S215 - Fire Operations in the Wildand/Urban Interface

Reviewed: 2003     Hours: 28 - 32

Course Description:

This course is designed to assist structure and wildland firefighters who will be making tactical decisions when confronting wildland fire that threatens life, property, and improvements, in the wildland/urban interface. 

Instructional units include:  interface awareness, size-up, initial strategy and incident action plan, structure triage, structure protection tactics, incident action plan assessment and update, follow-up and public relations, and firefighter safety in the interface.

The course requires a minimum of 28 hours for completion.  If the optional exercises at the end of the tactics unit are used or a field exercise is included additional course time is needed.  Instructors are encouraged to extend the course to 32 hours and add a field exercise covering size-up, structure triage, tactics, and any other local area training as appropriate.

Objectives:

• This course provides the student with the skills and knowledge to size-up a wildland/urban interface fire incident, evaluate the potential situation, order and deploy the necessary resources, and apply safe and effective strategy and tactics to minimize the threat to life and property. 

Target Group:

Wildland Fire Agencies: This course is required training for initial attack incident commander type 4 (ICT4) and strike team leader (tractor/plow, dozer, engine, or crew).

Structural Fire Departments:  This training is appropriate for engine operators, chief officers, and company officers responsible for structure protection in suburban and urban interface areas that may be threatened by wildland fire.

Additionally, leaders from municipal planning, law enforcement and emergency management disciplines may find value in the course.

Minimum Instructor Qualifications:

Lead instructor must be a qualified incident commander type 3 (ICT3) or task force leader (TFLD).
Unit instructors must be qualified incident commanders type 4 (ICT4) or any strike team leader.
The selected instructor cadre should include representatives from both structure and wildland fire disciplines.

Also see NWCG Instructor Qualifications at the beginning of the Field Managers Course Guide.

Prerequisites:

Wildland Fire Agencies:  Students must be Firefighter Type 1 (FFT1) qualified.

Structural Fire Departments:  Students should have completed Introduction to ICS (I-100), Human Factors on the Fireline (L-180), Firefighter Training (S-130), Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior (S-190), and Firefighter Type 1 (S-131); or equivalent training.

Students attending this course must be knowledgeable of their agency firefighting policy as it relates to wildland/urban interface fires. 

Related Downloads:
There are no downloads for this course.