Internet Fire Reporting - Instructions for Filling Out the F1000 Form

Reporting Fires

Overview of Fire Reports

All incidents for which we do not bill, must be reported as incidents requiring an F1000 Fire Report.

When we talk about "our fires" we mean direct protect and county assist fires. When we talk about "our incidents", we mean our responses and include direct protection fires and false alarms, county assists and mutual aids to county, local or federal agencies.

We have one fire report but four templates: direct protect, county assist, mutual aid or false alarm.
Reportable incidents are:

• DNRC Direct
  DNRC has primary responsibility because this fire occurred on land protected by DNRC as part of a forest fire district (or) this fire occurred on land covered by a DNRC fire protection affidavit (or) this fire poses a direct threat to lands protected by DNRC.
  • False Alarms are direct incidents within DNRC direct protection boundaries.
  • A campfire that escapes, is abandoned, or is an illegal campfire during restrictions are classified as a fire requiring suppression actions.
  • An illegal debris burn when restrictions apply or an escaped debris burn is is classified as a fire requiring suppression.
  • A wildfire that someone else puts out or goes out by itself is a non-action wildfire.
• False Alarm
  A false alarm could be a legal debris burn or legal campfire requiring no suppression action or no fire can be found. False alarm reports will be required any time that a charge code is required to pay responding resources. No hard copy or supporting documentation is needed for false alarms.
• County Assist
  DNRC is providing assistance to a Cooperative County. A letter of assistance signed by the county commissioners must be submitted requesting DNRC to assist the county within 48 hours. Sometimes the county may make a general letter of assistance for fire events expected to impact county resources, for example: multiple ignitions or an expected dry lightning event.
• Mutual Aid
  Mutual aid is assistance provided by DNRC at no cost to the Protecting Agency. No hard copy or supporting documentation is needed for mutual aid incidents.
  We may give mutual aid:
  • to County and Local fire departments or
  • to a federal agency (USFS, NPS, BLM, BIA, FWS).

  Typically mutual aid is aid to a Protecting Agency during the first operational period. Mutual aid may be:

  • Preplanned and shown in Annual Operating Plans, mobilization guides. or separate agreements between the State and County.
  • Mutual Aid may also be given where we have no agreement to a fire department but it is assistance in the first operational period for which we are not going to bill. In this instance the term "mutual" does not really apply but we have broadened the definition and the key is aid for which we will not bill.
  • DNRC also provides mutual aid to one of the Fire Departments in the state under the Montana Mutual Aid Act.

If it is an all-risk incident that we give aid to in the first operational period, even if it is on our protection, that would be a mutual aid. For instance, last year DNRC responded to an incident that turned out to be unexploded ordinance. They waited to see if it exploded a fire would result and also assisted with traffic control. This would be a mutual aid incident.

Cost share fires are fires where the protection and cost is shared among multiple agencies. A cost share agreement has been or is being negotiated and signed by the agencies. Fire reports must also be made on cost share incidents where a fire may have started on another jurisdiction and burned onto our protection or the county asked for our assistance where the fire burned onto private lands or significant assistance was provided by the county or local forces like structure protection where the county requested our assistance. Cost shares are really either direct protect fires or county assist fires as the fire burned onto our direct protection or it burned onto private, city or county lands and the county asked for our assistance.

209s Available:

If a fire expanded to 100 acres or more,a 209 is suppose to be submitted by the protecting agency to the local dispatch office. We want to include these 209s by adding them to the supplemental section as supporting documents. We would like to have the initial 209, a mid-point or maximum resource 209 and a final 209 added as supplements.

Narratives where 209s or 209s and a team took over:

If we initial attacked this fire until it exceeded our IA capacity, the resources and fire behavior should reflect the IA state in addition to the 209s being attached.

The narrative should cover the initial attack, transition to a team and give a short overview of the large fire suppression activity. Please list all the teams that were on the fire and the agency and location of the fire documentation packages in the narrative.

Complexes:

A complex is a group of fires put together to facilitate single management. Wherever possible all fires will be reported as individual fires with individual fire reports.

Situations When Not To Do a Fire Report

1.For fire situations where a single resourse lends assistance on an incident, there is no letter requesting assistance from the county comminsioners, or someone is working on multiple fires like a timekeeper at Southern Land Office doing time for multiple fires: they should use the General Assist SABHR # that ends in 999:

• CES 97x999 or 87x999
• NWS 95x999 or 85x999
• SWS 96x999 or86x999
• EAS 84x999
• NES 88x999
• SOS 89x999

x = the year digit
No F1000 should be filed. The state auditor revealed that we had listed fairly large fires with extremely low dollars and it skewed our cost per acreage statistics.

2. When you want to create a SABHR number but there is no specific fire incident to attach it to like to preposition resources for a predicted lightning bust for instance. Have your dispatcher create an "Other" incident and they will be prompted for either the next direct or next county assist specific SABHR number. This incident will not show up on the F1000 side as the role is "Other".

Starting an F1000 Fire Report

Incidents are started in the F300 Initial Fire Activity Application. The incidents show up in green in the F1000 Incident List as shown below by Folsom Rd, Rodeo Road and Little Bear Incidents.
Click on one of the green entries.

A Direct Protect Fire opened:
The incident will open into the correct template with as much information as is filled in the F300 already filled in here. Notice that the status is "New". This incident only becomes an F1000 incident by the first "save" or "prepared" where the status will change to "created".
The fields with a red star * are required; fields without the red star are optional. Information in Yellow is from the F300 but it doesn't have enough to choose the F1000 value and is giving you a hint.

Direct Protect Fire

Required fields have a red * next to them.

County Assist Fire

County assist fires are only those fires on private lands where the county commissioner has requested assistance and sent us a letter.

Two kinds of county assist scenarios:

• Fire where local fire manager is participating and has first hand knowledge.
• Fire where we paid for the assistance but no direct participation, no “boots on the ground”. Information for this type is limited. We might have sent a dozer or some air support only for a 3000 acre fire for example.

