Hi everyone,

 

There are some issues that have come up from fires that we have had this season that we need to address. Everything addressed in this email doesn’t pertain to all departments. If it sounds like it is something that you need to address in your department or county do so, if not then skip it. If you have questions, please call me. 

 

First and foremost remember firefighter safety – we have had some minor incidents on fires but nothing major and we want to keep it that way. This season is setting up to be a tough one that could last several more months. Please take care out there – of yourselves and each other!  Especially those of you that have jobs or secondary jobs!! 

 

Size up – the office needs this information as soon as possible (yes I know you are busy putting out the fire-have dispatch call with this information)

·         Fire name

·         Who is the IC

·         Fire location (road and mile marker, cross street,  lat and long, etc)

·         Radio frequency being utilized

·         Approximate size

·         Values at risk, special hazards or concerns

·         Evacuations, road closures, etc.

·         Additional resource needs – where do you want them to report to

 

Fire updates – 

·         whenever anything of significance changes, roads closed, evacuations are put in place or lifted, etc.

·         what resources are on scene

 

Command on the fire – 

·         For each incident an incident commander should be established and identified to all resources on the incident and to dispatch.  (This means that you have to be able to communicate with everyone at the incident (counties, municipalities, BLM, USFS, state, etc)

·         Remember the IC is taking responsibility for what happens during the fire. It’s not just commanding the resources it is the whole enchilada, injuries, loss of structures, escaped fires, etc. 

·         This person should be in a command vehicle not a engine or a water tender. On small incidents (4 or 5 resources) it isn’t a big deal, on larger ones it is. Dual roles are what have gotten a number of fire fighters injured or killed on incidents. I know you are good at multitasking but there comes a time when multitasking can get you in trouble. 

·         The incident commander should be the most qualified individual at the incident. 

·         Command should be given to the jurisdictional agency that has responsibility for the fire. BLM if it is on BLM land. County if it is in their jurisdiction. USFS if it is in their jurisdiction.  The municipality if it is in the municipality.

·         If there is more than one agency that has jurisdiction then Unified Command can be set up. This means that both people in the command position are talking to each other and making UNIFIED decisions. 

·         A person that has assumed command can and should hand over command to a more qualified IC if one becomes available. 

 

Communication – 

·         Make sure if you have units that are coming from another county that you can communicate with them. 

·         If you send units to another county make sure they have the ability to talk to other units when they arrive on scene. 

·         Communication seems to be an issue in Lea County with resources coming in from another county or Lea County resources going into other counties. Can we come up with a work around for this???

·         Federal agencies – can you talk to them??  Can they talk to you?? We need to come up with a communication solution for those areas where the fire departments are on federal fires or federal units are on county fires.

 

Arrive on scene and leaving – 

·         Fire departments should only be responding to incidents that are in their areas of response unless they have been requested for mutual aid. 

·         Fire departments that self dispatch are not eligible for reimbursement.

·         Once a resource is no longer needed it should be released by the jurisdictional agency. This is especially true of structure engines that have been dispatched to a wildland incident where there are no structures threatened. Or when more resources show up to an incident that are needed for suppression. 

·         Make sure that the IC knows that your piece of equipment is on scene – I know it is crazy when the fire starts and that it takes a little while to get organized. But at some point the IC should know what units are there. (We need that list once the fire is contained)

·         Make sure that your unit checks out with the IC when they leave the incident. Especially if you are from another county. If you can’t reach them on the radio (which shouldn’t be the case) then find someone that can. 

 

PPE – 

·         All personnel on scene should have proper PPE. Some departments run in bunker gear and some have wildland gear. Whatever your department uses – make sure that everyone on scene has it on!

·         Fire departments that don’t wear PPE are not eligible for reimbursement!  Remember firefighter safety is the number one goal!

 

Rekindles – 

·         This year we have seen more rekindles than in past years. 

·         To solve this we would ask that the fire departments not leave the scene until there is controlled fire line around the entire fire.  

·         The fire can be called contained when there is no active flame or movement of the fire.

·         The fire can be called controlled 24 hours after there have been no control problems. (For small fires where this doesn’t make sense we can operate as we always have)

·         Between the contained time and the controlled time the fire should be either patrolled or checked periodically to make sure there are no flare ups.  

·         Remember if you are the IC you are responsible for making sure that someone is watching the fire until it is out. 

·         As a general rule, rekindles are not eligible for reimbursement. That decision will be determined by the district forester.

 

Asking for assistance – 

·         When requesting additional resources from a federal agency we need size up information for the dispatch center. 

·         When requesting additional resources from another county we need size up information so that we can brief them on the situation and tell where they need to report to.

·         When requesting air resources in addition to the size up information we also need to know who the contact on the ground is going to be and they MUST have air to ground frequencies in their radio. This person should also have taken an S-270 class.  (federal firefighters are great resources for this task)

 

Be good neighbors and good partners – 

·         Treat your neighboring fire department and agency with the respect that you want to be treated with. 

·         We don’t all operate the same way but we all have the same goals – firefighter safety and putting the fire out.

 

 

So far since the first of the year we have had 119 fires that have burned 117,579 acres of land in the seven counties that make up Capitan District. 

Thank you to those of you that have worked to suppress those fires with no lives lost. You have worked to save homes and other valuable assets and we appreciate all that you do. 

 

Thank you for keeping this office supplied with the information we need. 

 

Be safe!!

 

 

 

Lynn Lovelace

Fire Management Officer

Forestry Division - Capitan District

575-354-2231 Office

575-937-0716 Cell

lynn.lovelace@state.nm.us