Endnotes 1 National Park Service Wildland Fire Program Wildfires, Prescribed Fires, and Fuels 2 National Wildfire Coordinating Group, “Glossary of Wildland Fire Terminology”, July 2012 3 Western Fire Chiefs Association, The Pros and Cons of Prescribed Burns, November 29, 2022 4 US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, “Confronting the Wildfire Crisis”, January 2022 5 IQAir, “Are wildfires increasing or decreasing?” August 13, 2022 6 Andrew Moore, Climate Change is Making Wildfires Worse-Here’s How”, NC State University College of Natural Resources News, August 29, 2022, https://cnr.ncsu.edu/ news/2022/08/climate-change-wildfires-explained/ 7 While fire departments are actively fighting the fire, environmental public health agencies may be involved with many activities related to mass care and evacuation facilities, base camps and command posts, air monitoring, public messaging and various preparations for recovery activities. 8 EPH professionals often will work with local or State air quality professionals for sampling and/or public messaging of conditions or sampling results. Depending on the resources available, EPH staff should reach out and ascertain the sampling capabilities and resources of local, State or federal air quality agencies that might also include universities or colleges. 9 The mutual assistance model (a form of mutual aid) is the current expectation seen in recent major wildfires in California with payment agreements negotiated for the resources provided. However, for many state resources brought to support the fire, staff are not obtained through a mutual aid/assistance process. Typically, these resources are at no cost to local EPH or their responsible entities. 10 NIMS/ICS FEMA Training Link: https://training.fema.gov/ nims/ NRF https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers / national-preparedness/frameworks/response 11 Suggest working with the county/city/state emergency management department and seek recommendations and locations of training for responding to wildfires. 12 EHTER Training, CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/ elearn/ehter.htm 13 CDC Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, “All-Hazards Preparedness Guide,” March 2013 14 Each agency has professional firefighters in its ranks with US Forest Service having the most. 15 Austin Wildfire Coalition, Travis County Ready, Set, Go 16 National Interagency Fire Center, Ready, Set, Go! Sandy Fire Department, Utah
17 Proceedings of a workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Implications of the California wildfires for health, communities, and preparedness. 18 Jurisdictions handle public information and its dissemination differently. If a PIO is available and actively involved with EPH activities, it is appropriate they facilitate fact sheets or guidance with key input from EPH staff. It is recommended that EPH ascertain how information will be disseminated and the PIO role mostly for the recovery portion of a wildfire response. It is typical that the fire incident command structure will have an active PIO presence for most information disseminated during the active wildfire. For the most part, fire PIO’s will not be active in formulating EPH information, and will defer to EPH staff or the appropriate PIO. 19 These terms can be found in ICS training workbooks or guides. 20 An IC structure can be established for recovery operations to manage all activities outside of firefighting. This can be done before the fire is contained and fire operations closed. 21 Emergency Operations Center How to Quick Reference Guide, October 2022 22 CDC’s Emergency Operations Center 23 Adjacent EH jurisdictions must also be brought into the conversation as shelters and feeding locations may be established outside of the jurisdiction being impacted directly by the wildfire. 24 In a busy wildfire season, state and federal resources may be engaged in multiple wildfires with staffing potentially stretched thin. In those situations, more local involvement may be necessary. 25 California Department of Public Health (CDPH), “Wildfire Smoke, Considerations for California’s Public Health Officials”, August 2022 26 The Corsi-Rosenthal Box: DIY Box Fan Air Filter for COVID-19 and Wildfire Smoke | Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (ucdavis.edu) March 15, 2022 27 LA Times Story on air quality during wildfires September 10, 2020 28 CNN Wildfire smoke from West’s massive blazes stretches all the way to the east coast July 20, 2021 29 Oregon Wildfire Response Protocol for Severe Smoke Episodes June 30, 2022 30 See EPA weblink “Wildfire Smoke Resources to Protect Your Health” under Indoor Air for guidance and fact sheet examples. 31 Click on links listed links or pdfs below when available throughout document.
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