION AT A NATIONAL LEVEL NOW, IF NOT WE NEED TO PAUSE
The direction currently being pushed down to units offers a lot of decision space for units in creating different approaches. If forests and regions are rolling their own plans, some may be more lax than others on protocols, putting the resources from other forests and regions at risk. The field urgently requested clear national leader’s intent. With crews already on-boarding employees and many others about to be on-boarded, maybe it is time to take a pause on operations until strategic direction is released. Until then, the field would like to know what the WO is doing to assess the situation. Be transparent with your efforts even if you don’t have a “final” solution or guidance yet.
ACTING AS VECTORS FOR COVID-19 SPREAD
Personnel are concerned about contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to other firefighters and the public as they travel between incidents. Responders are also deeply worried about bringing the virus home to their families. For many, this is not an option; they would refuse to go home and risk exposing their loved ones. When considering how to protect our employees, we must also consider how to protect their families. If not, the available work force numbers may suffer drastically.
OPERATIONAL PREPAREDNESS
As a nation, we are not anywhere near the pinnacle of this outbreak and what the field has already seen is a lot of disruption in peoples’ lives. The field is worried that we are not going to have the organizational capacity to respond to fire. The same goes for our partners and cooperators. The pandemic has only magnified issues with hiring and staffing and many of our surge resources, such as Job Corps, have been severely impacted.
ISOLATION IS THE KEY – RE-TOOLING HOW WE ORDER, MOBOLIZE, AND PAY RESOURCES
Reducing the amount of exposure to employees typically means isolation, whether that be individually or clustered as groups. Re-structuring how we order and stage resources is going to be extremely important in reducing exposure. However, this may mean asking employees to do things outside of their normal position descriptions and as such, they should be paid commensurately.
GO VIRTUAL – REDUCE NUMBERS
Many IMT positions can be successful operating remotely and numerous large fire tasks can also be transitioned to a virtual platform. Personnel can work at remote stations reducing the number of people required to be in the same area. We need to start planning now to identify which tasks and positions can be made virtual and the IT and software support needed to stand up those changes.
FIRE CAMP – WE CANNOT DO IT THE WAY WE HAVE ALWAYS DONE IT
If there ever is a place for COVID-19 to spread quickly it is at fire camp. Close quarters, many shared surfaces, and a general lack of hygiene all contribute to an arena that would make COIVD-19 containment nearly impossible. While the potential for COVID-19 to spread outside a fire camp makes this a more significant issue, the on-going threat in a normal season to a communicable disease spreading throughout camp and sidelining a significant portion of much needed wildland fire personnel warrants capturing these best practices as the new normal way of doing business. We need food, water, communication, medical support, and supplies to work but we don’t necessarily need them from a single location.
WORKERS COMPENSATION – HOW DO WE PROVE EXPOSURE?
OWCP claims are often long and drawn-out. It has also proven to be hard to substantiate an “illness” as connected to work. How are we going to prove COVID-19 cases and exposure if contracted at work or on a fire assignment? We need to plan for the worst-case scenario with COVID-19 spreading quickly through responders on a fire. Is the Forest Service prepared to help its employees if they contract the coronavirus while working when OWCP denies their claim due to a lack of evidence?
CONCLUSION
As always, our field-going personnel answered the call, joining us with short notice to attend a series of focus groups. They provided extensive, thoughtful responses to the challenges of the upcoming season. Their responses can be best captured by this risk-based question: Many people are talking about reinstating the 10:00 AM rule or getting more aggressive with initial attack efforts to reduce the need for large-scale IMT responses. Will IA resources take on more risk to keep fires small because of the COVID-19 threat?
As this question indicates the wildland fire environment has always been complex. This season we have the added challenge of COVID-19. The best way to deal with complexity is through transparency. Transparency doesn’t just happen, it takes effort. We need to create the space for reflection, dialogue, and forging connections between the different levels of our organization. We believe HP&IOL is in unique position to assist in these efforts.
The government will also fund $20 million in community FireSmart initiatives to prepare for fire season during COVID-19
File photo of firefighters on the Chuckegg Creek Fire in northern Alberta, May 27, 2019. The fire burned more than half a million acres. Photo: Alberta Wildfire.
Alberta Wildfire is hiring 200 additional firefighters, invoking a fire ban, implementing off-highway vehicle restrictions, increasing fine violations, and funding $20 million more in community FireSmart initiatives, all to prepare for the upcoming wildfire season during COVID-19.
Alberta Parks is also instituting a fire ban in all provincial parks and protected areas.
Alberta Wildfire said these early preparedness measures will ensure the province can effectively focus resources where they are needed most in the event of multiple emergencies happening at the same time.
Typically, the wildfire hazard is highest in Alberta in late April through May, when trees and shrubs have extremely low moisture content after the snow has melted.
More than a million acres burned last year and 71 per cent of wildfires were human-caused and entirely preventable. With provincial resources currently stretched due to COVID-19, these preventative measures will better equip Alberta’s response to spring wildfires this year.
Increased firefighting resources
An additional $5 million investment is being made to hire and train 200 firefighters to assist with provincial wildfire suppression this season.
More than 800 seasonal firefighters will join 370 year-round staff at Alberta Wildfire. These resources are hired at one of the 10 Forest Areas, and are moved throughout the Forest Protection Area as required.
Conversely, the five federal United States agencies with wildfire responsibilities have not announced any major new initiatives that would significantly increase the number of firefighting or fire prevention resources.
