National Weather Service
Professional Development Series
Professional Competency Unit

Fire Weather

PCU 1: Customer Awareness and Partnerships

Producer: Gary Schmeling, CRH

Description of Job Duty Competency to be Achieved

  1. Be able to identify all customers who use NWS fire weather products and services.
  2. Be able to identify customer requirements, needs and concerns.
  3. Be completely familiar with the local annual Fire Weather Operating Plan.
  4. Understand how NWS products/services, and actual weather, impact customers' operations.

Description of Need

Recognition of customers, their requirements, needs, and partnership opportunities is critical to building strong relationships with land management agencies. In order to provide quality products and services, meteorologists need to understand how NWS products and services, as well as actual weather, impact the decision making process of land management agencies/personnel.

Specific Job Task Skills and Knowledge

1. Identify all customers who use NWS fire weather products and services. Also identify the fire-related job functions of these customers:

  1. Agencies.
  2. Federal customers:
  3. USDA Forest Service. (FS)
  4. National Park Service (NPS).
  5. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
  6. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
  7. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
  8. State and Regional customers:
  9. State forestry departments or Departments of Natural Resources.
  10. Interagency coordination centers.
  11. Air quality agencies.
  12. Local customers:
  13. County and/or municipal fire departments.
  14. Job-Specific Customers:
  15. Fire Management Officers (FMO).
  16. Fire Behavior Analysts (FBAN).
  17. Firefighters.
  18. State Foresters.
  19. Incident Commanders (IC).
  20. Area Coordinators/Dispatchers.
  21. Geographical Area Coordination Center (GACC) Predictive Services.

The above list constitutes primary customers. Others might include FEMA, Core of Engineers,state highway departments, agricultural extension services, etc. Meteorologists should annually review the local Fire Weather Operations Plan.

2. Customer Requirements:

  1. Forecast and warning products via text and gridded display (e.g., fire weather forecast, spot forecast, NFDRS forecast, smoke management forecast, rangeland fire danger, fire weather watches, red flag warnings, and graphical depictions of fire weather elements).
  2. Services (e.g.,local briefings, pre and post season meetings, consultation, station visitation and training).

3. Partnership opportunities with customers and other fire agencies as described in the local Fire Weather Operatons Plan.

4. How NWS products and services impact our customers and operations (primary impacts only) including:

  1. Pre-suppression activities (e.g., staffing levels, movement of resources, restrict/suspend timber activities).
  2. Wildland fire suppression activities (e.g., strategies, tactics).
  3. Prescribed fire (e.g., development of burn . plan, allocation of resources).
  4. Land management (e.g., spraying, tree planting).
  5. Smoke management.

Instructional Components

Instructional Component 1.1 Annually review and be completely familar with the local Fire Weather Operations Plan.

Instructional Component 1.2 Participate in customer/NWS meetings where, 1) customers review past performance, current products and services and identify future weather service needs, 2) NWS personnel brief customers on new programs, fire weather verification statistics, past performance and future expectations.

Instructional Component 1.3 Review National Weather Service Instruction 10-406, the Interagency Agreement for Meteorological Services which describes the National Weather Service requirements to support the Interagency Wildland Fire Agencies resonsibility for the stewardship and protection of Federal and State lands.

Implementation and Evaluation Tasks

TBD

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Last updated or modified on 06/03/2003