Live discussion, firefighter pay and liability legislation

As planned, we held a live discussion on January 28 about the new wildland firefighter pay and liability legislation that was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, called the “National Infrastructure Improvement and Cost Containment Act”, H.R. 4488. The bill would affect the pay, retirement age, and fireline liability of federal wildland firefighters. The full text of the bill is HERE. We summarized it and offered some commentary HERE.

Our featured panelist was Casey Judd, the Business Manager for the Federal Wildland Fire Service Association who played a major role in crafting the bill and getting it introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives. Thanks to Casey and everyone else who participated.

The discussion is archived Here.

Live discussion now with author of "Area Ignition"

This discussion will begin right here at 10 pm ET, and 7 pm PT.

We will have the honor of chatting with Joe Valencia, a former firefighter and the author of Beyond Tranquillon Ridge and the recently released Area Ignition. Mr. Valencia was a firefighter working on the Honda Canyon fire which is the subject of Beyond Tranquillon Ridge.

You can replay the discussion by clicking HERE.

Live interactive discussion: Fire Aviation

This was a live interactive discussion about Fire Aviation. The featured panelist was Hugh Carson. Hugh has been an Air Operations Branch Director (AOBD) for a long time, working on Type 1 incident management teams supervising all of the air tankers and helicopters working on some of the largest fires. He semi-retired a few years ago, but continues to work as an AOBD, teach, and consult.

Click on the circular arrow below to replay the discussion. (The text you see in the box below before you click on the arrow is just sample text, and not the actual discussion.)

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Live Discussion–Prepare, Stay, Defend

This is was a live interactive discussion, featuring Jack Cohen, a Research Physical Scientist with the Fire Sciences Laboratory at Missoula, Montana. Our post HERE has more about Jack.

Some of the topics today are were:

  • Is Prepare, Stay, and Defend feasible? (Known in Australia as “Prepare, Stay and Defend OR Go Early”
  • What are the likely causes for so many people in the recent fires in Victoria, Australia being killed in their homes and also in their vehicles while evacuating?
  • Can Prepare, Stay, and Defend work in the United States?
  • How much Preparation must be done in order to Stay and Defend?

Click on the circular arrow down below to replay and read the text of the discussion. (The text you see grayed-out in the box below is not actually our discussion… it is generic sample text.)

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