Fire Weather User Needs Assessment
Presentation of the Fire Environment Working Team to
the Joint Action GroupMarch 1, 2006
Outline
• NWCG
• FENWT
• FENWT User Needs Assessment
• Collaboration with the JAG
• Suggested stones to overturn
National Wildfire Coordinating Group
• Purpose– to coordinate wildland fire management programs – to avoid wasteful duplication – to provide a means of constructively working together
• Goals– to provide more effective execution of each agency’s
fire management program. – to provided a formalized system to agree upon
standards of training, equipment, qualifications, and other operational functions.
BIALyle Carlile
BLM(Larry
Hamilton)
FWS(Phil Street)
NPSEdy Williams
Rhodes
FS(Alice Forbes)
Natl. Assn. of State Foresters
Kirk Rowdabaugh (West)
Mike Long (East)U.S. Fire
AdministrationHugh Wood
Intertribal Timber Council
James Erickson
USDI
FS Fire Research
Mike Hilbrunner
USDA
Associate Members (non-voting)
Natl. Fire Protection
AssociationJim Smalley
Forest Fire Management
Group Paul de Mar
DHS
IRM Program Mgmt Office Judy Crosby
Fire Equipment WT
Tory Henderson
Fire EnvironmentWT
Paul Schlobohm
Info Resource Mgmt. WT Shari Shetler
Fire Use WTBill Leenhouts
Wildland/UrbanInterface WTSam Scranton
Safety & Health WT
Paul Broyles
Training WT Logan Lee
Incident Business
Practices WT
Hallie Locklear
Publication Mgmt. System WT Allen Deitz
Incident Ops Standards WT
Bob Leaverton
Wildland FireInvestigation WT
Paul Steensland
Radio Narrowband Advisory GroupSteve Jenkins
Geographic Area Advisory Group Brian Shiplett
Wildland FireEducation WT
Maureen Brooks
Prediction Operations Outreach
Su
pp
or
t
Social Science Advisory Group Aden Seidlitz & Jonathan Taylor
Wildland Fire Environment
• Fuels
• Weather
• Topography
FENWT Concept
• Integrated approach to…– Fire Weather– Fire Behavior– Fire Danger
• Coordinated with…– Predictive Services– Air/Smoke Management– Fuels Management– National Weather Service
Fire Environment Working Team
Members charteredoutside of FENWT
StrategicPartners
FENWT Chair
Fire Behavior Committee
Fire Danger Committee
Fire Weather Committee
Interagency Fuels Group
NIFCG
NWSPredictive Services
GroupNPSG
Strategic Partners
Eastern States Western States
Members - NASFRepresentatives
NWCGLiaison
Fire ResearchFire/Air Issues
GroupFAICG
Members charteredby FENWT
NWCGLiaison
Fire Environment Working Team
Members charteredoutside of FENWT
StrategicPartners
FENWT ChairPaul Schlobohm
FBCWayne Cook
FDCLarry Bradshaw
FWCDick Bahr
NIFCGDennis Dupuis
NWSLeroy Spayd
NPSGTom Wordell
Strategic Partners
Eastern StatesJoe Kennedy
Western StatesWayne Mitchell
Members - NASFRepresentatives
NWCGLiaison
Fire ResearchMike Hilbruner
FAICGDennis Haddow
Members charteredby FENWT
NWCG LiaisonAlice Forbes
FENWT Mission
• Provide interagency oversight, strategic direction and vision relating to measuring and predicting the wildland fire environment and share that understanding with the users.
FENWT Goals
• Technology– Existing and emerging technologies describe, model
and predict our wildland fire environment conditions
• Research and Development– R&D efforts meet fire environment business needs.
• Decision Support– Decisions are supported by robust and trusted
applications and information.
FENWT Strategies and User Needs
• Identify and prioritize existing and emerging technologies
• Utilize an iterative process to assess user needs, evaluate products and monitor feedback
• Promote spatial database system that can produce a variety of decision products from core underlying environmental data
FENWT Strategies and Integration
• Develop an integration plan
• Establish partnership with R&D
• Collaborate with R&D to move science into application
• Support development of science-based and peer reviewed tools
How did we get here?
• NWCG asked:– How many
Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) do we need?
How did we get here?
• NWCG asked:– What are we
going to do about ROMAN?
User Needs Assessment
• FENWT recommendation:– Weather data collection and use should be
planned for according to user’s needs– Employ an assessment of current and future
needs for data to answer both questions– Participate in and use OFCM/JAG and other
surveys
User Needs Assessment
• Other surveys:– National Weather Service– National Predictive Services Group– BlueSkyRAINS West
User Needs Assessment
• January/February 2006– NWCG approves FENWT plan– JAG holds first meeting– FENWT joins JAG second meeting– Opportunity to work together
Stone 1.1
• From what source or sources does fire weather data need to be collected? – To perform common fire management
analyses involving weather
Stone 1.2
• What analyses still need to have data collected under current NFDRS standard?– What analyses do not?
• Is it possible to use other datasets? – Which ones? How?
Stone 2.1
• What is the role of point data in the fire weather applications of today and tomorrow?
• What is the role of gridded data in fire weather applications of today and tomorrow?
Stone 2.2
• What kind of observation network is required to implement the point and gridded data applications of today and tomorrow?
Stone 2.3
• Given the roles of point and gridded data, what tools/processes/systems are needed to distribute, analyze, display, and archive these data?
Question 3
• What fire weather thresholds are important to us (fire management)? – How sensitive are they?