Health Department Contact Information for Home Units Guidance

Source: Wildland Fire Medical and Public health Advisory Team (MPHAT)

For Employee or Fire Incident COVID-19 Response

To be included in IMT Briefing Package.

Visit the county health and the state health department website to locate:
1. The COVID-19 call numbers
2. The COVID- 19 contact (when available)
3. Any information about how the county health department wants employers to respond or report COVID-19 cases
Call the county COVID-19 call line. You will likely leave a message or talk to an operator. Please be patient if you do not talk with a person or if your questions are not answered right away, public health authorities may be busy.
If you are able to talk with someone, let them know about your anticipated COVID-19 procedures. Use the information below as a guide:
1. A COVID-19 Coordinator name and contact information (if known).
2. Any MPHAT/Agency/ICT COVID-19 policies or other pertinent information.
3. Testing policies or actions (if known) including
  1. What the district plans to do with symptomatic individuals, close contacts, positive cases, and testing (if known). Use the back of this document as a starting point.
4. How to engage and any guidance from the health department about their policies such as:
  1. Does the health department want regular check-ins from the district? If so, at what interval, who is the point of contact, and what information do they want to receive?
  2. When a worker becomes symptomatic, does the health department want to be notified and coordinate testing and follow-up care? If not, does the health department have recommendations on who in the county can provide care and where should the worker go to obtain a test.
  3. Hospital, urgent care, and testing locations.
  4. How engaged, what is the process for, and what will the timing be for case investigation and contact tracing and outbreak investigations?
    1. What is a workplace outbreak (more than 2 cases) and when does the county want to be notified and how?
  5. Is the health department in agreeance with the district sending asymptomatic or mildly sick personnel to their home unit (away from this county). If so, does the health department have guidance?

Local and State Health Department Information
State Health Department COVID-19 Contact information including: 24/7 phone number Websites Email addresses
Local Health Department COVID-19 Contact information including: 24/7 phone number Websites Email addresses
Local County Health Department Point of Contact Name and Contact Information

Health Department Guidance On
Check-in procedures with Health Department How often? Who is the point of contact? What information should be shared?
Does the health department want to be notified of symptomatic workers? If yes, what is the process? If not, where can workers receive care and obtain tests in the county?
Hospital, urgent care, and testing locations and names
If testing is performed outside of a clinical laboratory (e.g. rapid point of care device testing) how are results reported results and at what interval to the health department?
For case investigation and contact tracing, how engaged with the health department be, what is the process for this, and what will the timing be for these processes?
What is a workplace outbreak (>2 cases) and when does the county want to be notified and how?
If workers are from off-district, can asymptomatic or mildly sick COVID-19 positive workers be sent back to their home unit? If so, does the health department have guidance on this?
Other guidance:

NWCG Latest Announcements

NEW! NWCG Wildland Urban Interface Mitigation Field Guide, PMS 053

Date: March 12, 2025
Contact: Wildland Urban Interface Mitigation Committee

The NWCG Wildland Urban Interface Mitigation Field Guide, PMS 053 provides mitigation practitioners at all experience levels with recommendations on the most effective and efficient ways to accomplish mitigation work in communities at risk to wildfire damage or destruction. The content in this guide was written in coordination with the NWCG Standards for Mitigation in the Wildland Urban Interface, PMS 052.

References:

NWCG Wildland Urban Interface Mitigation Field Guide, PMS 053

Updated, NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire Module Operations, PMS 430

Date: March 11, 2025
Contact: Fire Use Subcommittee
Wildland Fire Module Unit

The NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire Module Operations, PMS 430 standardizes procedures and expectations for Wildland Fire Modules (WFMs). These standards are to be used by staff, supervisors, specialists, and technicians for planning, administering, and conducting WFM operations. These standards will also be used as a measure of WFM qualifications, capabilities, and expected performance, for both Type 1 and Type 2 WFMs.

References:

NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire Module Operations, PMS 430

NEW! NWCG Standards for Airtanker Operations, PMS 514

Date: March 7, 2025
Contact: National Interagency Aviation Committee

The NWCG Standards for Airtanker Operations, PMS 514 establishes the standards for dispatching, utilizing, and coordinating airtankers on interagency wildland fires. These standards should be used in conjunction with the NWCG Standards for Aerial Supervision (SAS), PMS 505, NWCG Standards for Airtanker Base Operations (SABO), PMS 508, and any applicable agency plans.

References:

NWCG Standards for Airtanker Operations, PMS 514

Incident Position Standards and Next Gen Position Task Books Now Available for Dispatch Incident Positions

Date: March 5, 2025
Contact: National Coordination System Committee

NWCG is excited to announce that Incident Position Standards and Next Generation Position Task Books are now available for all six Dispatch positions:

Aircraft Dispatcher
Expanded Dispatch Coordinator
Expanded Dispatch Recorder
Expanded Dispatch Supervisory Dispatcher
Expanded Dispatch Support Dispatcher
Initial Attack Dispatcher

The Performance Support Packages for these positions, including the Expanded Dispatch Job Aid, J-601 and the Initial Attack and Aircraft Dispatcher Job Aid, J-602, were developed as part of the Incident Performance and Training Modernization (IPTM) effort. These resources support trainees, qualified personnel, and evaluators in their roles.

Any changes to qualification pathways will take effect with the next update of the NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire Position Qualifications, PMS 310-1.