The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC): Meeting the Challenge of Wildland Fires |
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC): Meeting the Challenge of Wildland Fires |
Introduction
We've all seen the news stories in recent years about devastating wildland fires. We've watched as yellow-shirted crews battled blazes from Florida to Alaska. But have you ever wondered how thousands of firefighters on the frontlines get
their breakfast, communicate with each other, get to the fire in the first place, and predict the fire's behavior? Behind the scenes of every wildland fire and many other types of emergencies, the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) is at work, coordinating hundreds of details to assure the safety and effectiveness of our nation's firefighters.
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| complicated job of fire management is accomplished. Teachers and students will gain real-world insights into the complexities of firefighting -- because it is so well-orchestrated and managed by NIFC, this job often appears automatic to the casual observer. The tour will also demonstrate how the many parts of the NIFC organization and various technologies are brought together to achieve the common objective of supporting those who fight wildland fires. But first, a short history of NIFC itself. |
History
In 1968, construction began on the administration building and warehouse. The remaining major construction was finished by 1970. BLM owns the buildings and serves as the host agency. In 1973, the Department of the Interior established the Office of Aircraft Services at BIFC, and the next year the National Park Service joined the BIFC group. The Bureau of Indian Affairs became a permanent partner in 1976, and, finally, in 1979, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially joined, bringing to seven the total number of agencies operating on the base. In early 1993, the Center's name was changed to the "National Interagency Fire Center" to more accurately reflect its national mission.
In 1963, a task force responding to a request from the Bureau of the Budget proposed that a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) fire center be created in
Boise, Idaho. By 1965, BLM had established the Great Basin Fire Center in unused Idaho National Guard buildings at Gowen Field, and a joint Forest Service and BLM Fire Coordination Center had been established. At the same time, the Forest Service also wanted to establish an air center for forest fire suppression. Weather was recognized by both agencies as an important factor in fire management. These needs ultimately resulted in an agreement among BLM, Forest Service, and the Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to construct the Boise Interagency Fire Center (BIFC).
Sharing Firefighting Resources Through the National Interagency
Coordination Center (NICC)
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| emergency responses in other foreign nations when requested by the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. The "brain" of the NIFC firefighting operation is the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC). Reminiscent of a space launch command center, the NICC is a hub of activity during fire season, when it may operate 24 hours a day. Large wall screens display up-to-the-minute information about fires across the country and the locations of supplies, aircraft, and fire engines that are available for NIFC to dispatch or deploy. At several large, round desks, dispatchers arrange logistical support and intelligence information for firefighters. NICC's functions cover four main areas: • The Equipment & Supply Section coordinates telecommunications equipment, mobile food service, shower units, engines, ground or air transportation for equipment and supplies, portable weather stations, and miscellaneous supplies. • The Crew & Overhead Section coordinates the various kinds of firefighting teams and crews, including the smokejumpers. • The Aircraft Section tracks aircraft, and coordinates the transport of people, supplies, and equipment. • The Intelligence Section collects and disseminates information to cooperating agencies, and prepares daily and various other reports. (The NIFC "Sit" [Situation] Report can be accessed through NIFC's website; the address is provided at the end of this feature.) |
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| During a fire or other emergency, NICC directs appropriate components of NIFC to mobilize supplies and people. The National Fire Equipment System maintains a series of caches around the country. Caches contain the equipment that firefighters need, stocking everything from freeze-dried food and toilet paper to pumps and chainsaws. The Great Basin Cache at NIFC is the primary source of supply for all wildland firefighting agencies in Utah, Nevada, southern Idaho, and western Wyoming. The Great Basin Cache maintains a minimum inventory of tools, equipment, and supplies to support 10,000 firefighters. |
The Great Basin Cache is one of the largest Federal caches in the system, totaling about 80,000 square feet of space, with an inventory of approximately $13 million in equipment and supplies. The cache's computerized inventory and ordering
system is designed to maintain an inventory that can accommodate the needs for all geographic areas; supplies and equipment from one cache may be moved to help bolster dwindling supplies in another. This system is a cost-effective way to share resources among agencies and across the United States. It has been credited with saving as much as $26 million in one year by reducing the need to purchase new equipment and supplies.
| When a Wildland Fire Occurs
When a wildland fire occurs, one of the Federal or state dispatch offices located throughout the United States receives a request for personnel, equipment, and supplies. When local dispatch offices can no longer fill the orders, they turn to a Geographic Area Coordination Center (GACC), to fill the requests. There are eleven GACCs serving assigned geographic areas (see map). When GACC's can no longer meet the requests because they are supporting multiple incidents, or when GACC's are competing for resources, the requests for equipment and supplies are referred to NICC. Following the "closest forces" and "total mobility" approaches, NICC requests the closest available qualified resource, regardless of agency affiliation. In addition to coordinating resources among the GACC's, NICC can also dispatch the helicopters, airtankers, infrared imagery aircraft, large jets for crew transport, and equipment requested by the GACCs.