View point for County Assist Fires:

A fire is a moving event. When we get involved in county assists it is past the initial attack stage. Our information on the fire report will reflect from the time we are called until the time we are done. We will focus on DNRC’s participation in the event. If fields are not filled in there will be a discussion of why in the narrative. All fire managers agreed to report or take notes on the fire sooner and provide narrative explanations of the real scenario in the narrative. For County Assist incidents we required fields to be non-mandatory to protect themselves and to portray an accurate picture of our involvement. They need the flexibility to explain things.

Fields optional for County Assists:

• Start of Fire was added for county assists. Many times Reported will be when DNRC became involved. If start of fire is known, that will be filled in. Start of fire defaults to Reported.
• Fire Behavior (fuel model, flame, slope, aspect) is now optional for county assists
• Major carrier of fire was added to be able to pick several fuel models as representative of the fire as a whole.
• A narrative is required but can be either a comment or a Word document
• map to be for D class and larger i.e. 100 acres or large

Maps discussion:

Why do we need a map? We need maps in the fire reports to document location, proximity, terrain, values or ownership. For a fire with no “boots on the ground”, providing a “point” map from NRIS is sufficient. But the fire manager will write in the narrative that they had no direct participation and this is all we can provide. The bureau would prefer a map for every fire > 10 acres. A point map for county assists will be sufficient with an explanation when our personnel did not actively participate in the fire management.

Times fields:

The times for “reported date/time” through “out date/time” will reflect from the time we are called until the time we are done. The start of incident time is very important in fire planning analysis. A new time field was created that is optional for “start of fire” on county assist fires to fill in if that is known.

Reported time and date will be when someone calls us i.e. when we were notified. “Reported date/time will be when DNRC became involved in the fire. We want the report to show accuracy of the actions we took.

Cleared time (Controlled time) will be the end of our involvement.

Arrival size: size when we get there or become aware of the fire.

False Alarm Incident

Required fields are marked in red *. Location is no longer required for false alarms. Neither hard copy documentation nor any supplemental are required.

Mutual Aid Incident

Required fields are marked in red *. Location is no longer required for Mutual Aids. Neither hard copy documentation nor any supplemental are required.

Federal assists must be reported now. But our mutual aid reporting has been streamlined. Our application allows entry of non-DNRC incident numbers.

Print F1000 Fire Report (All)

Printing the fire report should be done from the "Print" button on the F1000 form.
The bureau will NOT accept any printed reports that have not been approved.
This print is the most streamlined as it excludes the header pictures and footer from the form.

To get the most economical print page you want to also exclude the header and footer that Internet Explorer (IE) puts on the printed report. Go into the IE, file, page setup: Then erase everything in the header and footer text area. Click OK to save the changes. IE will remember these changes from now on.

THE Fields on the F1000 FORM

ADMINISTRATION

Dispatch IAN (Incident Action Number)

(field name = dispatch, text)
Dispatch IAN (Incident Action Number) is the internal number assigned by your local dispatch center. It is optional. If you opted to use it, the correct dispatch center initials will automatically be filled in and you fill in the 3-digit number you received from the dispatcher. If you opted not to use this field, the dispatch will be blank.

Status

(field names = appr_status, text, 30)

• Created - A fire report has been started and saved but is not finished; no data integrity checks are done.
• Prepared – The “prepare” command has been executed successfully, i.e. all the data integrity checks have been run and the report is accepted as complete. Control has been transferred to the “Reviewer”, the preparer can view the reports but can’t edit the report anymore.
• Reviewed – The “review” command has been executed by the reviewer. Control has been passed to the “Approver” and the reviewer can see the reports but can’t edit any longer.
• Approved – The “approve” command has been executed by the Approver. No one can edit the report except the administrator now.
  There is a "rollback" command that the administrator can give to go back to before approved or before reviewed. Contact the F1000 administrator to rollback to further edit an approved or reviewed report.

Fire Name

(field name = firename, text, 30)

Enter the fire name as assigned by the Fire Unit. Refrain from using landowner names or names that may be in poor taste. Use names of natural or geographic features, such as rivers, canyons , lakes, or the name of an identifying feature near the fire area. Fires may also be listed with the same name but in combination with a number series. (Examples: Green Lake, Coyote Creek, Silver Mine #1, Silver Mine #2). Names of fires should be kept as short as possible.

Railroad fires should be named by railroad and the mile marker, like RR-MM213.

The words “fire”, "mutual aid" or “false alarm” SHOULD NOT be a part of the wildfire name.

Incident Number

(field name = fnumber, text, 9)

The combination of state designator, Area ID abbreviation, and 6-digit sequential number is the Incident Number for resource ordering purposes.
Example) MT-CES-000003. The state designator is common to all Montana incidents and is therefore not part of the form. Enter only the first three letters and sequential number. F1000 incident numbers are for:

• The DNRC Incident which is designated by the Forestry Division Land Office
• The incident is an assist to a federal agency like LNF000051 for an assist to the Lolo National Forest incident.
• The incident is a cost share fire that started on another agency's protection, then became our incident also like FHA000015 for the Jocko Lakes Fire.

Unit Number

(field name = unumber, text 6)

Each Land Office, Unit and Initial Attack Station is assigned a unique incident number and a unique unit number for each fire incident. All F1000 reportable incidents need to have a Unit number assigned to them.

Example) HLN 014

For example, the following may be how a series of Land office fire numbers would be assigned to different fire incidents by the Southwestern Land office.

Accounting Number (SABHRS)

(field name = SABHRs, text, 5)

A 5-digit SABHRS number used to charge costs to. The Assigned DNRC Fire Numbers sheet is available on our website at: http://www.dnrc.mt.gov/forestry/Fire/Business/Documents/2008SABHRSFireNumbers.pdf

For specific instructions on the use of State Accounting, Budgeting and Human Resource System (SABHRS) numbers see the 300 - DNRC Incident Business Management Manual, Chapter 341 – Incident Cost Accounting section.

5Xxxx - Direct protection incidents
8Xxxx - County assist incidents
8X998 - Mutual aid to county or local government
7X998 – Mutual aid to federal agencies

The second digit relates to which land office the incident is in:

• 4 = Eastern Land Office
• 5 = Northwest Land Office
• 6 = Southwestern Land Office
• 7 = Central Land Office
• 8 = Northeastern Land Office
• 9 = Southern Land Office Billable fires should have a unique number which you can request from dispatch.

