Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide – 2013 Revision.

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

2013. NWCG Issued a Memo Announcing The Revision -

December 5, 2013. 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)


Why was November 2013 Issue Rescinded and Replaced with April 2014 version?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.”


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.


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.


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.


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?”


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.


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).


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.


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.


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.


Element 18: Wildfire DeclarationA 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.


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.


Major Changes Reviews - Complete re-write of the reviews

section based upon JFSP study on learning from escaped prescribed fires. (Black et. al.) http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/human-factors/projects/escap

ed-fire/

Refreshers – Added a section on refreshers. References – Updated References.

http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/human-factors/projects/escaped-fire/




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.


Minor Changes Throughout the Guide.


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 420-2 Smoke Management Guide.

Smoke Management Guide for Prescribed and Wildland Fire is also being revised.


What Do We Do Now? Visit NWCG Website & Download Files.

http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/RxFire/rx.htm; or http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/pms.htm

http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/RxFire/rx.htm

http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/RxFire/rx.htm

http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/pms.htm


What You Will Find on NWCG Website: PMS 484 - Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning

and Implementation Procedures Guide, 2013 edition (.pdf).

PMS 485 - Agency Administrator Ignition Authorization, Element 2A (.pdf & .doc).

PMS 486 - Prescribed Fire Go/No-Go Checklist, Element 2B (.pdf & .doc).

Appendix A – Prescribed Fire Plan Template (.pdf & .doc).


Agency Policy 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, 2014. 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

Agency Additional Rx Fire Policy Guidance by Agency

BIA BIA Business Rules Handbook 2008. BIA Blue Book 2013 (or current year).

BLM Memorandum No. FA IM-2014-001.

NPS NPS Reference Manual 18, Chapter 7 – Fuels Management. http://www.nps.gov/fire/wildland-fire/resources/documents/nps-reference-manual-18.pdf

USFS FSM 5140 – Fire Use; Soon to be replaced with FSM 5140 – Hazardous Fuels and Prescribed Fire.

Regional Supplements to FSM 5140.

USFWS FWS Manual 621 FW 1 Fire Management Program. http://www.fws.gov/policy/621fw1.html

FWS Fire Management Handbook, Chapter 17. http://www.fws.gov/fire/handbook/17_2014_Chapter_17_Prescribed_Fire.pdf

http://www.nps.gov/fire/wildland-fire/resources/documents/nps-reference-manual-18.pdf

http://www.fws.gov/policy/621fw1.html

http://www.fws.gov/fire/handbook/17_2014_Chapter_17_Prescribed_Fire.pdf

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 CommitteeBIA – Mark Jackson, [email protected] BLM – Dave Mueller, [email protected] NPS – Nate Benson, [email protected] USFS – Frankie Romero, [email protected] – Kim Van Helemryck, [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]





Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide – 2013 Revision.

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