NICC and the Great Basin Cache rely on computers to manage all of the data they track and generate. NICC also uses satellite imagery and Geographic Information Systems to display the geographic information that is so critical to their operations.
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Smokejumpers
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| the scene of a fire: within ten minutes of a call, smokejumpers are in the air and on their way to the fire. If a fire is burning within 100 miles of their base, smokejumpers can be at the scene in about 30 minutes.
Smokejumping began on a trial basis in 1939, when test procedures and equipment were developed; test jumps took place in the North Cascade Mountains near Winthrop, Washington. On July 12, 1940, the first operational fire jumps were made in the Nez Perce National Forest in Idaho by Rufus Robinson and Earl Cooley. The effectiveness of smokejumpers was quickly proven.
Many World War II conscientious objectors served as smokejumpers in the Civilian Public Service Program. Also, the 555th Airborne Battalion -- comprised solely of African-American paratroopers -- was assigned smokejumper duties in 1945 to combat the Japanese "balloon bomb" threat. The smokejumper program expanded under an enthusiastic President Eisenhower in 1959, who established the network of bases that exists today throughout the West and Alaska.
Once smokejumpers reach the area of a blaze, their plane circles while the jumpers decide the safest way to attack. A smokejumper "spotter" drops weighted paper streamers from the aircraft to determine the speed and direction of the wind. The airplane then climbs to 3,000 feet and two jumpers exit the plane on each pass over the jump spot. From airplane to ground, smokejumpers maintain radio contact with fire dispatchers at all times in case they need additional firefighters or supplies, or they run into difficulties.
Smokejumpers wear both padded, kevlar (fireproof material) jumpsuits and helmets with metal face grates to protect them from brushes with trees and rocks, and from the fire itself. The combined weight of a smokejumper's suit and other gear totals about 80 pounds. A "fire box" containing tools and enough food and water to support two people for up to 48 hours is dropped by parachute for each pair of jumpers on the scene. Once on the ground, smokejumpers shed their jumping gear and go to work with hand tools to suppress the fire. After the fire has been extinguished, all gear and equipment must be carried out in packs to the nearest road or helicopter landing. Pack-out bags can weigh up to 110 pounds, and smokejumpers may have to carry them 10 miles or more.
Needless to say, smokejumpers must be in top physical condition! They work out constantly to maintain their strength and endurance. These elite crews experience very few job openings each year, since veteran smokejumpers typically return season after season. Their rigorous training includes tree climbing, water landings, parachute jumps, and pump and chain saw use and maintenance.
Safety is the number-one concern for smokejumpers, and their remarkable safety record reflects this: there have been only three parachute-related fatalities in 59 years of smokejumper operations and more than 130,000 jumps.
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NIRSC communication equipment is organized into 1,200 kits and associated test equipment, whose combined value exceeds $24 million. The kits range from basic public address systems to sophisticated satellite telephone systems. Each kit contains everything necessary to operate the system, including batteries, antennas, and tools. Kits have different purposes: some contain hand-held radios to provide support for small wildland fires, some contain cellular phones, and others hold different kinds of signal repeaters to support complex communication needs. Although the main purpose of NIRSC is to provide support to wildland fire incidents, the cache has often provided communication equipment during major disasters such as the Mount St. Helens volcanic eruption, the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the North Ridge earthquake, the Teton Dam failure, and several hurricanes including Hugo and Andrew. The equipment is also requested for events involving large public gatherings, such as the Presidential Inauguration, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and the White House Easter Egg Hunt.
Communications
Once firefighters, fire engines, and aircraft have deployed, they need a means of communication to coordinate their activities over sometimes vast and remote areas. The National Incident Radio Support Cache (NIRSC) has the solution: NIRSC houses the largest number of portable communication equipment components in the entire nation. Staffed by Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management employees, NIRSC provides communication equipment for a variety of purposes, from wildland firefighting to natural disaster response to community events.
| Fire Definition, Behavior Prediction, and Management Strategy
Firefighters need intelligence support to predict a fire's behavior and to then formulate the best fire management strategy. Two critical pieces of information are the physical location of the fire (its extent and the areas of fire intensity) and the weather, since temperature, humidity, and wind direction and speed all affect how a fire behaves. NIFC has the capability to provide fire managers this information.
