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Effective January 13, 2005, the contract vendor for lightning detection data delivery is Vaisala, Inc. The contract is held by the National Weather Service (NWS) on behalf of several government agencies. For the purposes of the contract, the wildland fire agencies (Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Forest Service, and state and private forestry agencies) collectively are considered as one agency. They act as liaison to the NWS for the wildland agencies for the purposes of the contract. The BLM operates the Wildland Fire Management Information system (WFMI), which is the portal to the lightning data provided by Vaisala. This includes granting access to the lightning data system. The new contract allows unlimited access to the lightning detection data for users who have a bona fide need for the information in support of wildland fire operations. The cost of the contract is the same whether there are 200 users or 2000. This is a change from the previous contract that calculated charges per user. All of the Federal and State fire agencies participating in the contract may contact the BLM Information Technology (IT) staff to authorize access to the system. Their e-mail is NIFC_Help_Desk@blm.gov or phone number 208-387-5734. They will need the following information: Name, Unit, Sub-unit, City, Job Title, Phone Number, and e-mail Address. For more information on Non-Federal government users who wish to access the NLDN, please refer to the ACCESS GUIDELINES. State agency personnel who do not see a contact listed or local/county governments should contact the USFS representative, Linnea Keating. Below is a list of current agency contacts:
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