Other Agency Numbers

(field names = other_agency, text, 30)

Other agency numbers are accounting numbers from other agencies who gave aid on the fire, such as a USFS P number or the BLM incident number.

P1XXXX = USFS Region 1 cost number
PNXXXX = state agency
PDXXXX = BLM cost number
PAXXXX = Native American Agency cost number
PSXXXX = National Park Service cost number

County

(field names = county, text, 30)

Enter the county name. The Fire Department ID numbers (FDID) numbers were added to this table for the counties.

DNRC Role

(field names = role, text, 30)

Enter DNRC’s role in the fire.

1 - DNRC Direct

DNRC has primary responsibility because this fire occurred on land protected by DNRC as part of a forest fire district (or) this fire occurred on land covered by a DNRC fire protection affidavit (or) this fire poses a direct threat to lands protected by DNRC.

2 - County Assist

DNRC is providing assistance to a Cooperative County. A letter of assistance signed by the county commissioners must be submitted requesting DNRC to assist the county.

3 - Mutual Aid

Mutual aid is assistance provided by DNRC at no cost to the Protecting Agency. No hard copy or supporting documentation is needed for mutual aid incidents.
We may give mutual aid:

• to County and Local fire departments or
• to a federal agency (USFS, NPS, BLM, BIA, FWS).

Typically mutual aid is aid to a Protecting Agency during the first operational period. Mutual aid may be:

• Preplanned and shown in Annual Operating Plans, mobilization guides. or separate agreements between the State and County.
• Mutual Aid may also be given where we have no agreement to a fire department but it is assistance in the first operational period for which we are not going to bill. In this instance the term "mutual" does not really apply but we have broadened the definition and the key is aid for which we will not bill.
• DNRC also provides mutual aid to one of the Fire Departments in the state under the Montana Mutual Aid Act.

Incident Action

(field names = action, text, 30)

A one digit number indicating the type of action or non-action taken by DNRC on this incident.

1 -Suppression

DNRC dispatched resources to put out the fire.

2 - Modified Suppression

DNRC dispatched resources to accomplish fire management objectives other than suppression. This includes containment, observation, etc.

3 - Non-Action

DNRC did not perform suppression or modified suppression activities. Wildfires, confirmed through observations, which go out by themselves or are extinguished by persons or factors other than the initial attack crews are classified as non-action. Examples include fires that were discovered after they had already gone out, or had been put out prior to our arrival on the scene.

4 - False Alarms

Choose false alarm if no fire was found or if what was found was a legal fire (campfire under control, debris burning with a permit, etc).

When the Incident is a false alarm, these fields are set automatically:

• The ‘action’ is set to false alarm
• The ‘cause’ is set to false alarm

Major Cause Category

(field names = cause, text, 30)

A two digit code and descriptor designating the major cause category. General cause of fires usually are considered the general types of land-use activities responsible for fires.

If the major cause selected is lightning, the Person Category is automatically filled in to “No Person”.

• 0 - FALSE ALARM - A reported smoke or fire which resulted in a response but requiring no suppression or modified suppression; for example, brush burning under control, mill smoke, campfire under control, false smoke, etc.
• 1 - LIGHTNING - A fire caused by lightning.
• 2 - CAMPFIRE- A fire that was started for cooking, heating, or providing light or warmth that is abandoned or spreads sufficiently from its source to require suppression. Includes outdoor barbeque equipment fires.
• 3 – SMOKING – A fire caused by smoker’s matches, lighters or by burning tobacco in any form. Excludes smoking by railroad personnel.
• 4 - DEBRIS BURNING  - Any fire originally intentionally set for hazard reduction, clean-up, site preparation, or fuel manipulation that is illegal, abandoned or spreads and requires suppression action. Fires set to clear land and burn trash, stubble, meadow, rights-of way, logging slash, dumps or other prescribed burning are included. Excluded is debris burning by railroad operations.
• 5 - ARSON FIRE – A fire willfully set by anyone to burn vegetation or property not owned or controlled by him and without consent of the owner or his agent. Excludes negligent debris burning fire and negligent use of fireworks. Includes fires set with malicious intent, such as spite, ill will, or intention to do harm.
• 6 - EQUIPMENT - Wildfires caused by any and all mechanical equipment other than railroad operations such as airplane crashes, exhaust pipes, fuel sparks, electrical equipment, chain saws or broken electrical fences.
• 7 – RAILROAD – Wildfires caused by all railroad operations, including burning of rights-of-way, construction, operation or maintenance. This includes fires from carbon sparks, brake shoes, hose, fusees, or carelessness of any employee or passenger.
• 8 - POWER LINE – A fire caused by sparking, arcing or other means by any electrical transmission line. This includes, but is not limited, to lines downed by winds or other natural events, lines pushed into surrounding vegetation by wind events or vegetation growing into power lines in poorly maintained right of ways.
• 9 – MISCELLANEOUS –
  • A fire of known cause that cannot be properly classified under any of the eight standard causes such as fireworks, flare, spontaneous combustion or tracer bullet. Specific cause should be entered in the specific cause section.
  • A fire for which the cause cannot be determined. In this case put “unknown” in “specific cause”.

The definitions were created from the F100 manual – Terminology section and the NWCG Wildfire Prevention Handbook (PMS 450-1).

Specific Cause

(field names = specific_cause, text, 50) - Optional

The specific cause of a fire is the activity or source of ignition that caused the fire. Specific cause tell us more information about the cause.

Examples:

• For Debris Burning might be: Prescribed Burn, Residential Burning, Agricultural Burning, etc.
• For equipment might be: Welder, Automobile, Tractor, etc.
• For Railroads might be: Rail Grinding, Engine Spark, Brake Shoe Failure, etc.

DO NOT use specific cause on ARSON fires. Specific causes under Arson should be handled under the fire investigation.

Do not use specific cause for lightning fires or other fires where the Major Cause Category sufficiently identifies the fire cause.

Ownership

(field names = ownership, text, 10 => contains dropdown text
specific_owner, text, 30) – is optional; only fill in if more specific information pertains to the fire report as a whole.

