Reference Manual #18: Wildland Fire Management

The Wildland Fire Management Reference Manual 18 (RM18) provides detailed and comprehensive guidance for implementing wildland fire management policy for the National Park Service. Field employees can find legal references, operating policies, standards, procedures, general information, recommendations, and examples to assist in carrying out Management Policies and Director's Orders. All materials included in RM18 have been approved by the Associate Director, Visitor and Resource Protection.

RM18 is tiered from overarching policy found in the NPS Management Policies, and Director’s Order 18: Wildland Fire Management. Supplemental policy regarding coordination and responsibilities for wildland fire operations is found in the Interagency Standards for Fire and Fire Aviation Operations.

Updated September 6, 2023

Chapter 5: Preparedness

Interim Policy RM #18 Chapters 5 and 6

Chapter 6: Prevention and Mitigation

Chapter 7: Fuels Management

Updated October 26, 2023

Chapter 8: Fire Ecology and Monitoring

Chapter 9: Air Quality and Smoke Management

Chapter 10: Training, Qualifications, and Certification

Chapter 11: Wildland Fire Reporting

Updated September 6, 2023

Chapter 12: Fire Facilities

Chapter 13: Fire Equipment

Chapter 14: Wildland Fire Management Budget

Chapter 15: Incident Business Management

Chapter 16: Evaluations, Reviews, and Investigations

Chapter 17: Fire Research

Chapter 18: Post-Wildfire Programs

Chapter 19: Information and Technology Management

Chapter 20: Communication and Education

Appendix 1: Websites

These tables list links in order as they appear in the document. Repetitious links within a chapter are omitted.
Note: Many links are behind agency firewalls so may be only accessible when on a NPS networked computer.

Appendix 2: Definitions and Terms

For more commonly used fire definitions and terms, please refer to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Glossary of Wildland Fire Terminology.

Communication crisis – An unplanned event which triggers a real, perceived, or possible threat to life, health and safety, the environment, financial status, or the organization’s credibility.

Computer Maintenance Management System (CMMS) – A system that tracks the maintenance of remote automated weather stations.

Data Standards – Geospatial data standards set the criteria and specifications to ensure that geospatial data follow a prescribed format. Standards are essential for efficient sharing of data and to provide information about the geospatial data.

Data Steward – Subject matter experts for their respective business subject areas who are responsible for developing data requirements, standards, access rules, business rules, and other data activities for their subject area of expertise.

Emergency Stabilization (ES) – Planned actions to stabilize and prevent unacceptable degradation to natural and cultural resource, to minimize threats to life or property resulting from the effects of a fire, or to repair/replace/construct physical improvements necessary to prevent degradation of land or resources.

Enterprise Architecture (EA) – A framework that describes how an organization develops, manages, and uses information technology to optimally support its business functions. It consists of definitions, processes, policies, technical standards, and an underlying architecture governance structure. Since business requirements and technology do not stand still, effective enterprise architecture must be adaptive in nature.

Fact sheet – A method for sharing information about a specific topic that lays out the details of an issue or activity. It is typically one to two pages in length.

Federal Financial System (FFS) – The Federal Financial System encompasses all accounting and financial records and activity for the National Park Service. NPS utilizes FFS for budget execution, accounts payable, disbursements, purchasing, travel, accounts receivable, general ledger and external reporting.

FireCode – This is a unique four character alpha-numeric code assigned to each wildland fire regardless of agency, to track cost of the fire across all federal agencies. The code is assigned randomly.

Fire Management Program Center (FMPC) – Organizationally, the National Park Service’s national Branch of Wildland Fire is located at FMPC at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho.

Fire Program Analysis (FPA) – A common interagency decision support tool for wildland fire planning and budgeting.

Firewise - The state of being knowledgeable and prepared for wildfire in residential or urban settings. The national interagency program carries the title “Firewise Communities.”

Fixed Ownership Rate (FOR) – A rate charged each year for the cyclic replacement of wildland fire vehicles.

Forest Technology Systems (FTS) – A manufacturer of remote automated weather stations.

Full Time Equivalency (FTE) – Percentage of annual hours of service considered full-time for the position a program is filling. Full Time Equivalency is stated as a proportion. It is computed by dividing the number of work hours for an individual by the number of full-time hours for that position. Part time positions should also be reported in full time equivalency.

Geographic Area Coordinating Groups and Multi-Agency Coordinating Groups (MAC) – Representatives of involved agencies and/or jurisdictions who come together to make decisions regarding the prioritizing of incidents, and the sharing and use of critical resources. The MAC organization is not a part of the on-scene ICS and is not involved in developing incident strategy or tactics.

