The Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission released a report on Feb. 13, outlining a strategy to meet aerial firefighting equipment needs through 2030.
As climate change fuels longer and more intense wildfire seasons, aerial assets bring unique response capabilities to wildland fire suppression. The Commission saw development of this report as an opportunity to look expansively at the nation’s resources and strategies for wildland fire aviation. The report makes recommendations for development of a truly national – rather than federal – aviation strategy.
The report reexamines existing approaches to aviation fleet procurement, mobilization, composition, and quantity. Findings and recommendations in the report address the need for:
- The development of new or updated aviation resource benchmarks and national procurement models and the need for greater coordination with partners in those efforts.
- Improvements to appropriations, contracting, staffing, and military interoperability to improve the use and availability of new and existing resources.
- Improvements and limitations to the military surplus process and equipment.
- Aviation resource use in beneficial fire and the emerging importance of uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) – also known as “drones.
The Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission was created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and announced in December 2021. The Commission was tasked with developing two reports to Congress: this report on aerial firefighting and another report scheduled for release in Fall 2023 that delivers a comprehensive set of recommendations to address the nation’s wildfire crisis.
To learn more about the Commission and to access the report, visit the Commission website. For additional information or questions, email wildlandfirecommission@usda.gov.
(Sources: FEMA, USDA)
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has just released a 3-page reference aid, Cybersecurity Resources for 9-1-1 Call Centers.
Public safety communications entities, such as Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs), Public Safety Communications Centers (PSCCs), and Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), are a highly visible and important part of Emergency Services Sector communications, and therefore present an appealing target to cybersecurity threat actors.
CISA assists public safety organizations to seamlessly and securely communicate during steady state and emergency operations to keep America safe, secure, and resilient. This document describes several CISA resources available to public safety communications organizations to help enhance their cybersecurity posture and resilience.
The document summarizes CISA’s cybersecurity advising and assessment services available to public safety communications organizations, with relevant links to the CISA website for additional information on each service. The document also provides brief summaries with links to many CISA resources and tools that can help organizations manage their own public safety communication systems and program assets.
For more information about any of the resources listed in the document, visit the Emergency Services Sector page or email EmergencyServicesSector@cisa.dhs.gov.
(Source: CISA)
This year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will host its National Preparedness Symposium (NPS) on May 23-25, 2023, at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI), located at FEMA’s National Emergency Training Center (NETC) in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Each year, the NPS symposium is held to ensure key preparedness personnel at the state, territorial, tribal, and local level have current and accurate information related to training, exercises, and planning.
This year’s theme is “Enhancing your Preparedness Toolbox,” and is focused on enhancing the preparedness toolbox of the whole community.
The NPS Symposium will provide a collaborative environment for emergency management training, exercise, and planning personnel to engage peers; receive information on available guidance, tools, and resources; and discuss current and future programs and initiatives.
Attendance at the NPS Symposium is limited to professional training, exercise, and preparedness staff at the federal, state, territorial, and tribal levels. For this reason, attendance is by invitation only. Please see the how to apply section of the NPS website to learn more about selection criteria and the application process. Attendees must use a course invitation code, acquired from their respective training officers, to successfully register for this course.
To learn more, visit FEMA’s NPS website and see the downloadable EMIGram for the NPS training opportunity.
(Source: FEMA)
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