Wildland Fire Leadership Council Meetings

Conference Call Notes
March 24, 2008
Actions and Decisions

TOPIC: Modifying Guidance for Implementation of Federal Wildland Fire Policy (AMR)

1. Current Direction: Only one management objective will be applied to a wildland fire. Wildland fires will either be managed for resource benefits or suppressed. A wildland fire cannot be managed for both objectives concurrently. If two wildland fires converge, they will be managed as a single wildland fire.
   
   Proposed Direction: Wildland fires can be managed for one or more objective(s) based on the Land/Resource Management Plan direction.
   
   DECISION: No objections – the WFLC approved new direction unanimously.
   
   
2. Current Direction: Once a wildland fire has been managed for suppression objectives, it may never be managed for resource benefit objectives.
   
   Proposed Direction: When two or more wildland fires burn together they will be handled as a single wildland fire and may be managed for one or more objectives based on the Land/Resource Management Plan direction as an event moves across the landscape and fuels and weather conditions change.
   
   DECISION: No objections – the WFLC approved new direction unanimously.
   
   
3. & 4. Current Direction: The Wildland Fire Situation Analysis process is used to determine and document the suppression strategy from the full range of responses available for suppression operations. Suppression strategies are designed to meet the policy objectives of suppression.
   Wildland fire use is the result of a natural event. The Land/Resource Management Plan, or the Fire Management Plan, will identify areas where the strategy of wildland fire use is suitable. The Wildland Fire Implementation Plan (WFIP) is the tool that examines the available response strategies to determine if a fire is being considered for wildland fire use.
   
   Proposed Direction: Every wildland fire will be assessed following a decision support process that examines the full range of responses. The system currently being developed and prototyped is known as Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS).
   
   DECISION: After discussion the WFLC adopted new direction unanimously.
   
   
5. Current Direction: When a prescribed fire or a fire designated for wildland fire use is no longer achieving the intended resource management objectives and contingency or mitigation actions have failed, the fire will be declared a wildfire. Once a wildfire, it cannot be returned to a prescribed fire or wildland fire use status.
   
   Proposed Direction: Once a prescribed fire is no longer meeting those resources objectives stated specifically in the prescribed fire plan or project level NEPA and is declared a wildfire it receives the same reassessment and selection of response objectives as any other wildfire event given the location, current conditions (fuels, weather, etc) and identified management considerations.
   
   DECISION: After discussion, the new direction was approved contingent upon favorable counsel review. The results will be presented at the June meeting.
   
   

TOPIC: Proposed Agenda Items for June Meeting

• Monitoring the Effectiveness of Hazardous Fuel Treatments
• Coordinate Training/Equipment/All-Risk efforts with DHS
• Developing a Nation-wide Fire Reporting System
• Roles and Responsibilities for Structure Protection
• National Wildland Fire Enterprise Architecture
• Update on FPA
• Draft Communication Plan on Aviation Strategy
• Re-evaluating WUI Definition
• Monitoring Performance Report
• Transition to New Chair
• Future Meetings

DECISION: Approved. Mark Beighley and Rick Prausa will talk with DHS and Jim Erickson will outline his request in an email to Nina.