Operating Plan
for the
Southern Sierra Interagency Incident Management Team
7/7/2004

The following Operating Plan will be utilized for all incidents assigned to a local Type II Team on the Sierra National         Forest,  Sequoia National Forest, Stanislaus National Forest, Yosemite National Park, and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park.  The Bureau of Land Management - Central California Region and Kern County Fire Department may also partcipate in and utilize these Incident Management Teams  for incidents within their direct protection area. 

The objective of this plan is to facilitate management of suppression action for wildland incidents  on lands protected by parties signatory to this agreement, and to provide a timely response to an incident with a highly qualified incident management team. 

                                                                                                 
ED COLE                                       Date
Forest Supervisor
Sierra National Forest

                                                                       
ARTHUR L. GAFFREY                 Date
Forest Supervisor
Sequoia National Forest/Giant Sequoia National Monument

                                                                       
TOM QUINN                                 Date
Forest Supervisor
Stanislaus National Forest

                                                                     
RICHARD H. MARTIN               Date
Park Superintendent
Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park

                                                                              
MICHAEL TOLLEFSON               Date
Park Superintendent
Yosemite National Park

                                                                           
DENNIS THOMPSON                   Date
Chief
Kern County Fire Department

                                                                     
RON FELLOWS                            Date
Area Manager
Bureau of Land Management - Central California Region

Alternates are considered to be regular team members and may be used in place of the primary person without being considered a “substitute” on the team.  Alternates will attend team meetings and may fill some of the rotations when the primary person is not available.  Within the province, additional identified trainees may be sent.

 TEAM ROTATION

 Team rotation will be on a regional basis with 5 other teams in the rotation.  The rotation will have an on-call period of two weeks, consisting of 1 week of 8 hour, and 1 week of 2 hour call.  This will allow the team to be off call for four weeks.  During the time the team is on call it can be ordered for incidents within the province, the state or assignments out of state. 

 The rotation schedule is located in the California Interagency Mobilization Guide.  The rotation begins at 0001 Wednesday and ends at 2400 on Tuesday. 

 Under the closest resource concept, the province may mobilize the local Type 2 team rather than the “on-call” Type 2 team.  However, local teams must be on the fire unit within 12 hours of dispatch.  If the “12-hour” rule cannot be met, the Type 2 team “on-call” will be mobilized. 

 When the team is in  “on-call,” (2hr, 8hr status), members will not accept non-local incident assignments.  When not in “on-call” status, members can be available for non-team assignments with IC approval.

 TEAM MEETINGS

 Primary and alternate team members are expected to attend local team meetings.  A local team meeting will generally be held once a year prior to the start of fire season.

 TEAM MEMBER AVAILABILITY 

Maintenance of the team roster and availability will be the responsibility of the South Ops and Team IC.  The IC will advise South Ops and Sierra ECC prior to the 8 hour on-call period of any changes to  team member status.  The Sierra ECC will share this roster with province and cooperating ECC’s.  During the 8-hour and 2-hour on-call period,  ECC’s will consider team members listed on the roster as unavailable for non-team assignments.

 For temporary unavailability, team members will use the following notification procedure:
 

            1.  Command and General Staff Team Members:  If there is an alternate for your position contact the alternate and make arragements for them to cover for you, then notify the IC that you are unavailable and whether or not the alternate can cover for you.

2.     Unit Leaders and Technical Specialist Team Members:  If there is an alternate for your position contact the alternate and make arragements for them to cover for you, then notify your Section Chief.  Section Chiefs will advise the IC.

 The IC will attempt to find replacements.  Replacements can be from any agency.   When the replacement is confirmed, Sierra ECC will be advised.  If the IC is unable to find a replacement, the position will be filled through an order at the time of activation.

