State Fire Marshal

California Incident Command Certification System Task Force

Teleconference Notes March 30, 2009

Attendance: Dennis Baldridge-US Forest Service Art Bishop-Apple Valley FD George Corley-San Bernardino County FD Bob Doyle-Glendale FD Nick Duvally-LA County FD Deano Esades-Pechanga FD Mike Esparza-Riverside City FD/State Board of Fire Services Bill Frankel-Camp Pendleton FD Bill Holmes-CALFIRE AEU Brian Norton-Orange County Fire Authority David Powell-OES R4 Rich Rubin-Aptos LaSelva FPD Ramiro Rodriquez-State Fire Training Scott Vail-OES TJ Welch-Alameda County FD Kevin White-CPF

Roll Call:

A new member was introduced Kevin White of CPF will be taking Yvonne de la Pena’s place on the Task Force representing Labor. Steve Brown, Brad Smith, Jim Little and Geoff Wilford had previous commitments and were unable to join the conference call. TJ will talk to David Lord to determine whether he is going to continue on the Task Force. Discussion Items:

Overview of actions by other agencies:

The Northern California Training Officers CICCS Workshop was very successful. TJ discussed this event. There were over two hundred attendees from throughout Northern CA and the Bay Area. Nick, Brad, Rich and TJ represented the Task Force. They gave an update of what the TF has been doing and answered questions. Their recommendation is to do this in all of the OES Regions. Additionally the workshop provided the TF with a number of tasks that need to be completed or to clarify to provide better guidance to the field. Among the areas that need TF attentions are:  Historical Recognition for 200 level positions.  New positions such as; mechanics, FEMT’s, fireline paramedics and structure protection specialists that are coming on line  How to move qualified personnel to DIVS/SOF2 and SITL without having to go through STL  Utilizing the 290 CD for engine boss  Physical fitness standards.

OES will assist in having these Regional workshops. David Powell will host an OES Region IV workshop on June 3 rd somewhere in the Sacramento Area. The other OES AC’s have been contacted and will be working on hosting meetings in their areas. A concern is that all OES personnel aren’t consistent in their approach to CICCS and its application.

Nick updated the TF on the current FEMA/NIMS activities. FEMA/NIMS will be sending out the proposed ICS forms, task books, FEMA 310-1, and FEMA FOG for public comment in the very near future. Geoff and Nick have been working on the task groups providing input for these products. These products are being written in an all risk format. A concern is grandfathering and how that process will work. The CA and TX models have been proposed as examples.

No updates on CWCG and NWCG. The next State Board of Fire Service Meeting is 5/27. The next FIRESCOPE BOD meeting is 4/8 and Scott will attend. PACE V

The TF reviewed the proposed membership for the PACE V committee based on the SFT policy and procedures manual. The membership remained the same (see attached list) except for the following changes; CWCG-Ron Recker BIA, Fire Protection District- George Corley SBCFD, FIRESOPE BOD-Ken Wagner Roseville FD (pending approval from the Board), Labor-Mike Esparza will be primary with Kevin White as the alternate, Training Specialist-Brad Smith or Nick Duvally, Bruce Lacher will be the OES R4 chair, Art Bishop will be the R6 representative and either Bob Bell or Dennis Baldridge will represent the Federal Wildland Fire Agencies. Ramiro will research quorum rules for the Committee. TJ will check on whether David Lord will be the Metro Fire Rep.

The TF reviewed the incident qualifications of all members and agreed that we will seek out SME’s or technical expertise in those incident qualifications that aren’t represented by anyone on the TF (i.e.-FSC,LSC,PIO). For a CICCS application to be reviewed someone with that qualification will need to be present either as a committee member or an invited SME.

Scott and Ramiro will check with Mike Richwine for the list of those persons that applied last time the PACE V committee met and were tabled. Each Rep from the 400 committees will check within their areas and see if there are any applications that need to be addressed. A note will be sent out from OES for applicants. Regions TF members will consolidate.

Peer Review Committees

Each Area and Region will send Scott a list of their committee chairs which will be posted on the FIRESCOPE website and at SFT. Ramiro and Scott will coordinate. Historical Recognition

With the number of new positions coming forward (mechanics, FEMT’s, structure protection specialists) for implementation in to the CICCS process a protocol for historical recognition needs to be developed for newly created and newly added positions.  How will historical recognition be handled,  how will we identify SME’s that can we qualify people in these new positions,  what is the start and end dates and will we mirror the original process of historical recognition (with less time)?  For structure protection specialist writing a structure protection plan is an example of qualification criteria that would be required.

CICCS needs to be more instep with FIRESCOPE so that there is coordination as positions are being developed.

Qualification Issues

Several key issues with regard to required pre-requisite qualifications for the positions of Situation UL, Safety Officer 2 and Division Supervisor were discussed. In the existing federal model 310-1 the requirements are very strict for the above listed positions and difficult for local Fire Departments to obtain. The Federal 310-1 is recognized as the national standard. The State CICCS committee will explore alternatives to the nationally recognized requirements that are more obtainable for local Fire Departments.

