Course Description - NFDRS Advanced National Fire Danger Rating System

February 22 - March 4, 2011

Target Group

The target audience includes individuals:

• Responsible for resource analysis, decision support and decision making based on outputs from National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS) at the local/state/national level and corresponding positions;
• Responsible for Intelligence, Predictive Services, and/or Fire Weather Forecasting;
• Responsible for providing technical support and oversight for NFDRS;
• Who will become geographic area NFDRS instructors;
• With a passion to become the next generation to carry NFDRS forward.

Why Take This Course?

• Compliance with Agency policies for Fire Danger Rating support products, such as Fire Danger Rating Operating Plans
• Items outlined in the 30 Mile Fire Action Abatement Plan.
• Expands and builds on the technical skills provided in S-491, Intermediate NFDRS.
• Hands on development of a Fire Danger Rating Operating Plan
• Understanding the roles of NFDRS outputs, climatology, and fire business thresholds in the decision making process
• Analysis necessary for the preparation of PocketCards

Prerequisites

Have successfully completed S-491 or equivalent. Completes pre-course work and pre-course test. Pre-course work will be posted on the NAFRI web site on November 12, 2007. It will take approximately 4 hours to complete.

Vision Statement

The National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS) is a trusted decision tool for fire and resource managers. The NFDRS is based upon the integration of the latest fire and atmospheric sciences, climatology, remote sensing, and GIS technology. It is supported by processors and data management systems which are robust and flexible enough to remain state of the art. The NFDRS is easy to use - requiring limited human intervention, minimal in cost, and can be applied through space (locally, regionally, nationally) and time (today, tomorrow, seasonally) across the United States. System access is web-based and outputs are displayed with tabular, graphical, and GIS formats. Fire danger is a description of factors - fuels, weather, topography - which affect the initiation, spread, and difficulty of control of wildfires on an area.

Course Goal

The goal of this training course is to promote better decision-making and planning using the National Fire Danger Rating System. Promote the development and implementation of fire danger rating operating plans at the local level. One of the expected results of this effort will be a pool of technical experts and a cadre for the next generation Fire Danger Rating.

Course Objectives

• Review NFDRS design and its relationship to other fire management systems and processes.
• Through the development of an operating plan, demonstrate a working knowledge of the process required to design, setup, and manage a fire danger rating system.
• Relate NFDRS outputs to some measure of fire business and develop skills to adapt NFDRS analysis to the local unit.
• Demonstrate how fire danger rating supports geographic area and national decision-making.
• Design and validate a decision model for short and long-term operations involving NFDRS, fire danger climatology and fire management planning systems.
• Introduce new NFDRS related technology as it becomes available.
• Demonstrate techniques to analyze outputs of NFDRS programs to identify errors, and troubleshoot system problems.
• Provide background information from which participants can support geographic area NFDRS training.

Course Description

491 is an intermediate level technical exposure to the National Fire Danger Rating System. Essentially you have learned to drive. Advanced NFDRS is the next level of analytical instruction that focuses on the role of fire danger rating in resource decision making, through development of a fire danger rating operating plan. Participants will be provided the skills to analyze and troubleshoot fire danger rating from the fire weather station scale to multiple fire danger rating areas. Essentially you will learn to fly.The course will provide individuals the technical skills to serve as instructors for geographic area level courses for all wildland fire agencies using NFDRS. Advanced NFDRS is a national level course. As such, participants can expect long days, evening and weekend work. In order to receive credit for course, participants must stay through entire course. Students will need to complete pre-course work and a pre-course test consisting of approximately 4 hours..

Computer Requirements

Due to the various agency, business, and personal laptops, and the time required to bring these units up to the course required software standards, no agency, business, or personal laptops will be used for the NFDRS course.

NAFRI will provide laptops with all the necessary software for participant use during the Advanced NFDRS course.

You may bring your own laptop for agency, business, or personal use while away from your home unit, but NAFRI will not be providing any system support for them.

The laptops provided by NAFRI will be for course work only and there will be a requirement that all provided laptops stay within the NAFRI training facilities during the course.

Important Dates

Nominations Due: November 1, 2010
Pre-Course Test Due: December 17, 2010
Notification of Selection: December 27, 2010

Nomination Process

Please see the NAFRI nomination process available at http://nafri.gov/pages/nominationprocess.htm.

Course Coordinator: Tim Peterson, (520) 799-8757; fax (520) 799-8785

Tuition: None