Wildfire management
Keen to align the WTA capability to the existing National Resilience Tactical Advisor network and structures, the NFCC Wildfire Group subsequently developed a WTA Concept of Operations proposal outlining the role, mobilisation and capability requirements. It was agreed by the NFCC Wildfire Group and formally submitted for approval to the NFCC Operations Coordinating Committee in June 2017. The proposal was accepted and approved on the basis that it would be an informal, ‘best endeavours’ response which would be supported by National Resilience, hosted on the electronic support system (ESS) but with aspects of the mobilisation delivered by Northumberland FRS, and management resting with the NFCC wildfire lead and the NFCC Wildfire Group chair. Support for the principle of the WTA capability had already been secured from a number of chief fire officers across the UK, and following two WTA workshops, it was anticipated that the network would be in place for late spring in 2018. With the wildfire season of 2018 having
proved to be the most significant since 2011, major wildfire events were responded to well in advance of what would be considered the normal ‘wildfire season’, and there has been a marked increase in the number of fires that are being recorded on the National Reporting Tool which meet the UK FRS definition of a wildfire. Two fires in particular – Saddleworth/
Tameside (GMFRS) and Rivington/Winter Hill (LFRS) in June/July – brought the issue of UK wildfires back into national prominence, and also proved to be an early test for the WTA capability.
First deployment
Although not yet a declared ‘live’ capability, the media reports relating to the Saddleworth incident prompted an informal offer of WTA assistance to be made directly to GMFRS, which resulted in a formal request being passed to NRFC on 27 June. The first deployment of the NFCC WTA capability began with a team of five personnel mobilised from Lancashire, Northumberland and Merseyside, and on the ground attendance and support began that afternoon. Following an initial briefing and liaison with the incident commander, WTA initial actions focused on understanding the situation across the whole fire ground, establishing the fire perimeter, as well as reviewing current tactics, sectorisation and safe systems of work. Given the scale and geographical dispersion of
the incident, developing an understanding of fire activity across the whole incident took a considerable amount of time, but proved to be a very worthwhile and valuable exercise as it allowed for the WTA to provide a comprehensive and contemporaneously accurate briefing to the command team.
Support provided
The immediate WTA support focused on the following elements: •
provision of tactical advice on embedded ongoing operations
• provision of tactical advice on several areas, including: •
• identifying areas of potential fire spread
•
strengthening/completing control lines to prevent potential fire spread in unburned fuels
• extinguishing hotspots in burnt areas to prevent re-ignition
• advice on aerial operations, including establishing an ‘Air Cell’ and coordination between air attacks and ground crews
• identifying priority actions for incident commanders
• advising on speed of attack when managing fire perimeter strengthening
• providing advice on additional tactics, including suppression burning
www.frmjournal.com SEPTEMBER 2018 25
identifying the full fire perimeter and inter relationship between numerous fires burning within the full perimeter
FOCUS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
