Emmitsburg, MD. - In a National Association of State Foresters sponsored report to Congress, “The Changing Role and Needs of Local, Rural and Volunteer Fire Departments in the Wildland Urban Interface”, a recommendation was made to develop performance-based wildland fire training “delivery packages” that target volunteer and rural fire departments. As a result, the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S.
Fire Administration (USFA), in cooperation with the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG), is working on a number of projects to provide structural firefighters with the competencies needed to work safely in wildland urban interface areas. This information will be provided to the States to utilize.
One of these projects is “Wildland Fire Training for Rural Fire Departments”, a one-hour program that will be broadcast over the National Preparedness Network (PREPnet) on Wednesday, October 4, at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM EDT. Available for viewing through both satellite and the Internet, this program will provide an update on the “Training Equivalency/Crosswalk” project that identifies the necessary knowledge and skill set that a structural firefighter would have in responding to a wildland fire incident and meets the standards identified in National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards 1001 and 1021. This project contains information on the common ground between wildland and structural firefighting and what additional training will be needed to work in this environment. Participants will provide project information to assist local, rural, and volunteer fire services in assessing their readiness to safely engage in wildland fire suppression. After completing the testing phase of the project, additional information will be provided to all state fire training organizations. Each state will be able to use the crosswalk to evaluate training requirements for structural firefighters to effectively manage Wildland/Urban Interface firefighting.
Rural, volunteer, and other local fire departments are the nation’s first line of defense against fires in the Wildland-Urban Interface and surrounding landscapes. The ability of local firefighters to contain a fire incident through quick and efficient initial response can dramatically reduce large-scale wildland impacts to the public and to the environment.
How to Watch
The broadcast will be available live via satellite and the Internet. To pre-register for the Internet session and to test your system, go to www.prepnet10-4webcast.com before October 4, 2006. The Web broadcast will be available for viewing for 90 days at this site.
The live satellite broadcast will air at 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, with a rebroadcast between at 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Technical tests for all broadcasts will begin at 1:30 PM Eastern Time and 6:45 PM Eastern Time, prior to each broadcast. The satellite coordinates are listed below:
C-Band Ku-Band
Satellite Galaxy 3C AMC 6
Transponder 3 22
Downlink Frequency 3760 MHz 12140 MHz
Audio Frequency 6.2/6.8 MHz 6.2/6.8 MHz
Location 95 degrees West 72 degrees West
Polarity Horizontal Horizontal
For additional broadcast information, please call (800) 500-5164 or prepnet@dhs.gov.