FIREWX NOAA’s Fire Weather Testbed’s Inaugural, In-Person Evaluation: Evaluating the Next Generation Fire System, Integrated Warnings Teams for Fire Operations, and the Issuance of Fire Warnings

The NOAA Fire Weather Testbed (FWT) aims to connect various wildland fire-related communities across multiple agencies and jurisdictions, including decision makers, researchers, and operational forecasters, in order to improve tools, applications, and products and accelerate the integration of advanced technologies into operational platforms. In June 2024, the FWT conducted its first in-person evaluation to assess the performance and application of the NOAA Satellites’ Next Generation Fire System and the Integrated Warning Team paradigm for the issuance of Fire Warnings. Participants were recruited as teams, consisting of an experienced National Weather Service fire weather meteorologist and a fire management partner from their respective state forestry agency. Teams represented distinct regions of the county with a diversity of local fire management goals, fire weather environments, and availability of resources. These teams collaborated closely during simulated real-time scenarios of wildfire operations. Meteorologists and state foresters were provided with pertinent information for their respective operational responsibilities while working in tandem to emulate the Integrated Warnings Team’s objectives of disseminating hotspot notifications of emerging wildfires and issuing Fire Warnings for populations at risk. The FWT team, composed of physical and social scientists, utilized a mixed-method approach to gather feedback from participants which included daily debrief discussions, online surveys (including pre-and post-evaluation surveys), and guided focus groups. This presentation will provide a comprehensive overview of the evaluation’s objectives, methodologies used in designing and collecting data for the evaluation, the active role of the FWT in enhancing products under evaluation, and preliminary findings of participant’s perceptions of the evaluated products.