• 1 - Private
• 2 - State
• 3 - Federal
• 4 - Other (City, County, Tribal Land, etc.)

Choose the land ownership category at the point of origin.

Enter the name of the individual, company, agency, etc. that more specifically describes the owner.

Latitude / Longitude

Note: that both latitude/ longitude and the legal land description are required for direct protect and county assist fires. Location is optional for mutual aid incidents.

(field names = LatDeg, Numeric, 2.0

LatMin, Numeric, 2.4

LongDeg, Integer
LongMin, Numeric, 2.4)

Enter the latitude and longitude of the fire’s point of origin in degrees and decimal minutes.

Conversion Help

The conversion box converts decimal degrees and degrees/minutes/seconds to degrees decimal minutes by simply entering the value you wish to convert, hitting the ">>" and clicking "use these values" to put the result back into the f1000 form latitude and longitude sections.

How to convert from Section /Township / Range to Degrees Decimal Minutes?

Enter the legal 1/4, Section /Township / Range.

Then click the NRIS globe. This will Bring you to an NRIS map with with a section to the right called "Map Center Coordinates". What we want to do is copy the decimal degrees latitude and longitude from the NRIS windows to the Lat Long Conversion Window. Under Decimal degrees click on the leftmost digit of the Lat, drag right to highlight the Latitude numbers.

Right click and select "copy".
Now go back to the F1000 and click on "conversion to bring up the lat long conversion popup.

Click in the Lat. box of "Decimal Degrees", right click in the box and click on "paste".Then go back to the NRIS screen and complete for the copying and pasting the long value.

Click on the chevrons ">>" and the degrees deciMAl minutes fills in. Then click on "Use these values" and the pop-up box closes and the degrees decimal minutes fills in on the F1000 form.

NRIS link – Map Location Site

A link to either the latitude or longitude has been added that will open an Internet window to an NRIS lookup location site to allow you to lookup via latitude and longitude or Section/Township/Range and you will get a map of that location with both lat/long and Section/Township/Range. We recommend that you use this to check your locations to see if they are mapped correctly. It is very easy to transpose numbers when entering location.

Legal Land Description

(field names =
legal_quarter, text, 4
section, integer
township, text, 4
range, text, 4)

NOTE: the leading ‘0’ is not wanted anymore, so T2N is what we want now, not T02N

Enter the legal land description of the fire’s point of origin to the nearest ¼ ¼ section.

Example: SESE S22 T2N R22W

Enter ¼ ¼ section: choose SESE from the dropdown.
Enter Section Number (2 digits): 22
Enter Township (2 digits & N or S): 2N

Enter Range ( 2 digits & E or W): 22W

Note: The ¼ ¼ is optional.

Incident Type

(field names = Incident, text, 50)

Choose the description that best describes the incident type. The incident type is the actual situation that personnel found on the scene when they arrived.

• 141 - Forest, woods or wildland fire
• 142 - Brush, or brush & grass mixture fire
• 143 - Grass fire
• 171 - Cultivated grain or crop fire
• 172 - Cultivated orchard or vineyard fire
• 173 - Cultivated trees or nursery stock fire

Area Type

(field names = AreaType, text, 35)

This is a general description of the area where the wildland fire occurred. Choose the area type.

• 1 - Rural - Rural, open fields, forests and or cultivated land that is located away from any concentrated housing areas. May include a few isolated houses and outbuildings. This is the default value of this field.
• 4 - Wildland / Urban Interface – Geographical area where structures and other human development meets or intermingles with wildland, vegetative fuels.

Aid Given Or Received

(field names = AID, text, 25)

Choose whether aid was given or received; this includes both free and reimbursable aid.

Valid values for Direct Protection are:

• N - None or no aid involved. The default is “None”.
• 1 - Aid Received from an outside fire protection agency upon request from DNRC.

Valid value for Mutual Aid:

• 3 - Aid Given to County - Aid given to another fire department upon their request, use Sabhr number 8X998
• 4 - Aid Given to Federal - Aid given to a federal government agency. We now record aid given to a federal agency, use 7X998 SABHR number

FDID number is no longer required for mutual aid incidents.

Valid value for County Assist is: Aid Given will be automatically filled in and will be 3 - Aid Given to County

If Aid Given:

(field names = AID_FDID, text, 5)
If aid is given on a county assist incident then the preferred entry is the FDID (Fire Department Identification number) # for the Fire Department whose jurisdiction responded.
If that is not known then the FDID for that county is required list of County FDID numbers .

Fire Suppression

Reported Date / Time

(field names = report_dtm, smalldatetime - both the date and time are stored in the smalldatetime data type.

Enter the Date.
Enter the time when the fire was first reported to the DNRC office or dispatch center that is responsible for taking action. A new "Start_dtm" field was added primarily for county assists for the start of the fire when it is different from the date / time the fire was reported for the county assist. Filling out the reported date and time auto fills the start of fire date and time.

Enter in the form:
MM/DD/YYYY (i.e. 7/4/2004 or 7/4 or 7/4/07, the system will fill in the date to 7/4/2007.

Military time: (i.e. 0800)

By Whom

(field names = whom, text, 30 – text in dropdown menu choice in by whom box
specific_whom, text, 30)

Enter the category of person reporting the fire followed by more “specific by whom” information if applicable.

• 1 – Lookout (DNRC)
• 2 – Lookout, other agency (USFS, BIA, NPS, BLM, etc.)
• 3 - Employee, DNRC
• 4 – Employee, other agency (USFS, BIA, NPS, BLM, FW&P, etc.)
• 5 – 911 or Planned cooperator Local government, 911, sheriff, etc.
• 6 - DNRC permittee All persons holding grazing, timber or other special use permits or free contracts. Also their agents or employees.
• 7 – Air patrol, scheduled
• 8 – Other aircraft
• 9 - Recreationist
• 10 – Landowner, occupant or other
• 99 – Unknown person

Start of Fire Date / Time

(field names = start_dtm, smalldatetime (both the date and time are stored in the smalldatetime data type)

The reported date/time auto fills the start date/time. The actual start of the fire if known on a county assist should be filled in here.

