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Fire Occurrence, NFDRS

NFDRS header graphic. Decorative.

Fire occurrence data are required to conduct NFDRS2016 fire business analyses using FireFamilyPlus.

Fire occurrence is compared against calculated same-day fire danger values to find statistical relationships between fire activity and fire danger. This allows NFDRS2016 fire danger metrics to be used to help predict fire activity and related fire management business.

Fire occurrence data for federal agencies, and most states within the U.S., are available from multiple resources in a variety of file formats. There is no authoritative standard. There are also known data quality issues, which vary across the available corporate datasets. It can take an extensive amount of work to develop a fire occurrence dataset suitable for analysis.

For these reasons, it’s recommended that the Fire Program Analysis – Fire Occurrence Dataset (FPA FOD) be use for most historical fire business analyses. The FPA FOD is a national scale, quality controlled, consolidated dataset that draws from most of the available reporting systems. It is managed by Karen Short of the Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS), and is updated annually with an average of two years lag time. The current dataset contains data from 1996 through 2015, and has all the fields needed for a FireFamilyPlus fire business analysis.

The general process for using the FPA FOD in a FireFamilyPlus analysis is as follows:

  1. Obtain a FPA FOD dataset for 1992 thru 2015 for the entire United States.
  2. Use a spatial analysis tool or system (ArcGIS, AGOL, etc.) to import the QA/QC’d consolidated dataset and clip the data to the planning area or Fire Danger Rating Areas (FDRAs).
  3. In FireFamilyPlus, create custom agencies, units and sub-units as necessary to represent the planning area and/or any FDRAs.
  4. Organize the data by column identified by FireFamilyPlus in the data import function using Excel Spreadsheet, save as a .csv file.
  5. Import the final fire occurrence dataset into FireFamilyPlus, and associate the fires with one or more stations or SIGs.
Tech Tips for each of these steps AND for integrating more recent fire occurrence into an analysis will be posted here as they are updated, so please check back often for updates.

NWCG Latest Announcements

2025 NWCG Incident Response Pocket Guide (IRPG), PMS 461, Now Available

Date: February 27, 2025
Contact: Incident Operations Subcommittee

NWCG is excited to announce that the 2025 NWCG Incident Response Pocket Guide (IRPG), PMS 461, is now available. Visit NWCG's website to learn about the major updates and changes in the 2025 version of the IRPG. The NWCG Guia de Respuesta de Incidente de Bolsillo (GRI), PMS 461-ES is available electronically and will be available from Great Basin Cache by early summer 2025.

All hard copy materials, including the IRPG, are ordered through the Great Basin Cache (GBK). Information on the ordering process can be found in the National Fire Equipment System (NFES) Catalog.

References:

2025 IRPG Information 

NWCG Incident Response Pocket Guide (IRPG), PMS 461 

NWCG Guia de Respuesta de Incidente de Bolsillo (GRI), PMS 461-ES 

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

2025 Professional Reading Program

Date: February 18, 2025
Contact: Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program (WFLDP)

The Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program is announcing the 2025 Professional Reading list! The goal of the annual reading list is to promote the reading and discussion of the books throughout the year.

The five books chosen for this year are: Surf When You Can by Brett Crozier, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, Elephant Company by Vicki Constantine Croke, Simply Managing by Henry Mintzberg, and Chop Wood Carry Water by Joshua Metcalf.

References:

Professional Reading Program

Task Group Volunteers Needed to Update the Property Loss or Damage Report, OF 289

Date: February 5, 2025
Contact: Julie Bennett, Incident Business Committee Chair

The Incident Business Committee (IBC) is requesting volunteers for a new task group to revise the 1981 version of the Property Loss or Damage Report, OF 289 and create an incident replacement job aid. The volunteers may be recruited from within or outside the Geographic Area Incident Business Committees.

References:

IBC Memorandum 25-02

IBC Correspondence

2025 Updates to the NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire Position Qualifications, PMS 310-1

Date: February 4, 2025
Contact: Incident and Position Standards Committee

The NWCG Incident and Position Standards Committee has updated the NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire Position Qualifications, PMS 310-1. 

These updates address changes to incident position names and requirements for qualification, training, and experience. Updates related to the implementation of Complex Incident Management (CIM) are also included.  

The NWCG Wildland Fire Position Qualification Flowchart, PMS 308 has also been updated to reflect the recent changes.

References:

NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire Position Qualifications, PMS 310-1

NWCG Wildland Fire Position Qualification Flowchart, PMS 308

NWCG Memo: 2025-01 January 2025 Updates to the NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire Positions Qualifications, PMS 310-1