Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide – 2013 Revision

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide  Objective Provide a basic understanding of the key changes in the 2013 revision of the NWCG Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide, PMS 484.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  What Happened? NWCG updated the 2008 Rx Guide as of November NWCG Issued a Memo Announcing The Revision - December 5, Errors found in November 2013 version related to qualifications/currency for plan preparer & technical reviewer NWCG issues corrected version of Rx Guide dated April, 2013 along with new Memo (M-14-02)

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  Why was November 2013 Issue Rescinded and Replaced with April 2014 version? The following clarification regarding qualifications and currency for burn plan preparers and technical reviewers was inadvertently omitted in the November version (pg. 38) “Either the technical reviewer or the prescribed fire plan preparer must be current in their qualification, minus the physical fitness requirement.”

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision

 Revision Working Principles Where possible, provide clarification without creating new requirements. Address agency concerns and revision topics as much as possible. Incorporate current research and best available information.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  Revision Working Principles Cont. Incorporate risk management concepts in Guide where appropriate. Mirror wildfire terminology and concepts where possible. Address long term/landscape scale prescribed fire without creating additional process.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  What’s not changing? Order of the Elements. Complexity Analysis.  Separate Task Group is currently being assembled. Target date for Completion will be in 2015.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  Major Changes Updated to reflect 2009 Implementation Guidance for Federal Fire Policy. Inclusion of a Risk Management Section. Inclusion of Lesson Learned Section and the incorporation of lessons learned throughout the Guide.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide – 2013 Revision Lessons Learned : Poor unit design and failure to consider the fuels and other conditions outside the ignition unit(s) or project area (or both) have been identified as common denominators of prescribed fires that have been declared wildfires. Project design and understanding how fire may move across the landscape is critical to the successful implementation of long-duration prescribed fires. Fuels are often the source of unexpected or overlooked sources of trouble. The most common item overlooked is higher-than-expected fuel loadings or changes in fuel beds that result in greater-than-expected fire behavior. Even within a season, conditions that may arrest fire spread at one point may become burnable at another. Always check whether the ‘barriers’ you’re counting upon will function as a barrier under the likely conditions you face. Ask the question: “under what conditions will this barrier fail or not function?”

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  Major Changes Added direction and clarification regarding long duration, landscape scale Rx burns and the desirability (not requirement) of using LTAN/FBAN/SOPL in the planning and implementation of these and other complex burns. Clarified difference between Low, Moderate and High complexity prescribed fire plans.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  Major Changes Element 2 - Replaced the Agency Administrator Go/No- Go Checklist with new Agency Administrator Ignition Authorization and clarified it's intent and use (PMS 485).

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision

 Major Changes Element 2 - Replaced the Agency Administrator Go/No- Go Checklist with new Agency Administrator Ignition Authorization and clarified it's intent and use. Element 7 - Prescription- clarified that in some cases spatial fire behavior modeling may be needed or desirable to establish the prescription window, holding, & contingency plans.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  Major Changes Element 17 - Contingency Plan - Clarified intent and flexibility when using Management Action Points. Clarified that contingency should be based on expected fire behavior and values at risk and that contingency needs may vary depending on phase of the burn and location of activity on the burn.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  Major Changes Element 18 - Changed from Wildfire Conversion to Wildfire Declaration and revised the criteria for declaring a wildfire reflecting the changes to Element 17 and the 2009 Federal Fire Policy Implementation Guidance.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision Element 18: Wildfire Declaration A prescribed fire, or a portion or segment of a prescribed fire, must be declared a wildfire by those identified in the plan with the authority to do so, when either or both of the following criteria are met: Prescription parameters are exceeded and holding and contingency actions cannot secure the fire by the end of the next burning period, or, The fire has spread outside the project area or is likely to do so, and the associated contingency actions have failed or are likely to fail and the fire cannot be contained by the end of the next burning period. A prescribed fire can be declared a wildfire for reasons other than those identified above, if events cannot be mitigated as determined by the burn boss and agency administrator.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision Element 18: Wildfire Declaration Cont. A description is needed of the actions to be taken when a prescribed fire is declared a wildfire. The description will include: Wildfire declaration (by whom). IC assignment. Notifications. Extended attack actions and opportunities to aid in wildfire. (Optional) Agency or local policy may limit the strategic and tactical responses available for a prescribed fire that is declared a wildfire.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  Major Changes Reviews - Complete re-write of the reviews section based upon JFSP study on learning from escaped prescribed fires. (Black et. al.)  factors/projects/escaped-fire/ factors/projects/escaped-fire/ Refreshers – Added a section on refreshers. References – Updated References.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  Major Changes Appendices  Removed bulk of Appendix A – Prescribed Fire Plan Template; References NWCG website to download master and editable documents.  Added Appendix B - Basic Smoke Management Practices.  Added Appendix C- Contingency Planning Aids as a complement to the changes in Element 17 and 18.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  Minor Changes Throughout the Guide.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  Associated Items Rx-341 Prescribed Fire Plan Preparation Training Course.  Update has been prepared and will be available once Rx Guide has been released. PMS Smoke Management Guide.  Smoke Management Guide for Prescribed and Wildland Fire is also being revised.

