 Year-round federal, state, and local government agencies fight wildland fires throughout the country. These efforts saved lives while protecting property and valuable natural resources. In the effort to manage wildland fires, many resources are used. Aircraft, engines, dozers, satellite imagery, communications equipment, but the most important resource is the people. These individuals need to have the skills and training to accomplish a wide variety of jobs to meet management objectives, supply technicians, timekeepers, computer specialists, dispatchers, and many others. The purpose of this program is to provide you with basic information to prepare you for success in your first assignment. The Fireline Handbook is required to support this presentation. Essential information about the incident command system, fire management operations, positions, and tasks are defined in the Fireline Handbook. All fire management agencies use the incident command system, or ICS, as the organizational structure for managing wildland fires. ICS employs a system of standardized training, terminology, and operational procedures that allow firefighting organizations to work together in an orderly and effective manner. The ICS structure is organized around an incident commander and command staff, supported by operations, planning, logistics, and finance sections. The incident commander, or IC, is responsible for the overall management of the incident. The IC is supported by a command staff, which includes a safety officer, information officer, and any necessary liaisons. The operations section manages all actions directly related to fighting the fire. The planning section develops all plans and maps, collects documentation, and tracks resources for the incident. The logistics section provides the facilities, services, and supplies required to support the incident. The finance section provides all the fiscal services to the incident. You must complete a significant amount of planning and preparation before you are ready to go on your first fire assignment. This includes meeting your personal responsibilities to family independence, coordinating with your supervisor, and completing necessary training. By taking a fire assignment, you are making a commitment to be gone from your home and regular duties for up to two weeks. You will not be released from your fire assignment unless a true personal emergency exists. Many wildland fire positions require the completion of supporting courses and the issuing of position taskbooks to document your qualifications. Meet with your agency training officer who will assist you with training and certification requirements. A red card will be issued to you which documents your fire position qualifications, just like your driver's license. Carry the red card with you to all fire assignments. Across the country, fires occur in many environments. You should prepare yourself for assignments from the humid southeast to the temperate mountain west, the arid southwest, to central Alaska. Housing can vary from camping in primitive remote locations to football fields or motels in urban areas. You need to be prepared for assignments in any of these environments. Fire assignments may last from a few days to a few weeks. You will be limited to two bags, one for personal belongings and one for fire line gear, or a kit to support your assignment duties. Your personal gear should support you for at least seven days. A red bag suitcase will be issued to you to carry your personal belongings to incidents. Pack toiletries, rain gear, non-synthetic clothing and cold weather attire into the red bag. Remember to bring along cash and your ATM card as you would for any other trip. Remember to include enough prescription medications to last through your assignment. Even if you are filling a camp position, you must bring all personal protective equipment or PPE required for fire line duty. Check with your dispatcher for current gear weight restrictions. Refer to the fire line handbook for basic gear suggestions. Consulting with experienced firefighters will also help you pack wisely. Loss of non-essential personal items such as cameras, electronic games or radios on fire assignments will not be compensated for. Never bring firearms, alcohol or illicit drugs. By having your gear packed and staying informed about current fire activity, you will be meeting your responsibility to be prepared. Your fire assignment will begin with a call from the dispatch office. There are several pieces of information you need to receive for either local or out of area assignments. Most of this information can be obtained from the resource order form, which the dispatch system uses to mobilize resources to incidents. Your dispatch office should provide you a copy of this form when you are mobilized. The header of the resource order form identifies the requesting agency address and location, the tracking number assigned to the incident, the fiscal code you will use on your timesheet, and lists the phone number for the incident. A request number is assigned to the position being ordered, and you will be tracked by the dispatch system using this number. If you are unable to get a copy of the resource order form, make sure you write down all the information necessary to get you to your assignment. This information is required for tracking resources to and from incidents and must be provided by you when checking in at the incident. Confirming your length of commitment, travel arrangements, check-in location, and other resource order information will help you get to your assignment safely and efficiently. Use the same common sense in fire assignment travel you would