The Infrared Technology unit can tell fire managers precisely where a fire is and can detect "hot spots," which are particularly active parts of the fire. Infrared scanners, which are mounted on the belly of an aircraft, locate hot spots (detectable with infrared if their temperatures are 600 F or higher) within and outside a fire's perimeter. Infrared aircraft fly parallel strips across the fire area while a technician adjusts the contrast settings of the images, which appear on monitors or television screens inside the aircraft.
The images are then printed and placed in a plastic tube to drop them to the ground. A tube is about 3-4 inches in diameter and about 15 inches long. The tube is equipped with an area that is lit by a green glowing light. The light is produced by a chemical mixture that glows when activated by mixing. The tubes also have a beeper powered by a 9-volt battery. The visual and sounding devices help ground personnel locate the tube when it is dropped by the infrared technician, usually at an airport.
Once on-the-ground interpreters receive the printed imagery, they translate the information to topographic maps. Several shades of black and white are depicted, with black representing the hottest spots and white indicating cooler areas.
Infrared imagery is gathered at night, when temperatures of the terrain and fire differ the most, making it easier to locate heat sources. This is a remarkably precise technology: infrared scanners can pinpoint a 6-inch hot spot from an altitude of 8,000 feet above the ground. Each infrared flight costs approximately $5,000 to $10,000. While this technology is costly, its precision allows fire managers to safely and efficiently target their equipment and crews and thereby reduce the overall fire suppression cost.
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| Fire managers use RAWS data to predict fire behavior and monitor fuels and to monitor environmental conditions and air quality. For example, there are RAWS units set up in Idaho and Colorado where past fires have burned to monitor the amount of local rainfall. These stations are connected to the local authorities and warn them when heavy rains may cause landslides or floods. Some stations are set up to monitor hazardous materials levels.
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Carrying the Water to the Fire
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The fire engines used for wildland fire suppression are not standard models that can be purchased off an assembly line; rather, they are manufactured especially for the rugged double duty of navigating rough terrain and fighting fires. The NIFC Equipment Development Shop develops and contracts for all fire engines used by BLM. Using input from firefighters, equipment specialists design and test new models of fire engines to meet changing performance requirements. Engines typically have a lifespan of seven to 15 years, so each year, 35-40 of BLM's 400 engines must be replaced. Other agencies also purchase their engines through the NIFC process. |
Wildland Firefighters Monument
Models of Statues by artist Larry Nowlan which, when completed, will be arranged on the monument site.As busy as NIFC is, there is one place on the compound where visitors, firefighters, and the people who support them can find tranquility and an opportunity to reflect. The Wildland Firefighters Monument honors all of the people -- past, present, and future -- who work or will work in fighting fires.The monument is being built
with donated funds and labor. The site, near the middle of NIFC, centers on a cascading waterfall surrounded by native wildflowers. Poetry dedicated to wildland firefighters can be found along the winding path, along with commemorative trees and stone markers bearing the names of firefighters, groups, and organizations in the wildland firefighting community.
Information for Educators and Students
The NIFC website (see below) maintains additional information, educational materials, "Sit" (situation) Reports, and fire safety and education weblinks. The site also offers a virtual tour of the NIFC facility. National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) NIFC Fire Education Materials http://www.nifc.gov/preved/index.html "Wildfire: Feel the Heat," a Discovery Pictures IMAX presentation (developed in cooperation with BLM and the U.S. Forest Service fire professionals) http://discoverypictures.com/dppages/wildfire/wildfire.html (A companion teacher's guide is also available from Discovery.) "Burning Issues," an interactive, multimedia fire ecology/wildland fire management CD, is a joint project of the Bureau of Land Management and Florida State University. Now in the last stages of teacher testing and technical development, "Burning Issues" will be available at the end of 1999; single copies will cost $25 each and lab packs of 12 copies will cost $250 each. For more information, please call Richard Brook of BLM at (202) 452-0326. To place an advance order, please call FSU's Interactive Media Science Projects Center at (850) 644-3130 or -8422. Firewise.org Last Updated: July 15, 2003 For questions about our programs contact Bibi Booth
NIFC offers fire education materials and programs, as well as a limited number of school-group tours of the facility; such tours are accommodated only when they will not interfere with the center's firefighting support mission. For tour and other information, please call NIFC at (208) 387-5457.
This site is maintained by Kevin Flynn
This page was created by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Environmental Education & Volunteers Group, 1849 C Street, Room 406-LS, Washington, DC 20240. Send comments or questions relating to accessibilty of documents to Kevin_Flynn@blm.gov
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