ESRI Decision-Support Tools for Wildland Fire Management training, held December 3-5, 2019 - South Portland, ME.
This wildly successful training was held again in cooperation with the Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact in early December. This was a three-day training covering the following topics:
- Tuesday: ESRI Mobile Applications for Wildland Fire Management
- Wednesday: Operationalizing ESRI Decision-Support Tools
- Thursday: Get Ready for GISS
About ESRI Decision-Support Tools for Wildland Fire Management
When it comes to wildfire protection, local, state, and federal agencies must be able to respond at a moment’s notice. ESRI’s geographic information system (GIS) tools enable wildland firefighters to protect life, property, and natural resources through comprehensive planning and coordinated response. From simple fire suppression to complex, large-scale incident response involving numerous agencies, training in GIS tools can help you make accurate decisions under any conditions.
This suite of courses builds on the 2018 series featuring instructor Chris Ferner. Whether you participated in last year’s trainings or are joining us for the first time, this suite of ESRI Decision-Support Tools courses will help prepare you and your agency to tackle wildland fire management with the latest and greatest information.
ESRI Mobile Applications for Wildland Fire Management - Tuesday Dec 3rd, 2019
Course Description: Collector has been updated significantly since the 2018 training. This one-day course will provide an excellent refresher for individuals used to Collector Classic and introduction for individuals new to Collector. This course will focus on Collector and Survey123 and may introduce additional tools (e.g. QuickCapture or Tracker) that can capture critical information to firefighter situational awareness. Where is the fire located? What resources are deployed on the fire, and where? Where are the evacuation routes? What are the values at risk? Participants will learn to capture, share, and display these data on mobile devices. This course will also involve a team-based field exercise.
Target Group: Field-based fire personnel including first responders, squad and crew bosses, helitack personnel, as well as natural resource professionals in prescribed fire and other applications.
Course Prerequisites: “Smart” phone, tablet, or other mobile device required.
Operationalizing ESRI Decision-Support Tools - Wednesday Dec 4th, 2019
Course Description: Once you’ve collected spatial data on a fire, how do you read and make decisions based on that information? This course will delve into the computer-based GIS functionality behind data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Participants will use these tools to track resources, assess changing fire behavior, predetermine tactics and strategies, produce key maps to support suppression operations, and measure progress toward meeting established objectives. Ideally, participants will register for this course in home unit teams that include a GIS point person and key field people. During the morning of this workshop, the instructor will lead participants through building a web map and app in dashboard. The afternoon will provide time for home unit groups to work through building their GIS tools to meet their needs.
Target Group: Fire management staff officers, agency administrators, command staff, incident commanders.
Course Prerequisites: ESRI Mobile Applications for Wildland Fire Management or equivalent. Basic familiarity with GIS software is recommended. Students will be required to provide their own laptop computer for the course.
Get Ready for GISS - Thursday, December 5th, 2019
Course Description: GIS Specialists (GISS) positions are critical to incident management, but there is a shortage of qualified GISSes available to Compact teams. This course will provide participants with the core skills needed to get on assignment as a GISS trainee. (Note: S-341 is not a prerequisite to become a GISS unless you work for the USDA Forest Service or the State of California.) This one-day course will prepare individuals to take S-341, which is offered by NWCG and is very competitive to attend.
Target Group: Fire management staff officers, PIOs, resource advisors, natural resource managers, fire scientists.
Course Prerequisites: Introduction to ESRI Decision-Support Tools for Wildland Fire Management. Basic familiarity with GIS software is recommended. Students will be required to provide their own laptop computer for the course.
Course Introduction video from last year’s training