All NWCG Announcements

Date: May 24, 2023
Contact: Emergency Medical Committee (EMC)

This week, NWCG celebrates National Emergency Medical Services Week.  
The Emergency Medical Committee is proud to be affiliated with all the agencies and organizations who collaborate to provide and support EMS across our national wildfire response systems.  

Thank you to all the EMS individuals for the important work and mission you do every day!

Learn about the NWCG Emergency Medical Committee

References:

• EMC Letter

Date: May 22, 2023
Contact: Interagency Water Scooper Subcommittee (IWSS)

The 2023 update of NWCG Standards for Water Scooping Operations, PMS 518, establishes the standards for dispatching, utilizing, and coordinating water scooping aircraft on interagency wildland fires. These standards should be used in conjunction with the NWCG Standards for Aerial Supervision (SAS), PMS 505, and any local, state, or geographic/regional water scooping plans.

References: 

• PMS 518

Date: May 25, 2023
Contact: Interagency Helicopter Operations Subcommittee (IHOPS)

The 2023 revision of the NWCG Standards for Helicopter Operations (NSHO), PMS 510, establishes the standards by which helicopter operations are to be conducted under the exclusive direction and operational control of federal, state, and local agencies in the accomplishment of interagency fire suppression and natural resource aviation management.

References:

• PMS 510

Date: May 25, 2023
Contact: Wildland Urban Interface Mitigation Committee (WUIMC)

The NWCG Standards for Mitigation in the Wildland Urban Interface, PMS 052, establishes the standards for understanding and implementation of concepts, issues, and best practices to increase community fire adaptation. This publication is designed to: support common understanding, encourage use of consistent and proven local risk reduction efforts, increase awareness and implementation of mitigation best practices, techniques, tactics, and strategies, and improve community and structure survivability as the result of pre-wildfire mitigation actions.

References:

• PMS 052

Date: May 17, 2023
Contact: Incident Performance and Training Modernization (IPTM)

Today, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) announced the award of a contract as part of an ongoing effort to improve wildland fire management through Incident Performance and Training Modernization. The contract will assist NWCG with building incident position standards, developing an integrated performance-based training system, and aid in modernizing training materials and operational tools to meet NWCG’s mission. NWCG will lead this multi-year effort and will generally start with entry level positions.

References:

• IPTM News Release

Date: May 15, 2023
Contact: Fire Shelter and Personal Protective Equipment Subcommittee (FSPPES)

An updated PMS 411 with a new name NWCG Standards for M-2002 Fire Shelters, is now available on the NWCG website. PMS 411 is no longer a PDF but is now an interactive web portal. The portal contains 10 sections, each explaining a different part of the fire shelter, training for its use, and the use of the fire shelter on the fireline.

References:

• PMS 411

Date: May 9, 2023
Contact: Incident Business Committee (IBC)

The IBC has recognized several changes to business practices that necessitate a revision to release a new edition in the Spring of 2024. Like the previous SIIBM update, the 2024 version will only be available via the NWCG website for downloading and printing. There will not be a hard copy version published and available to order from the cache.
The IBC is requesting comments and content edits from the field regarding potential revisions to the 2024 SIIBM. The memo's attached comment sheet describes the format in which comments should be provided. Comments are due by November 3, 2023.

References:

• Memo 23-06
• Publication Review Form

Date: April 26, 2023
Contact: Data Standards and Terminology Board (DSTB)

The Data Standards and Terminology Board is requesting feedback on the new term Incident Complexity Level.
The proposed definition is: The incident level established by completing an incident complexity analysis considering the level of difficulty, severity, or overall resistance the incident or event presents to incident management or support personnel as they work to manage it; a categorization that helps leaders compare one type of incident or event to another.  
Please review, share with your subgroups, and provide feedback as appropriate. The term will be out for review until May 26 , 2023.

References:

• Glossary Request Feedback

Date: April 17, 2023
Contact: Katy O'Hara and Nick Heller

The purpose of this memorandum is to reinforce FireNet as the recognized standard official electronic messaging and file collaboration system to support interagency wildland fire missions during the 2023 fire year. 
FireNet is the designated environment for conducting wildland fire operations, and as such, Incident Management Teams (IMTs), dispatch centers and other fire support operations must be using FireNet email, Teams, and SharePoint to the maximum extent possible. 

References:

• Memorandum 23-003
• FireNet
• FireNet SOPs

Date: April 3, 2023
Contact: Emergency Medical Committee (EMC)

NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire First Aid establishes minimum standards for first aid for wildland fire environments. The intent of NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire First Aid is to address the gaps in traditional first aid courses and the wildland fire environment. NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire First Aid could be met through a variety of methods, including supplementing traditional first aid courses with existing resources or through development and utilization of wildland fire specific first aid training programs.  NWCG standards are interagency by design; however, the decision to adopt and utilize them is made independently by the individual member agencies.

References:

• PMS 560
• NWCG NFES Catalog - Part 2: Publications, PMS 449-2