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Understand how federal wildland fire agencies and NARA are collaborating to manage & preserve fire records Be able to sort wildland fire incident records using filing guidance 3

Be familiar with the forms and processes used to transfer and retrieve records from Federal Records Centers (FRC’s) Understand how to initiate research of historic fire records already permanently archived at NARA 4

 New Fire Policy requires change - Interagency collaboration - Need for information - fire history - fire ecology - Emphasis on safety 5

- Loss of Fire Information Planning Decisions Fire History Research Operational Decisions - Discontinuity in Team Transition - Post-Incident Business Use Difficult  Records Management Chaos 6

 2005 Records Schedule  Standard Filing System for IMT’s  NWCG Website  Fire Records Training  Legacy Records Strategy 7

What information do these boxes contain? 8

What is a Federal Record? Created during conduct of Government business Preserved because of value or constitutes evidence Varies widely in physical form or characteristic 9

What qualifies as a Federal Record?  Official memos signed by home office  Receipts for equipment  Timesheets  Fire Narratives  documenting business process, decisions  Documentation requiring action by your office 10

 Extra copies of documents  Equipment Time Reports  Firefighter/Crew Time Reports  Training Documentation  Extra copies of directives used for reference  Word processing files (if official version is printed & filed) What does not qualify as a Record? 11

Record or Non-Records? Questions? 12

Records may be destroyed only with written approval of the Archivist Non-record material may be destroyed at agency discretion 13

How long should I keep my records? 14

Incident and WFU Records: PERMANENT: To National Archives after 20 years TEMPORARY: Retain for 7 years, then destroy NON-RECORD COPIES: Destroy when no longer needed for administrative purposes 15

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Final Progression Map 21

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It Must be Preserved Big Problems –Widely Dispersed –Lack Strategy Working with GIS Community, NWCG –Stop-Deletion Order –Inventory GIS Resources –Enterprise Architecture 30

…Doesn’t mean devoting more office space to additional filing cabinets! 31

… looks like this! Here’s how to prepare your fire records for transfer 32

 Review Project Plan  Assemble Supplies  Sort Boxes for a Single Fire  Sort Permanent Records  Sort Temporary Records  Segregate Confidential/Privacy Records  Sort Electronic Records 33

Federal fire agencies will need to: Prepare transfer paperwork Transfer eligible records to storage Box up old records 34

Separate Permanent from Temporary records Use box lists to create a concise inventory for easier reference/retrieval. Use FRC boxes only to ship records Folder labels must face the front When packed, leave at least 3” space in box 35

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A complete SF 135 = easier records retrieval Federal agencies use the SF-135 to retire records to FRC storage 37

Address City, State, Zip Code John Adams John Adams, Forest Supervisor XX/XX/XX John Smith Forest Service, USDA Administrative Office Address City, State, Zip Code Temporary Fire Records Closed 2003 Old Fire July 2003 RN , 10/25/04 TIL Freeze (leave blank) PLACE THIS COPY IN BOX 1 OF THE SHIPMENT BB002584RAN See detail list attached T&D Branch Leader Michael Kretch YY/YY/YY 38

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Records retired to FRC’s still belong to you! Use the SF-135 to provide precise info needed for records location 41

Reference requests are submitted using an Optional Form 11 Requests for files and boxes in 24-hrs or less Mail, fax, deliver, phone or 42

Records in FRC’s are never destroyed without written permission from the agency (NA Form 13001) 43

Destruction of Records 44

Permanent fire records are transferred to NARA after 20 years Records transferred via SF Regional Archives + 2 in Washington, DC Legal custody of records passes from agency to NARA 45

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Other site visits may be necessary Some fire history may be in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Archives will provide up to 100 copy pages free In rare cases, original records may be returned to an agency on temporary loan 47

NARA, Pacific Region-Laguna Niguel 48

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