Enter in the form:
MM/DD/YYYY (i.e. 07/04/1990 or 10/22/1990)

Military time: (i.e. 0800)

Dispatched Date / Time

(field names = dispatch_dtm, smalldatetime (both the date and time are stored in the smalldatetime data type)

The date that DNRC authorized fire suppression resources were first dispatched to the fire, in the form:

Enter in the form:
MM/DD/YYYY (i.e. 7/4/2004 or 7/4 or 7/4/07, the system will fill in the date to 7/4/2007.

Military time: (i.e. 0800)

Note: When the dispatched date is filled in, the date will auto-fill in for the arrival, contained and controlled.

For false alarms and mutual aids, only the arrival and controlled date are auto-filled in. For those dates that are different, just overwrite the auto-filled in date.

Arrival Date / Time

(field names = arrival_dtm smalldatetime (both the date and time are stored in the smalldatetime data type)

The date and Time that the first DNRC authorized fire suppression resources arrived on the scene in the form:

Enter in the form:
MM/DD/YYYY (i.e. 7/4/2004 or 7/4 or 7/4/07, the system will fill in the date to 7/4/2007.

Military time: (i.e. 0800)

For false alarms, when the arrival time is filled-in, the controlled time is auto-filled in to equal the arrival time.

Arrival Size

(field names = arrival_size, integer)

Record in acres (to the nearest tenth or hundredth of an acre as appropriate to the size class of the fire) at the time of arrival by the FIRST DNRC dispatched suppression resource. Spot fires less than one tenth acre are to be recorded to the nearest hundredth of an acre.

Contained Date / Time

(field names = contain_dtm, smalldatetime (both the date and time are stored in the smalldatetime data type)

Enter in the form:
MM/DD/YYYY (i.e. 7/4/2004 or 7/4 or 7/4/07, the system will fill in the date to 7/4/2007.

Military time: (i.e. 0800)

Cleared / Controlled Date / Time

(field names = control_dtm, smalldatetime (both the date and time are stored in the smalldatetime data type)

control _time, datetime)

Enter in the form:
MM/DD/YYYY (i.e. 7/4/2004 or 7/4 or 7/4/07, the system will fill in the date to 7/4/2007.

Military time: (i.e. 0800)

Controlled time can also referred to as “last unit cleared” time also.

Declared Out Date / Time

(field names = control_dtm, smalldatetime (both the date and time are stored in the smalldatetime data type)

Enter in the form:
MM/DD/YYYY (i.e. 7/4/2004 or 7/4 or 7/4/07, the system will fill in the date to 7/4/2007.

Military time: (i.e. 0800)

Total Acreage

(field names =
private_acre, numeric, 9.2 private acres
state_acre, numeric, 9.2 state acres
fed_acre, numeric, 9.2 federal acres
other_acre, numeric, 9.2 other acres

Fire size, numeric, 9.2 total fire size => calculated as total of private, state, federal and other fields.
Size class, text, 1 size class calculated field from ‘Fire size’ )

These fields are the actual size of the entire fire. Record in acres to the nearest tenth or hundredth of an acre as appropriate to size class. Spot fires are recorded to the nearest hundredth of an acre. LEAVE BLANK if no fire occurred in a category.

Fire class

is a calculated field based on the total acreage. Spot fires must have a positive non-zero acreage so they will be calculated to be ‘A’ fires.

Fire Class

Protected Acres Fire Size

Protected acreage is the ownership breakdown of the acres protected by DNRC. This acreage for a fire like a cost share fire may be different than the total fire acreage. We use protected acres for DNRC statistics on acreage burned.

Total acreage fields auto fill protected acres fields. But Protected acres fields can be modified.

(field names =
prot_private_acre, numeric, 9.2 private acres
prot_state_acre, numeric, 9.2 state acres
prot_fed_acre, numeric, 9.2 federal acres
prot_other_acre, numeric, 9.2 other acres

Protected Acres Fire size, numeric, 9.2 total fire size => calculated as total of private, state, federal and other protected acreage fields.
Size class, text, 1 size class calculated field from Protected ‘Fire size’ )

Fire class for Protected Acreage

is a calculated field based on the protected acreage. Spot fires must have a positive non-zero acreage so they will be calculated to be ‘A’ fires.

Fire Behavior

Fuel Model

(field names = fuel_model, integer)

An integer indicating the predominant fire behavior fuel model in the fire area. Utilize the following definitions to determine the proper fuel model:

GRASS GROUP

1 - Fire spread is governed by the fine herbaceous fuels that have cured or are nearly cured. Fires are surface fires that move rapidly through cured grass and associated material. Very little shrub or timber is present, generally less than one third of the area. Grasslands are represented along with stubble, and grass/shrub combinations that meet the above area constraint. Annual and perennial grasses are included in this fuel model.

2 - Fire spread is primarily through the fine herbaceous fuels, either curing or dead. These are surface fires where the herbaceous shrub or timber over­story, contribute to the fire intensity. Open shrub lands and pine stands , that cover one third or two thirds of the area may generally fit this model.

3 - Fires in this fuel are the most intense of the grass group and display high rates of spread under the influence of wind. Stands are tall, averaging about three feet, but considerable variation may occur. Approximately one third or more of the stand is considered dead or cured and maintains the fire. Wild or cultivated grains that haven't been harvested can be considered be­sides tall prairie and marshland grasses.

SHRUB GROUP

4 - Fire intensity and fast spreading fires involve the foliage and live and dead fine woody material in the crowns of a nearly continuous secondary over­story. Stands of mature alder or maple, six or more feet tall are typical candidates. Besides flammable foliage, there is dead woody material in the stand that significantly contributes to the fire intensity. There may be also a deep litter layer that confounds suppression efforts.

5 - Fire is generally carried in the surface fuels that are made up of litter cast by the shrubs and the grasses or shrubs in the understory. The fires are generally not very intense because surface fuel loads are light, the shrubs are young with little dead, and the foliage contain little volatile material. Shrubs are generally not tall but have nearly total coverage of the area. Young, green stands of alder and menzesia with no deadwood would qualify.

