Northwest Oregon Interagency Training Zone
CHARTER

Introduction

Through direction provided by the Pacific Northwest Coordinating Group Training Committee (PNWCG) charter, agreed upon by the Wildland Fire Protection Agencies of Oregon and Washington, the purpose of this Charter is to establish a standing interagency training committee for the Northwest Oregon Zone.   The Wildland fire management agencies within Northwestern Oregon agree to form the Northwest Oregon Zone Interagency Training Committee (NOZITC).

 Purpose

The purpose of the NOZITC will be to provide member agencies a means to:

Membership

The NOZITC will be comprised of one representative from the fire training program of each member agency.  The Agency representative will be authorized to make specific decisions and commitments for their unit.  Member agencies are:

Additional membership may come from other agencies or associations having Wildland fire training programs or Wildland Urban Interface (Local Fire Service)
Committee Positions

  1. The chairperson and vice chairperson / secretary of NOZITC will be selected from the member agencies.  Each position shall serve a two (2) year term, beginning October 1.  These positions will rotate among all member agencies.  Current rotation schedule is:

Mount Hood National Forest
Siuslaw National Forest
Fish and Wildlife Service
Northwest Oregon Area, Oregon Department of Forestry
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area
Northwest Oregon Association of Fire Trainers
Salem District Bureau of Land Management
Willamette National Forest / Eugene District Bureau of Land Management

  1. The chairperson will be responsible for scheduling committee meetings, preparation of meeting agendas, maintaining committee records, preparation of training schedules, handling committee correspondence and communication.  The chair person will review and sign all MOU’s with local colleges within the Zone.
  1. The chairperson may appoint or assign individual members specific duties or tasks, as needed for the good of the committee.  This may include assigning a representative to monitor a specific college for quality of class schedule and content through the signed MOU.  The maintenance of the Zone’s web page will remain on the Salem BLM site with the Siuslaw NF as a backup.
  1. The vice chairperson / secretary will be the chairperson elect.  They shall fill the role of chairperson in their absence. The primary role of the vice chairperson is to provide a smooth transition to the chair.  They are responsible for taking meeting notes, typing and distributing these notes to the member agency representatives.

Procedures

  1. NOZITC will meet at least twice each calendar year, on or about February 15 and November 15.  The chairperson may call additional meetings as necessary.
  1. Each NOZITC member agency will produce an annual training needs analysis through its own agency process.  The needs analysis will be completed and sent to the chairperson by February 15.  The chairperson compiles the zone agencies needs and submits a finished product to the PNWTC by March 1.
  1. In the fall, the committee will meet to re-verify the needs analysis.  Courses with at least 15 candidates will be offered by NOZITC.  Committee members will make a commitment at the fall meeting to sponsor identified courses in the coming year.  The number of courses that each agency sponsors should be proportional to the number of candidates that each agency identified in the needs analysis.  Sponsoring agencies will select and arrange for a course coordinator, instructor cadre, course facility, and training materials unless the host agency requests, via a timely course announcement, that each student bring specified work materials.  The NFES catalog # will be listed in the course announcement.
  1. By November 15 the committee members will provide the detailed information needed for the Zone’s yearly training schedule.  The web page will contain the course title and description, presentation date, location; name of course coordinator, course prerequisites, and nomination deadlines.  The course offerings will be consolidated by the chairperson and published on the web page by December 1 of each year.
  1. Nominations will be sent through the nominee’s Unit representative to the course coordinator electronically.  This will ensure that all nominations are thorough and meet each agency’s requirements.
  1. Course Coordinators of NOZITC sponsored training will use the NWCG Course Coordinator Guide as their operating guidelines for all course planning.  Each Course Coordinator will submit the final selection of attendees 30 days prior to start date to the appropriate Unit Representative.  The final selection should be proportional to the numbers identified in the needs analysis.  Within 30 days of completion of the course, a list of graduates will be submitted to the appropriate Unit Representative.   These lists will be posted on the web page for all members to view. 
  1. NOZITC will act as a steering and oversight group for all proposed area training.  The purpose of oversight is to ensure that course instructional objectives, course content, trainee prerequisite requirements, presentation methods, audio-visual aids, testing methods and course evaluations procedures meet the highest possible standards, maintain interagency scope and applicability and fully utilize all agencies training resources and talents.
  1. The chairperson will distribute information regarding courses sponsored by other training committees or regions to NOZITC committee members electronically.
  1. The chairperson, or a representative selected by the chairperson, will represent the committee at the Pacific NW Coordinating Group Training Working Team meetings and serve as liaison between the NOZITC and PNWCG TWT and other zone training committees.  The purpose of such contacts will be to communicate NOZITC training concerns and issues, recommendations for curriculum changes, improvements in course presentation techniques and the adequacy of the regional training plan in meeting NOZITC member needs.