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  What Do We Do Now? Visit NWCG Website & Download Files.  or 

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision  What You Will Find on NWCG Website: PMS Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide, 2013 edition (.pdf). PMS Agency Administrator Ignition Authorization, Element 2A (.pdf &.doc). PMS Prescribed Fire Go/No-Go Checklist, Element 2B (.pdf &.doc). Appendix A – Prescribed Fire Plan Template (.pdf &.doc).

Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide Revision AgencyPolicy for Use of Existing Burn Plans and Transition to the 2013 Rx Guide BIA  Replace Elements 2A & 2B in existing burn plans before using plan in FY14;  BIA & Tribes (when federal funds used) must comply fully with 2013 Guide and BIA Supplements by October 1,  All new (and in progress) burn plans must adhere to 2013 Guide immediately. BLM  Replace Elements 2A & 2B in existing burn plans before using;  All new (and in progress) burn plans must adhere to 2013 Guide and BLM additional standards immediately. NPS  Existing, signed prescribed fire plans are not required to be updated.  Use the most current version of the Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide for planning and implementing all prescribed fires. USFS  Replace Elements 2A & 2B in existing burn plans within 90 days;  Existing burn plans must comply fully with 2013 guidance within 1 Year.  All new (and in progress) burn plans must adhere to 2013 Guide immediately. USFWS  Replace Elements 2A & 2B in existing burn plans by March 1, 2014;  Existing burn plans approved before Dec. 11, 2013 may be used as-is until March 1, 2014;  All new (and in progress) burn plans must adhere to 2013 Guide immediately.

Remember to Also Refer to Agency-Specific Policies and Guides AgencyAdditional Rx Fire Policy Guidance by Agency BIA  BIA Business Rules Handbook  BIA Blue Book 2013 (or current year). BLM  Memorandum No. FA IM NPS  NPS Reference Manual 18, Chapter 7 – Fuels Management. USFS  FSM 5140 – Fire Use; Soon to be replaced with FSM 5140 – Hazardous Fuels and Prescribed Fire.  Regional Supplements to FSM USFWS  FWS Manual 621 FW 1 Fire Management Program.  FWS Fire Management Handbook, Chapter

And Finally: A Huge “Thanks” To Those People Who Made this Revision Possible BLM - Todd Richardson, Angela Foster, Rance Marquez. BIA - Stephen Smith, Gene Lonning. CSKT* – Jim Steele. NPS - Scott Beacham, Tod Johnson. NWCG - Elaine Waterbury. USFS – Paul Langowski, Jay C. Boykin, Jay Kurth. USFW - Kim Van Hemelryck, Dan Dearborn, Sami Gray. *Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

For More Information Contact Your NWCG Fuels Mgt. Committee Representative NWCG Fuels Management Committee BIA – Mark Jackson, BLM – Dave Mueller, NPS – Nate Benson, USFS – Frankie Romero, USFWS – Kim Van Helemryck,