Dispatch Academy helps new employees hit the ground running
A dispatcher hard at work running radios at Puget Sound Interagency Dispatch Center. (USDA Forest Service photo courtesy of Erica Keene)
OREGON — Dispatchers are often the unseen but critical support personnel for wildland fires. They work long hours and are behind every firefighter,…
#Training, #WildfireTraining
When saving a life, practice makes perfect
Forest Service firefighters and trails employees regularly use helicopters to deliver and pick up materials and supplies. However, in this exercise employees learn how to package and transport, via helicopter and other methods, a much more sensitive parcel: an injured patient. (Forest Service photo by Kelsey…
#Rescue, #WildfireTraining, #Training
Getting fire-ready
The Caribou-Targhee National Forest extends like a long finger down the Idaho-Wyoming state line with seven ranger districts scattered from the storied lawless zone the U.S. Constitution forgot near Yellowstone National Park, through the range of Liger Town, all the way down to the multistate lake with its own version of the Loch Ness Monster. More than 30 map-dot-sized communities lie within 50…
#Helicopter, #Training, #WildfireTraining
Interagency Wildland Fire Academy focuses on firefighter well-being
The wildland fire community experiences an average of 17 fatalities each year, according to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. The Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial is located outside the academy in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, and was created to honor the men and women of Tennessee that…
#Wellness, #Training, #WildfireTraining
Eicks Fire Organizational Learning Report now available
On May 24, 2021, agency fire personnel resources responded to a fire in Hidalgo County, New Mexico. During a late afternoon fire jump, smokejumper Tim Hart was injured when he landed on a rocky slope at the base of a ravine. Tim’s injuries were severe, and despite immediate care from emergency…
#WildfireTraining, #Smokejumpers, #WildlandFirefighting
Aerial Ignition Academy trains drone pilots, reduces risk to employees [VIDEO]
WASHINGTON, DC—The Forest Service is committed to its values and places highest importance on employee safety. That’s why we’re using unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, to reduce risk for Forest Service firefighters, land managers and aviation assets. “We’re talking about a new tool that we can introduce in the conversation on risk management,” said Dirk Giles, national UAS program…