Mike Esparza indicated that the CICCS committee was under the umbrella of the State Board of Fire Services and FIRESCOPE Any changes or alterations from the requirements of the Federal 310-1 that the CICCS committee presented would be vetted and approved by the above listed organizations.

Work has continued on the CICCS qualifications guide which will replace the currently adapted federal 310-1 document. Meetings will be held April 13th and May 4/5 to continue this work. The goal is to have the document ready for the State Board of Fire Services meeting in August/September.

The S-290 CD for Engine Boss, we are still moving forward with allowing this for Engine Boss only. TJ is looking to get these as a web based applications.

S-290 for Engine/Crew Boss is covered in the new crosswalk from the US Fire Administration-G-231 course (Scott will research and get into FAQ’s and maybe to all departments). This information is in the Field Managers Guide. NWCG Training

There are NWCG courses being taught in the State by instructors that are not qualified to instruct NWCG courses as outlined in the field manager’s course guide. Certificates issued by these instructors are not valid. How do we stop this? The CICCS committee needs to know what is going on in their areas as to the type of instruction being presented and certificates being issued. A proposal to be included into the new CICCS documents is to have all proposed courses/ instructors reviewed and approved by the local 300 peer review committee.

ROSS

People are being entered into ROSS after going through training but prior to review by the CICCS committees. We need to manage access. Can we make approval by the committees mandatory prior to entry? All ROSS entries for local government need to be coordinated through the peer review committee’s

Physical Fitness

The question has come up continually about physical fitness requirements. We need to meet with labor to come up with alternatives such as SB County has agreed to. Several alternatives were discussed at the NorCal TO’s meeting, these will be discussed at the May 4/5 CICCS meeting. A sub-committee needs to be created to do an in-depth study of all of the alternatives to the nationally recognized “pack test”.

Meetings 4/07-09 Federal Team meetings-Reno 4/08 FIRESCOPE BOD- Sacramento 4/13 CICCS South Zone members meeting-TBA 5/04-05 CICCS TF Meeting-McClellan 5/11 CICCS TF conference call to update members that couldn’t make meeting or couldn’t stay for both days. 5/27 State Board of Fire Services-Sacramento 6/03 OES Region 4 CICCS overview- Location TBA 6/17 OES Region 1 CICCS overview- Location TBA

Tasks

For all Committee members:

1) Announce statewide that the PACE V Committee will be meeting May 4/5 and reviewing applications for 500/600 level positions.

Actions taken: Memo sent throughout FIRESCOPE system was sent. Nick Duvally discussed at Team Meetings in Reno. 2) Identify any individuals that might be interested in participating on physical fitness sub-committee.

Action: FIRESCOPE BOD requested a list of alternatives and recommendations from the TF at their next meeting 7/8.

3)Develop ideas to create an alternative system for local government to address the STL glass ceiling so that personnel can advance to DIVS, SOF2, and SITL that meets the intent of the 310-1 qualifications, training and experience.

4) Develop ideas for a timeline and process for historical recognition for new ICS positions.

5) Discuss with the 300 peer review committees to determine the feasibility for reviewing all 200 level applications rather than ENGB.

6) Discuss with peer review committees their interest in reviewing the qualifications of instructors and course content for courses being delivered in their areas.

TJ Welch

1) Contact David Lord to see if he will continue to represent Metro Fire Departments on the CICCS TF/PACE V Committee.

Action: David will still participate, as time permits, but has requested TJ to represent Metro FD’s.

2) Continue to work on making the S-290 CD available online.

Action:

Ramiro Rodriquez

1) Research what is considered a quorum for the PACE V Committee.

Action: A simple majority of the designated positions in the SFT Policy and Procedures Manual.

2) Obtain a list of applications that were tabled at the last PACE V Committee Meeting.

Action: Mike Richwine indicates that there are no remaining applications.

Scott Vail

1) Attend the FIRESCOPE BOD meeting on April 8, 2009. Action: Scott presented the results of the conference call and an updated of planned activities. The TF was tasked with a report on physical fitness for the July 8th meeting.

2) Notify individuals that have has their applications tabled after the last PACE V Committee meeting.

Action: There were no applications.

3) Insure that a letter was sent out to all Regions to solicit applications for the 500/600 level review.

Action: Letter sent out on April 2, 2009 by Kim Zagaris to all Regions and Area Coordinators.

Nick Duvally

1) Obtain a location and create an agenda for the 4/13 meeting.

Action: Done. Meeting notes distributed to TF members for discussion at the 5/4-5 meeting.

2) Distribute new products from NIMS for public comment to all TF members.

Action: Ongoing

CAL EMA Fire and Rescue

Coordinate CICCS overview meetings in all Regions.

Action: Meetings are currently planned for:

Region 1 June 17th location TBA

Region 4 June 3rd location Sacramento

Region 5 date and location TBA

Region 6 date and location TBA.