and today to a responder conversation
18-hole in a work instruction were there
to support them if they need additional
resources we're there to support them
and make sure they get the thing I
support the firefighter on the ground
seeing that all the fires are getting
with it we are your support system and
we're here to support you
they are our voice on the other side of
the radio they get you the supplies and
resources you need they provide you with
information and updates but who are they
and what do they do how much do you know
about the dispatch system you are about
to get a crash course on the three tier
dispatch system and how it works
the primary mission of the national
dispatch system is the timely cost
effective and efficient coordination
mobilization and demobilization of
wildland fire resources the wildland
fire dispatch system is made up of three
tiers each tier has a unique role in the
system tier three includes all of the
local level dispatch and coordination
centers across the United States local
dispatch centers are responsible for
initial attack response and incident
support the job at the local level is
you are in charge of engines and
aircraft and crews and overhead and
those are your resources that you use
for your local fires and when those are
depleted and you don't have enough for
year fires that's when you contact the
GAC and then the GAC level helps us get
other resources either from the Marine
dispatch centers or from other
geographical areas to assist us with
that fire on the local level the the
third tier dispatch center we get to
work more with the field folks and then
they do at the GAC level and I think
that is a benefit to me as a dispatcher
being able to get the whole picture we
are there for them where they're linked
you
to anything outside of our own little
local area so I think we we have that
working knowledge with them about their
needs and then what they want and so we
are like their conduit to the national
side of things tier 2 includes the 10
geographic area coordination centers org
acts each of which serve a specific
geographic portion of the United States
GAX are made up of several local
dispatch centers and are responsible for
mobilizing resources internally among
local dispatch centers to meet existing
and anticipated needs so dispatching a
day GAC a geographic area carnation
center is a lot different than a tier 3
local dispatch center or even at the
tier 1 the National Coordination Center
so geographic coordination centers are
much more about coordinating and not
really dispatching what we look at is is
that we have a large number of requests
for additional resources or for
additional information about incidents
or values at risk so at a geographic
level we typically are more coordinator
related so we're looking at information
in different ways aggregating
information to try and and gain a better
sense of what our critical shortages
might be what our incident needs might
be and so if you're a firefighter in the
field and you're looking for a type 1
shock crew to come in to support you on
your incident and there's another
dispatch area that has a similar type of
an incident with a similar type of a
need we at the geographic level are
going to be looking at those two
requests and trying to determine how
best to meet those needs my whole job is
to get stuff to them so that they can do
the job and then when the fire is out
and the job's done then it's my job to
track that other stuff home in a
nutshell that's what I do
I track them Tier one is the National
Interagency Coordination Center
the Knicks principle mission is cost
effective and timely coordination of
Land Management Agency emergency
response for wildland fire at the
national level the NIC physicians
resources across the country to meet
existing and anticipated incident
preparedness severity wildland and
prescribed fire needs regardless of
geographic location or agency
affiliation our job is to coordinate the
mobilization of emergency resources
across the nation and internationally to
primarily wildland fire incidents but
also all hazard incidents the difference
is in the job of a dispatcher between
the three tiers that being local
geographic and national primarily at the
local level where the bulk of the work
gets done the initial response those
local centers are primarily the tactical
initial response to an incident at the
geographic and national levels we're
more strategic and and priority setting
functionally we we have to look at
multiple fires and determine what the
best strategy is looking down the road
dispatchers at all three tiers use a
computer program to order and track
resources resource orders are created to
mobilize resources and help me any
specific incident needs when you place
an order in the system it's always going
to be much faster when you can get it in
your local center in your local zone or
your neighboring zones hence why we tell
folks go closest forces first because
that's going to be your immediate
response as you move out into the GAC
not only do you have to find the
resource get approval from the local to
be able to let that resource go get them
together and get them on the road and
then the drive time or the fly time or
whatever the travel time is to get there
now you're talking hours days sometimes
to be able to get a resource in a timely
manner
so when when you're talking about the
system you place the order
it's can't get it local you can't get it
at your neighbors comes to the GAC the
GAC then reaches out to all the other
dispatch centers in the GAC and if we
can't find it there it has to go to Nick
and then Nick needs to decide yes
California may be closest to the Great
Basin in this example but they may be in
pl5 so they're not going to go to the
pl5 to pull resources away from them
they're going to go to an area that's
not busy to support us and that may be
Rocky Mountain Southwest Eastern Area
Southern Area further out you go so
that's why and how it kind of goes
through the system so when a resource
sees someone else of the same type going
to a local fire that they might be
qualified for there are some things they
may not consider it could be a federal
only order or an agency only order it
could be one that says no contractors no
co-operators we have to abide by that
many factors can affect resource
mobilization including incident
prioritization resource allocation and
drawdown levels when competition for
wildland fire resources occurs and there
are not enough resources available to
meet the needs of the incidents
multi-agency coordination groups Mac
groups are activated to establish
incident priorities and resource
allocation met groups can be activated
at all three tiers what we really try
and focus in on is what are the what is
the work that needs to be done on an
incident if it requires two type 1 crews
for three days and you need a helicopter
to support them then let's let's look at
that work that that happens at the
incident level and and mitigate those
potential values at risk the other side
of the coin is now that with multiple
objective incidents not every fire are
we putting out at the smallest size so
we have to factor in those those kinds
of things to achieve achieve landscape
objectives which oftentimes may require
those same resources that we're using
for full suppression off you know
sometimes weather patterns did take
where you know you may be moist up north
and dry down south or you know windy
down south and not so much of north
those kinds of things or an east-west
orientation so we always have to pay
attention to to those factors and and
critical fire weather events and respond
appropriately so sometimes those
resources in the middle you know you may
need to take a resource from up north
and drive south and and unfortunately
drive past some folks in the middle in
terms of prioritizing and allocating
those resources depending upon
preparedness level either the National
Coordination Center will have discretion
to prioritize and allocate those or we
will implement priority decisions of the
National multi-agency coordinating group
a preparedness level three and above so
what that means is when we're really
busy
the national fire directors those
individuals that make up the National
multi-agency coordinating group will
convene daily once or twice be briefed
by our office and then determine what
the priorities are and and the resulting
allocations from those priorities and
tasks the NIC with implementing those
decisions
the three-tier dispatch system is quite
complex it requires dedication
communication cooperation and passion
the system is designed to meet the
mission of dispatch but the people who
use it
desire nothing more than to provide the
best possible support to field going
personnel seeing that all the fires are
getting what they need I support the
firefighter on the ground we're there to
support them if they need additional
resources there to support them and make
sure they get what they need we are your
support system
you
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