A Collaborative Fire Weather Training Endeavor Involving the National Weather Service and the Northeast Compact

In November of 2004 a joint meeting was held involving National Weather Service Fire Weather Focal Points from the Northeast United States and fire officials from the Northeast Compact. A request was made to develop a fire weather training program that would help fire personnel better understand weather and its impact on fire behavior and fire operations.

Over the next year a fire weather course, entitled WxOps, was developed by the National Weather Service in Burlington, Vermont. Input from the then Fire Weather Working Team, now Fire Sciences Team, of the Northeast Compact regarding weather information they wished to gain further knowledge in was used to develop the course. An emphasis was placed not only on helping fire officials understand weather concepts, but discussed the impacts weather would have on fire behavior and fire operations. The various topics within the course were delivered via PowerPoint presentations and included other training tools such as video of fire behavior/activity, software applications to visualize key weather elements, and internet technologies.

The WxOps course, taught on three separate occasions between Fall of 2005 and Winter of 2007, has been considered a successful training endeavor between the National Weather Service and the Northeast Compact. This paper will examine the development of the WxOps course, its training material, and its impact on various fire groups within the Northeast Compact.