 TEAM MOBILIZATION

The fire forest will place an order for the team in MIRPS.  South Ops will contact the IC and confirm the team roster.  South Ops will enter the team order in MIRPS.  Agency ECC’s will contact their team and members cooperator’s dispatch centers and confirm travel/ETA information through MIRPS.  If an agency ECC cannot contact the team member within 30 minutes, they will advise the South Ops and also UTF the order in MIRPS.  South Ops will notify the IC of any unfilled position.

 When a team is activated within the province, a maximum of twelve hours will be allowed for team members to arrive at the designated ICP.  If a team member cannot meet the established timeframe, they must notify the appropriate Section Chief of their expected time of arrival.

 If radio traffic permits, the Dispatcher will announce activation of the team on the Forest emergency net and give a location and time to report.  Each unit ECC will have additional established procedures for notification of team members within their unit.

 TRAINEES

 Trainees in critical shortage positions have been identified to respond with the team, and are shown on the team roster.  Trainees need to bring their task books for documentation of training assignments.  If designated trainees are not available at the time of team activation, there will be no attempt to fill behind them.  The GACC, considering team pre-assigned trainees will fill 20 trainees and send them to the incident.

 In addition to the 20 trainees that must be ordered through OSC, the fire Forest may also send local priority trainees in identified shortage positions. These trainees should be negotiated with the Section Chiefs and the Incident Training Specialist to assure the availability of a quality assignment.  Each Forest will maintain a list of critical need positions.  Trainees will be ordered using the Forest Priority Trainee list in priority order.  If local trainees are not available, additional trainees above the required 20 will NOT be ordered from off-Forest.

 PRE-POSITIONING INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAMS

 The GACC may order incident management team pre-positioning to locations of close proximity to activity.  Prepositioning may be requested when fuel or weather conditions are such that fires can readily ignite, spread rapidly and do substantial damage, and when any of the following conditions exist:

 1.   Unusual lightning activity is present or is predicted.

2.    Incendiary outbreaks occur.

3.    An unusually large number of people are in the area (holidays, special events, etc.)

PROVINCE BUYING UNIT TEAMS

 The Southern Sierra Province has established two Buying Unit Teams.  Each team is configured to support both Type I and Type II incidents.  Teams are established to support incidents as follows:

 For Sequoia NF, Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP,  Bureau of Land Mgmt.-Bakersfield District, and Kern County incidents, CCICC will contact Nancy Ruggeri.

             For Sierra NF incidents, Sierra ECC will contact Ilene Mora.

             For Stanislaus NF incidents, Stanislaus ECC will contact Ilene Mora.
 

For Yosemite NP, an order will be placed though the GACC for a buying team. 

            For any MAFFS activation, the fire Forest ECC will contact Patrick Gallegos.

 It will be the responsibility of the Buying  Team Leader to contact their respective team members (and/or substitutes) and notify the fire Forest ECC with the names of their team members.  For a non-Type II incident,  the responsible ECC will contact Patrick Gallegos for procurement support.
STANDARD ORDER

 The following list of personnel and equipment will automatically be ordered when a team is assigned to an incident on the SNF, SQF, STF, YNP, BBD, KRN or KNP.

 The Pacific Southwest Region is requiring the use of the incident base services contract.  The requesting unit will use the “Incident Base Service Contract Request Form” to order the service through the Geographic Area Coordination Center.  Those Items underlined, bold and in italics will not be ordered if the incident base services has been activated.

 Those item numbers that are followed by an asterisk will not be ordered until the Section Chief responsible has confirmed with the ECC or the Buying Unit that they will be needed for the incident.   The Logistics Section Chief must confirm Logistics orders with the ECC and Buying Unit. The Section Chief responsible for confirming negotiable items should contact the office that has the ordering  responsibility, as follows:

 O/H = Overhead Dispatcher, Expanded Dispatch
S/E = Supply and Equipment Dispatcher, Expanded Dispatch
C/G = Crews and General Dispatcher, Expanded Dispatch
Buying Unit = Buying Unit Team

                                                                                                                                                   Ordering Responsibility

                                                                                                                                                    ECC                                Buying Unit