6 - Fires carry through the shrub layer where the foliage is more flammable than fuel model 5 but require moderate winds, greater than eight miles per hour at midflame height. Fire will drop to the ground at low wind speeds or openings in the stand. The shrubs are older, but not as tall as shrub types of model 4, nor do they contain as much fuel as model 4. A broad range of shrub conditions ore covered by this model.

7 - This fuel model is not applicable in our area of fire protection but coding is shown to provide continuity in numbering. Code numbers are used nationwide.

TIMBER GROUP

8 - Slow burning ground fires with low flame heights are generally the case, although the fire may encounter an occasional "jackpot" or heavy fuel concentration that can flare up. Only under severe weather conditions involving high temperatures, low humidities, and high winds do the fuels pose fire hazards. Closed canopy stands of short needle conifers or hardwoods that have leafed out support fire in the compact litter layer. This layer is mainly needles, leaves, and some twigs since little undergrowth is present in the stand. Representative conifer types are white pines, and lodgepole pine, spruce, firs, and larch.

9 - Fires run through the surface litter faster than model 8 and have higher flame height. Both long needle conifer and hardwood stands are typical. Closed stands of long needle pine like ponderosa are grouped in the model. Concentrations of dead/down woody material will contribute to possible torching out of trees, spotting, and crowning activity.

10 - The fires burn in the surface and ground fuels with greater fire intensity than the other timber litter models. Dead/down fuels include grater quantities of 3 inch or larger limb wood resulting from over maturity or natural events that create a large load of dead material on the forest floor. Crowning out, spotting, and torching of individual trees is more frequent in this fuel situation. Any forest type may be considered if heavy down materials are present; examples are insect or disease ridden stands, wind thrown stands, over mature situations with deadfall, and aged light thinning or partial cut slash.

LOGGING SLASH GROUP

11 - Fires are fairly active in the slash and herbaceous material intermixed with the slash. The spacing of the rather light fuel load, shading from over­story, or the aging of the fine fuels can contribute to limiting the fire potential. Light partial cuts or thinning operations in mixed conifer stands are considered. Clearcut operations generally produce more slash than represented here. The less than 3 inch material load is less than 12 tons per acre.

12 - Rapidly spreading fires with high intensities capable of generating fire brands can occur. When fire starts, it is generally sustained until a fuel break or change in fuels is encountered. The visual impression is dominated by slash and much of it is less the 3 inches in diameter. These fuels total less than 35 tons per acre and give the impression of well distributed fuels. Heavily thinned conifer stands, clearcuts, and medium or heavy partial cuts are represented.

13 - Fire is generally carried across the area by a continuous layer of slash. Large quantities of greater the 3 inch material are present. Fires spread quickly through the fine fuels and intensity builds up more slowly as the large fuels start burning. Active flaming is sustained for long periods and a wide variety of fire brands can be generated. Clearcuts and heavy partial cuts in mature and over mature stands are depicted where the slash load is dominated by the greater than 3 inch material. Situations where the slash still has "red" needles attached and the total load is lighter, more like model 12, can be represented because of the earlier higher intensity and quicker area involvement.

Flame Length

(field names = flame, integer)
A number indicating the maximum flame length IN FEET to occur on the ground, at the head of the fire, at initial attack. Round to the nearest foot.

Slope

(field names = slope, integer)
A number indicating the percent of slope at the point of origin. Record 0 for level ground.

Aspect

(field names = aspect, text, 4)
A dropdown for the aspect at the point of origin.

Elevation

(field name= elevation, integer)

A number indicating the elevation at the point of origin.

Major Carrier of Fire

(Field name=Major_Carrier, varChar(30) This is a comma delimited list of fuel model numbers. See Fuel Model at point of origin for value details.

Major Carrier of Fire allows one to choose multiple fuel models as most representative of the fire as a whole. Especially in eastern Montana, it is common for larger fires to really have more than one fuel model be representative of the fire.

Equipment

There must be at least one Firefighter or one Aircraft selected. An exception is "209s Appended" does not require any resources to also be checked.

For the resources section, if 209s are available:
(field name = resource), dropdown with the following 3 choices

Blank - the resources section shows the fires resources as it always has.

209s Appended
For the resources section, if a large fire that may have a team on it completes 209s we will use the "209s appended" as a supplemental documents instead of any resources in the resources section. If 209s are available you should get: initial 209, a 209 from the mid point where resources were at the maximum level, and the final 209.

IA with 209s appended
If this fire was also initial attacked by DNRC resources before it went beyond initial attack, choose the option "IA with 209s appended". The resources section will be filled in for the initial attack and 209s will be attached according to the previous paragraphs guidelines.

(field name=
eq_engine, integer Engines and tenders
eq_dozer, integer Dozers
eq_other, integer Other line building equipment
eq_support, integer Support vehicles)

Record the PEAK NUMBER of ground equipment used to take suppression action at the incident for each category. Note that this might not be the total number that went to the incident.

• Engines and Tenders
• Dozers
• Other Line building equipment
• Support Vehicles

Firefighters

(field names=
ff_dnrc, integer DNRC employees or on DNRC payroll
ff_fed, integer Federal Employees
ff_local, integer Local government firefighters
ff_private, integer Private contractor firefighters
ff_other, integer Non-paid volunteers or others)

Record the PEAK NUMBER of firefighters, overhead, and support personnel at the incident. Note that this may not be the total number that went to the incident. Record in the following categories:

• DNRC - DNRC regular employees or employees on the DNRC payroll. Do NOT include local government firefighters even if they are hired as EFFs.
• Federal - Persons employed by the federal government.
• Local Gov - Government employees not employed by DNRC or federal government such as City and County firefighters including volunteer fire department firefighters.
• Private - Contract firefighters
• Other - All other people not employed by DNRC, federal, local governments or private contractors. )

Aircraft

The numbers of aircraft used will include any received from other agencies.

