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FWS Fire Safety Specialist Invited to Train "Down Under"

June 2008

Paul Chamberlin, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fire operations safety specialist serving in an interagency capacity, presented two fire safety workshops at a session sponsored by the Australian County Fire Authority in May 2008.  

Chamberlin, stationed in Missoula, Montana, is a nationally-recognized authority in the field of fireline safety and provides fire safety training and presentations throughout the U.S. In addition, he frequently conducts safety reviews and provides input into major fireline safety strategies.  

One of Chamberlin’s workshops was on “LCES,” a wildland fire safety system widely used across the country since 1990. It stands for Lookouts, Communications, Escape Routes and Safety Zones and is based on mountaineering principles. Chamberlin also presented on “Hazard Trees - An Interactive Study,” which teaches participants how to recognize common tree structural issues and to practice making decisions based on the level of risk.  

This is the second time Chamberlin has been invited to train Australian fire personnel. In September, 2007 he and Paula Nasiatka, director of the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center at the National Advanced Fire and Resource Institute in Tucson, Arizona, were keynote speakers for a major Australian, New Zealand and Southeast Asian bushfire conference in Hobart, Tasmania. They also were presenters at a workshop in Melbourne, Victoria the following week.

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages public land in every U.S. state and territory, including 547 national wildlife refuges and 69 national fish hatcheries.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages 75 million burnable acres, including 24 million acres of forest/brushland and 4 million acres of grassland.

More than 50% of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands in the continental U.S. (and more than 90% in Alaska) include fire-adapted ecosystems with vegetation dependent on periodic fire.

An average of 500 wildfires burn 260,000 acres each year on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands. The Service also burns about 300,000 acres a year using prescribed fire.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service annual fire program budget is approximately $80 million.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employs more than 530 permanent fire professionals, along with 270 seasonal and temporary fire employees during fire season.

More than 3,000 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees are qualified to assist with wildland fire management on an interagency basis.

The U.S. Fish and Wildland Service Fire Management Program protects more than 700 communities and wildland-urban interface areas.

Historically, an acre was the amount of land tillable by one man behind an ox in one day. This measures 90% of a football field. There are 640 acres in a square mile.

More than 90% of the hazardous fuels reduction by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is completed using prescribed fire.