Colorado Wildfire & Incident Management Academy

Whew! Wrapping up an amazing week of learning and networking with some of the best in the wildfire and all-hazards incident management world at the Colorado Wildfire and Incident Management Academy’s summer offering in New Castle, CO.

I was back in the classroom as a student taking the O-305 Type 3 All-Hazards Incident Management Team training course.

This course is not only required for my Planning Section Chief certification I’m pursuing but I’d argue a course that ALL members of incident management teams should take. From Incident Commanders to Unit Leaders - this course deep dives into the planning process and all meetings therein, and culminates with three days of applying this knowledge under the tutelage of instructor staff and your peers.

Our team started by applying principles of teamwork and leadership, especially communication and emotional intelligence. The most effective Incident Management Teams communicate effectively and often.

We then moved to the Planning P, worked ourselves up the stem of the P in the Initial Response phase, and then around and around the head of the P for the Operational Period Planning Cycle. If you’ve never been part of a formally managed incident or planned special event, you may have only experienced or heard about this process in the classroom or in online FEMA training classes.

As a Planning Section Chief, I’m responsible for establishing the meeting schedule and leading them all except the Tactics Meeting, plus leading the production of the Incident Action Plan prior to the Operational Period Briefing.

Another position I sometimes fill on the team is Situation Unit Leader (SITL). They’re located in the planning section, and keep up and report out on all things current and projected with regard to meteorological, plume modeling, ocean currents, structural stability, seismic, or other projections that could affect the incident situation during next Operational Period.

This all requires lots of coordination, communication and collaboration between incident management team members to effectively accomplish the mission.

Hats off to our amazing team comprised of members from California to Wyoming!

Semper Gumby!