(field names =
ac_helicopter, integer - Record the peak number of helicopters used on the incident.
ac_airtanker, integer - Record the peak number of air tankers used to drop retardant on the incident.
ac_smokejumper, integer - Record the peak number of smokejumper aircraft used on the incident.
ac_other, integer - Record the peak number of all other aircraft used on the incident. This includes planes used for detection, reconnaissance, infrared mapping and any other use. )

Casualties

(field names =
fsc_death, integer - Write in the number of fire service personnel deaths that occurred on this incident.
fsc_injury, integer - Write in the number of fire service personnel injuries that occurred on this incident. Note: Injuries means all reportable injuries that were serious enough to be reported to workers compensation.
civ_death, integer - Write in the number of civilian deaths that occurred on this incident.
civ_injury, integer - Write in the number of civilian injuries that occurred on this incident.)

Structures

Structures Lost:
(field names =
sl_commercial, integer - Write in the number of commercial structures that were destroyed on this incident.
sl_home, integer - Write in the number of residences that were destroyed on this incident.
sl_outbuilding, integer - Write in the number of outbuildings that were destroyed on this incident.)

Structures Saved:
Note: In your opinion, were there any structures in imminent danger of being burned up that suppression efforts prevented. This is a subjective opinion and depends on the existing conditions at the time of the incident. A structure was saved when the incident commander believes that current or expected fire behavior had the potential for the fire to reach that structure.

Structures saved and structures threatened means the same thing.

(field names =
ss_commercial, integer - Write in the number of commercial structures that were saved by suppression efforts on this incident.
ss_homes, integer - Write in the number of residences that were saved by suppression efforts on this incident.
ss_outbuilding, integer - Write in the number of outbuilding that were saved by suppression efforts on this incident.

Fire Prevention / Billing

Billable?

(field names = bill, text, 1)

All person caused fires are potentially billable fires. DNRC recognizes that some may not be billed for several reasons including: unknown billees, fire suppression agreements, administrative vs. suppression cost considerations , legal issues, etc. This field is to alert any other readers that this could be a billable fire. It is intended as a flag to take a closer look at this report. Checking billable does not mean that you are absolutely going to bill, only that it might be billable.

Note: use of the F-310 and fire cost itemization spreadsheet has been eliminated. For all non-SABHRS costs use the F-1021. The F1021 form is now included in the F1000 database for your convenience.

Category Of Person Responsible

(field names= person, text, 20)

Choose the category that best identifies the residency of the person responsible for the fire ignition. ‘No Person’ is automatically filled in when the cause is set to lightning.

• 0 - No person involved, used ONLY for LIGHTNING fires.
• 1 -Visitor, temporarily in the area (tourists, motorists, etc.)
• 2 -Seasonal Resident /worker, Staying in the area for extended periods but not permanently. (Construction crews, Logging crews, Summer residents, etc.)
• 3 - Permanent Resident /worker, Lives in the area. (Farmers, Ranchers, etc.)
• 4 -Other, Residency not classified above
• 5 -Unknown, Residency not known

Age Group Of Person Responsible

(field names= age, text, 20)

Choose the category indicating the age group of the person responsible for the fire start.

• 1 - Child 1 – 10 years old
• 2 - Youth 11 – 17 years old
• 3 - Adult 18 + years old
• ** leave blank if unknown

Activity Involved In Fire Start

(field names= activity, text, 20)

Choose the PRIMARY activity of the person responsible for the fire start.

Categories listed may not be mutually exclusive. There is no "correct" response to the activity involved item. Record the activity that MOST CLOSELY in YOUR JUDGEMENT represents the individual's PRIMARY activity. If no category fits choose “Other/Unknown” and write in the activity if known.

• Unknown
• 00 – Other Unknown
• Recreation
• R1 – Firewood Recreation
• R2 – Hunting/Fishing
• R3 - Camping
• R4 – Picnicking
• R5 – Hiking
• R6 – Sightseeing
• R7 – Motoring
• R8 - Other Recreation
• R9 - Unknown Recreation
• Farm and Ranch
• F0 – Farm / Ranch
• Industrial
• I1 –Firewood Industrial
• I2 – Logging (includes slash disposal)
• I3 – Sawmills
• I4 – Manufacturing
• I5 – Construction
• I6 – Mining
• I7 – Transportation
• I8 - Other Industrial
• Home/Residential
• H1 – Firewood Home
• H2 - Debris Burning
• H3 – Other Residential

Personnel Information

Initial Attack Incident Commander

(field names = IAIC, text, 30 - Enter the name of the initial attack incident commander (IAIC).

Note on Names:

Try to be consistent with the way you enter names, then you can search the historical database and find all fires where a particular person was IAIC for instance. We suggest that you enter the last name first, a comma, initial of first name, a comma and the agency abbreviation. This standard would facilitate searching for all fires with this IC name.

Signatures and Status System

(field names=
appr_status, integer - 2-digit number for the approval status
status_name text(30) for the word that signifies the highest approval rating for this fire report with the following values:

• 10 = Created
• 20 = Prepared
• 30 = Reviewed
• 40 = Approved)

(Electronic Signatures field names=

• Created_By , Text(30); Created_Date, smalldatetime
• Prepared_By , Text(30); Prepared_Date, smalldatetime
• Reviewed_By , Text(30); Reviewed_Date, smalldatetime
• Approved_By , Text(30); Approved_Date, smalldatetime)

At this point in time (5/5/2008), one signature in ink is required on the hard copy and a hard copy with all hard copy attachments ia required to send in to the fire bureau. The land office fire program manager will determine for his people who that signaturee will be.
The status System for fire report approvals is:

• Created: When a fire report is created and saved but no error checking has been done it is "Created"
• Prepared: When a fire report is "Prepared" the person who logged in and clicked prepared is recorded by their login name and the date is automatically filled in. Prepared applies error checking and warning rules to the fire report and attachments, letting the preparer know if the report is not correctly filled out. An email is sent to the "reviewer" that this report is ready for review. Edits are now locked to preparers.
• Reviewed: The unit fire supervisor or his designee is authorized to review the report. This is an electronic signature that they understand and support the actions taken and recorded in the fire report. Again, error checking and warning rules are applied. When the report passes those and is marked reviewed, an email is sent to the approver or their designee. The person reviewing and date are automatically filled in based on the login account of the reviewer.dits are now locked to reviewers.
• Approved: The land office fire program manager or their designee are authorized to approve the fire report. Again they are concurring with everything in the fire report. The fire report is now complete and edits are now locked to the field. An email is sent to the designated person to print and assemble the hard copy report to be sent to the fire bureau.

