Super Tool?

"A super tool?" 

A question from a fire community representative at Industry Week in Boise who had experienced large, complex wildland fires. His response was crystal...

He pointed to and then tapped his head...

Good morning from Colorado. I wanted to take this post to share my thoughts on the 2019 Forest Service Wildfire Technology Industry Week in Boise, Idaho which was held 25-27 June at the Best Western Vista Inn - Airport. I was fortunate to attend and share a presentation on Making the Knowledge Leap (more on that in later posts) despite the registration being closed by the time I came onboard with Stellar Solutions. However, Bob R., U.S. Department of Agriculture, was gracious enough to respond to my inquiry and not only provided a slot to attend but a briefing opportunity on Wednesday morning as well. Thank you sir for the response. Also, since this was my first Forest Service Industry Week, kudos to Brian C. and David B., Intterra Group leadership, for making me feel at home - well done gentlemen.

Let's get to it. What was the focus for the industry week? Here is a quick overview. Looking for the full announcement, click here.

Overview:

The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act (S. 47) provided direction to modernize wildland firefighting technology. Included in the law is a provision to develop a tracking system to remotely locate the positions of fire resources assigned to Federal type 1 wildland fire incident management teams (Sec 1114 (d) (1) et seq.).

Interagency Staff are interested in participating with industry representatives to assess systems that would meet the intent of the legislation. Responses should be focused on solutions for tracking fire resources and displaying the data. The current government solution for displaying fire information is the Enterprise Geospatial Portal (EGP) https://famit.nwcg.gov/applications/EGP . Response topics must include one or multiple items for:

• Fire resource tracking hardware
• Fire resource tracking display software 
• Integration with EGP for fire resource tracking data, or next generation EGP solutions 

The information exchange will be used in developing follow up demonstration projects and procurement actions. Additional information and context can be referenced in the applicable sections of S. 47 - John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act.

Objectives

• Develop a common operating picture between industry and the wildland fire organization
• Communicate the needs of end users across a wide variety of use cases
• Ensure new/emerging technology solutions are value added and are being designed with interoperability standards
• Gain an understanding of the status of firefighter tracking technology

There were 45+ vendors and ~100 attendees. Passionate, caring, and committed to providing smart solutions t- that's how I would characterize the attendee. Rather than list all the vendors involved, the agenda for the three days is located here. Take some time and visit their websites. Take a peek at what these industry partners have developed to address these fire fighting challenges. Additionally, Ms. Shawna Legarza, National Director of Fire and Aviation Management for the U.S. Forest Service, who has earned more than 25 years of wildland fire management experience, was a key note speaker for the first day. The team that framed the week on Tuesday made it crystal clear that the conference was focused on gathering information and getting a look at the current technology available or under development to answer the objectives listed above.

The week was filled with public and private presentations focused on tracking resources, information displays and communications architecture for ensuring firefighters working in austere, remote areas. Many of the tracking display technologies discussed were packed with features and capabilities. As expected, most are designed for mobile users carrying a smart phone and tablet. The communications devices/technologies, designed to operate in austere, remote locations were also eye watering. A number focused on establishing a mobile ad hoc network (MANET), also known as wireless ad hoc network or ad hoc wireless network, is a continuously self-configuring, infrastructure-less network of mobile devices connected wirelessly. Some companies took the approach, you bring whatever technology and we will integrate it for you.

Additionally, manned and unmanned airborne assets with visible and infrared sensors (and their communications architecture) were a huge topic of discussion throughout the week. In a previous career I had the opportunity to work with similar platforms, the visualization tools and supporting collaboration environments so I was interested to see how these assets were being used to enhance the fire fighting teams. Clearly, they are a game changer for boots on the ground and it appears to be the same for this community.

What were my top 3 walkaways from this tech modernization week? See what you think and please, push back if I missed something:

1. As with any technology conference I have attended, it is easy to get lost in the thinking "if we only had this or that new tech gadget we could improve our situational awareness and speed of decision-making." Please hear me out. I am a big advocate of this emerging, enabling technology. A big fan. However, as I learned from John G., Research Scientist, Sandia National Laboratories and someone who has observed, documented and studied the Human Net - "information is important but insufficient for shared situational awareness which is in minds not machines." 
2. The communications needed to accomplish the tracking of people and hardware in austere, remote areas is critical. As a vendor shared at this conference, "all of these tech solutions for tracking assets depend on good comms"; I would offer that whatever the solution is it needs to be scaleable, robust, reliable, interoperable.
3. Keeping the visualization displays and the software easy to configure, easy to use is important to the folks using them - especially those in the field and downrange from the Incident Command Post (ICP).

Wisdom Hierarchy
John G., Sandia National Laboratories

I would love to hear from you. Let's talk. Use the comment section and add your thoughts. We definitely haven't arrived on all of this so your thoughts and views are important to me. To those who attended this conference, keep pushing the edge - this is really important work.

Preview of Coming Attractions: Up next, what is this Human Net system and as someone interested in emergency management operations or other disciplines where human-to-human connection is critical - why should you care?

Stay tuned....

Humbly, 

Collabman