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Emergency Medical Committee

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Mission Statement

Mission Statement

The Emergency Medical Committee (EMC) provides national leadership in incident emergency medical services (EMS) for wildland fire personnel. The EMC establishes NWCG standards that support rapid delivery of high quality emergency medical services on national interagency wildland fire incidents.

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Primary Objectives

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  • Establish wildland fire EMS operations, staffing, and equipment standards.
  • Establish standards that enable system-wide accountability, including quality assurance, medical direction and oversight, provider credentialing, and records maintenance.
  • Facilitate national mobility and availability of wildland fire EMS personnel.
  • Establish standardized EMS data collection practices for wildland fire incidents.
  • Collaborate with key stakeholders among the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners in support of wildland fire EMS standardization and improvement efforts.
  • Contribute to the standardization of information technology systems (such as FireNet, IROC, etc.) to collect and distribute data, processes, forms, and other operational elements.

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The NWCG EMC annually recognizes and honors individuals and/or organizations who have demonstrated outstanding work, actions, or programs in emergency medical service for our nation’s wildland firefighters.  

The five Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Award categories include:  

  • Outstanding Wildfire EMS Individual of the Year 
  • Outstanding Wildfire EMS Squad/Crew/Team of the Year 
  • Outstanding Wildfire EMS Distinguished Service of the Year 
  • Excellence in Wildfire Emergency Medical Service/Rescue 
  • Janette Peterson Lifetime Achievement in Wildfire Emergency Medical Service 

Read about the 2023 winners

Previous winners

2024 Emergency Medical Service Award Nominations

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Additional Resources

Critical Incident Stress Management(CISM)

Line-of-Duty Death (LODD)

Chair: Tyler McCowan

NWCG Coordinator: Katy O'Hara

Parent Committee:

Meeting Schedule: TBD

Page Last Modified or Reviewed:

NWCG Latest Announcements

2024 Week of Remembrance

Date: June 27, 2024
Contact: 6 Minutes for Safety Subcommittee 

As we approach the 2024 Week of Remembrance (WOR), June 30 to July 6, we dedicate this time to thoughtfully reviewing and recognizing the events of the 2018 Mendocino Complex. As such, this year’s theme of “Learning From the Mendocino Complex” embodies a longstanding hallmark of WOR, honoring through learning.

Throughout the week, our energy will be directed toward fostering generative conversations in briefing rooms and at tailgates.

References:

6 Minutes for Safety - 2024 Week of Remembrance

Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center

Updated NWCG Wildland Fire Risk and Complexity Assessment, PMS 236

Date: June 24, 2024
Contact: Incident and Position Standards Committee 

The June 2024 update of the NWCG Wildland Fire Risk and Complexity Assessment, PMS 236, is now available to meet the current needs for incident management typing.

The NWCG Wildland Fire Risk and Complexity Assessment should be used to evaluate firefighter safety issues, assess risk, and identify the appropriate incident management organization based on incident complexity. Assessing risk, determining incident complexity, and identifying an appropriate incident management organization is a subjective process based on examining a combination of indicators or factors, which can change over time.

References:

NWCG Wildland Fire Risk and Complexity Assessment, PMS 236

Operations Branch Director (OPBD) Next Gen PTB Available

Date: June 10, 2024
Contact: NWCG Feedback 

The NWCG Position Task Book for Operations Branch Director (OPBD), PMS 311-109 is now available for use within the OPBD position qualification pathway. As part of the transition to Complex Incident Management (CIM), the OPBD Next Gen PTB was developed and the position qualification pathway updated.

More information about the Next Gen PTB format can be found on the NWCG Position Task Book webpage.

References:

Operations Branch Director Position Page

Operations Branch Director Next Gen PTB

NWCG Position Task Books

Updated NWCG Standards for Interagency Incident Business Management, PMS 902

Date: June 5, 2024
Contact: NWCG Incident Business Committee 

The 2024 revision of the NWCG Standards for Interagency Incident Business Management, PMS 902 is now available. The uniform application of interagency incident business management standards is critical to interagency fire operations. PMS 902 assists NWCG agencies in constructively working together to provide effective execution of each agency's incident business management program.

References:

PMS 902