We have requested that the F1000 Fire Report accept electronic signatures fully and for the electronic copy be the only one that needs submitting. Allowing this would require writing new administrative rules to accept this. That is not being done yet. In the meantime, hard copy of the fire report with hard copy of all attachments is still required to be sent in to the fire bureau with one signature of the approver or reviewer from your land office.

The eastern land offices that only have a fire program manager, the same person prepares, reviews and approves the report. Email notifications are suppressed when the next approver is the same as the reviewer, etc.

Supplemental Reports Attached

Check the appropriate box for any additional reports that are attached. Note: Please submit the original of any supplemental information with the F1000 report and retain a copy for your records.

F-1001

(field names = sup_f1001, text, 1) - Squad Record Of Incident Action

This form is used by the Initial Attack Incident Commander to give accurate and complete fire situation reports, and assists in completing the F-1000 and the narrative report. There is no electronic F-1001. The box is checked to indicate that the hard copy F-1001 will be attached to the F1000 hard copy report.

See the 1800 Fire Forms Manual 1000-1100 for more information on the F-1001.

F-1021 Fire Cost Supplemental Form

(field names = sup_f1021, text, 1) The 1021 form as an electronic form is available.

Fire Investigation and Billing – short form

This form was originally developed to facilitate rapid billing of minor human-caused fires with the hope that completing billing actions within a few weeks of the event would improve DNRC's’ ability to collect costs.

This form will now be used exclusively to list fire costs and will replace the F-310. Use this form for all non-SABHRS costs. The F-1021 has it's own help manual.

• Rates for engines costs, etc. can be found in Chapter 20 of the Interagency Fire Business Management handbook.
• Local government rates are in Chapter 50 of the Interagency Fire Business Management handbook
• See the 1800 Fire Forms Manual 1000-1100 on how to fill out the F-1021 form.
• For which laws were broken, see the 1000 Fire Billing manual pg 1004 and Appendix A.

Document Manager

The document manager is the way the narrative and map are attached. The document manager allow you to insert as many supplemental documents as you need to the fire report. The supporting document types are:

• Narrative
• Map if Class C or greater on the westside or D or greater for eastside fires
• Cost Share Agreement
• County Assistance Assistance Letter (from County Commissioners for a county assist)
• 209s:
  • Initial 209
  • Maximum resource 209 (Mid-point of incident)
  • Final 209
• Map Zip File
• Other - Something you want to add that doesn't fit the other categories

Any piece of paper can be scanned on a scanner into a pdf file and attached via the document manager. Other valid file types will also be acceptable for scanned paper.

The reason for adding additional documents is two-fold:

• The fire finance people want to see the cost share, 209s and letter from the commissioner; This will be a tremendous help in fire billing and audits.
• We are pre-positioning to the time when we can make fire reports totally electronic.

The document manager looks like: The "remove" option is only there until the report is fully approved, then it disappears.

To add a document you "browse" to the file you want to add. Then in the "Add" dropdown, you select what kind of a document you are adding:

Then click on the "Add" button and the document you want is inserted and saved. This screen also shows the supplementals that are currently defined.

Other is the generic selection.

Narrative

Submitting a fire narrative is mandatory for all fires. For false alarms and mutual aid incidents, filling in the “remarks” field is advised but both the remarks and the narrative are optional on false alarms and mutual aids. On small fires, a very brief description of the incident is sufficient.

Prepare the narrative as a Microsoft Word document.

A narrative is a factual account of what happened at the incident. Describe in your own words the sequence of events on this fire. Fire Narratives are "non-judgmental" and may include more or less detail depending on the scale of suppression activity and the narrative requirements specified by your land office. Do not critique the fire or an individual’s performance here.

On team fires (fires exceeding initial attack and where a team was called in to manage) the narrative should cover the initial attack if DNRC did the initial attack, transition to a team and give a short overview of the large fire suppression activity. Please list all the teams that were on the fire and the agency and location of the fire documentation package.

See the 1000 Fire Follow-up Manual for guidelines on Critiques and Narratives.

Map

Direct Protection - A map is required for a class C or larger fire a map is required and / or a map upon request by the Fire & Aviation Management Bureau.

County Coop Protection - A map is required for a class D or larger fire a map is required and / or a map upon request by the Fire & Aviation Management Bureau.

F-1004 Fire Investigation

Report of Preliminary Fire Investigation - This is a form used by fire investigators during the course of a preliminary fire investigation. It provides the necessary information for documentation of the fire and serves as a source document should a fire require further investigation.

See the 1800 Fire Forms Manual 1000-1100

Cost Share Agreement

The fire bureau wants to see the cost share agreement attached to the fire report as it will be very useful for fire billing and for audits.

Letter of Assistance

We at the fire bureau want to see for county assist fires the letter of assistance from the county commissioners.

209s

See the "If 209s Available section".

Map Zip File

The document manager has a “Map Zip File” document type for fire perimeter files.
When you map the fire perimeter with a GPS, you can zip the folder with those perimeter files and add it to the F1000 fire report. For the Westside on fires C Class on 10 acres or more, save a GPS perimeter zipfile. Call Liz Hertz if you need help. (542-4222) On the eastside, Class D or bigger on 100 acres or more is the requirement for a map. If you did a fire perimeter, it is worth saving in the F1000.

If you take all the files that define the fire perimeter, save them in a folder and zip that folder, you can now attach the fire perimeter zip file via the document manager.

Transfer the fire perimeter files from the GPS to your computer. Find the folder where your perimeter files are. In this case we will zip the “Blue Water Fire” perimeter files. Right click on the “Blue_Water_Fire” folder in Windows Explorer or My Computer. In the actions pop-up you can perform, choose “Send To”, then choose “Compressed (Zipped) folder. This will create a zip file of all the files in Blue_Water_Fire folder.

Then in the F1000 document manager for adding supplemental documents, click “browse” and find the zip file you just created: "Blue_Water_File.zip". Then choose “Map Zip File” from the add dropdown then click on “Add” button. The map perimeter file is now added to the F100.