in personal or other government travel. When you arrive at the incident, the first thing you must do is check-in. Check-in establishes your arrival, provides you with essential information about the incident, and links you to your supervisor. Check-in may be at many different locations. At the hosting dispatch office, directly to the incident commander or division supervisor on small incidents, staging areas, camps, hella bases, and always at the incident command post or ICP. All the information you receive from the dispatcher, including your request number, position, method of travel, other red card skills, and return destination are needed at check-in. You must also check-in with finance to establish timekeeping requirements and provide emergency contact information on the emergency firefighter time report. Remember, check-in must be completed before doing anything else at the incident. After completing check-in, meet with your supervisor to get a briefing on your assignment. The briefing should cover the specific responsibilities you will perform, an introduction to your co-workers, the location of your work area, procedures for obtaining additional supplies, services or personnel, local hazards, and eating and sleeping arrangements. Make sure you understand your assignment. This is your time to ask questions and get answers to ensure your assignment gets started well. Establish debriefing times with your supervisor in order to get feedback. Refer to the common responsibilities section in the Fireline Handbook for a briefing checklist. If you are assigned as a trainee, you should provide your supervisor with your position taskbook and request feedback on your job performance throughout the assignment. Other sources of incident information are co-workers, the incident action plan, operational briefings, information boards, and monitoring radio communications. The incident base exists to support the operation section in accomplishing its mission. Incident base camps may range in size from a few vehicles parked together to fully supported camps with the amenities of a small town. A small incident base camp may only contain basic support necessities for sleeping, eating and sanitation. As the incident size and complexity increases, support requirements will also increase. When you arrive at check-in, you are meeting members of the planning section. The planning section tracks incident resources during check-in through demobilization, formulates the incident action plan, creates incident maps, and maintains incident information boards. When you check-in with the finance unit, they will begin recording your personal time and handle any compensation claims paperwork. They also track incident costs. The logistics section provides for many types of support to the incident camp. The communication unit provides and maintains radios, cell phones, satellite communication. The ground support unit arranges for incident transportation needs, fueling and vehicle maintenance, and safety inspections. The medical unit provides medical aid, emergency evacuation, and medical supplies. You may be wondering what are you going to get to eat? On short duration incidents, you may be eating MREs, sack lunches, or food obtained from local restaurants. On large incidents, caterers are contracted to provide hot breakfast and dinner with sack lunches as standard lunch fare. Sleeping areas will be located in the quietest section of the campsite. Other amenities may include showers, laundry facilities, and a commissary to obtain personal items. Many people feel that since their job will be in a camp, they don't need personal protective equipment. No one can be absolutely sure that a fire camp will not be burned over. You should have your boots, fire shelter, hard hat, gloves, and fire clothing readily available at all times. As incidents wind down, you will either be sent home if your tour of duty limitation has been reached, or you may be reassigned if available to another incident to complete your tour. In either case, the demobilization process is the same. Demobilization from the incident begins with your supervisor who identifies that you are at the end of your tour or access to the incident needs. You should verify the demobilization schedule with your supervisor. Ensure your supervisor has completed your performance evaluation and entries in your position task book. See the Demobilization Unit Leader for a Demobilization Checklist. Depending on the complexity of the incident, you will need to check out with a facilities unit to document that your sleeping area is clean, return all issued property to the supply unit, submit all forms and reports you were responsible for to the documentation unit, return your vehicle to the ground support unit, or have them check it to ensure it is safe for travel, obtain copies of your emergency firefighter time report from the finance unit, and finally stop at the security unit before leaving the incident. Obtain a copy of your demobilization travel information or write it down. Report to your departure point on time. If you are with a group, stay with them until you reach your final destination. Make sure you call or check in with your home dispatch office on arrival so they can document your return. On Return Home, it is your responsibility to take care of your family and work obligations in preparation for your next fire assignment. Your first fire assignment will be a new and interesting experience. With the help of this video, the Fireline Handbook, and discussion with experienced Wildland Fire Support personnel, you should be able to quickly familiarize yourself with this challenging environment. Good luck.