Geospatial Data - Digital information about the shape and location of natural or constructed features or boundaries that is referenced to geographic locations on the Earth’s surface by a system of geographic coordinates. This information may be input directly via a digitizing process or it may be derived from, among other things, remote sensing, mapping, surveying technologies. This data can be in a variety of formats including vector, raster, or tabular.

Government Performance Results Act (GPRA) – Every fiscal quarter, a performance report is submitted to Congress for fire management performance measures. The fire occurrence reports provide some of the data for those reports.

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVW) – The rating of a vehicle for the maximum weight that can be legally carried.

Intranet – The secure use of Internet technologies to limit communication of information in the National Park Service; access to the Intranet is restricted to NPS employees and authorized users of NPS equipment.

Key messages – General concepts that can be incorporated into discussions, print materials, and other resources used in communication, education, information, and prevention efforts. Key messages are umbrella statements that require additional supporting points and examples for context.

Metadata – Information about the content, quality, condition, and other characteristics of data. Metadata for geospatial data may document its subject matter; how, when, where, and by whom the data was collected; accuracy of the data; availability and distribution information; its projection scale, resolution, and accuracy; and its reliability with regard to some standard.

"Mutual Aid" Fires – Fires that start on a different agency's land for which a park has an agreement in place with that agency to provide wildfire protection on an agreed portion of that agency's land. When a park initiates a response for fires on that portion of land, they are termed Mutual Aid fires.

National Fire Equipment System (NFES) – An equipment inventory tracking system for fire cache supplies and equipment.

National Fire Plan Operations and Reporting System (NFPORS) – This system provides an interagency tracking and reporting capability for all fuels treatment projects.

"Natural-Out" Fires – Wildland fires discovered after they have been extinguished by natural causes, with no suppression action taking place.

NFPORS Documentation Library - Another helpful reference glossary can be found at the National Fire Plan Operations and Reporting System (NFPORS) website under NFPORS Documentation Library: https://www.nfpors.gov/index.cfm.

NWCG Glossary - The main reference glossary for NPS Fuels Management is the NWCG glossary, which is updated periodically.

Operational Management Plan – A plan that contains objectives reflecting the overall incident strategy and specific tactical actions and supporting information for the next operational period.

Operations of the National Park Service (ONPS) – NPS funding needs are met through a variety of sources, most from the NPS congressional appropriation titled Operation of the National Park Service (ONPS).

Office of Wildland Fire Coordination (OWFC) – Located in the Office of the Secretary, Department of the Interior, Washington D.C., OWFC is responsible for the coordination, integration, and oversight of Wildland Fire Management programs within the Department of the Interior (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service).

PM 2.5 - Ambient standards for pollutants such as particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in size (PM-2.5)

Point of Contact (POC) – A local contact for each weather station that can assist technicians in maintaining remote automated weather stations.

Point-of-Origin – This is the location where a wildland fire started. This location determines the ownership of the fire.

Press kit – A packet of information that can be used to inform media and others for special events, briefings, or dignitary visits.

Prevent Significant Deterioration (PSD) - Sections 160-169 of the Clean Air Act establish a program to Prevent Significant Deterioration (PSD) of air quality in "clean air areas" of the country (i.e., attainment areas), which include many, if not most, national park units.

Project Management Information System (PMIS) – This is the NPS web-based intranet program used for entering construction or deferred maintenance project requests. This system also tracks the progress of projects that are funded and under construction. Outside of the Wildland Fire Program, this system is also used for entering and tracking other equipment and service budget requests.

Rehabilitation – Efforts undertaken within three years of a wildland fire to repair or improve fire damaged lands unlikely to recover to a management approved conditions or to repair or replace minor facilities damaged by fire.

Response – Activities that address the short-term, direct effect of an incident, including immediate actions to save lives, protect property, and meet basic human needs. Also includes the execution of emergency operations plans as well as mitigation activities designed to limit the loss of life, personal injury, property damage, and other unfavorable outcomes.

Restoration – The continuation of rehabilitation beyond the initial three years or the repair or replacement of major facilities damaged by the fire.

Servicewide Comprehensive Call (SCC) –The SCC provides NPS guidance and schedule information for the budget formulation process. This process starts two years ahead of current fiscal year. Wildland fire construction and deferred maintenance requests are required to follow this guidance.

Severity Support Action – Resources assigned to another park or agency unit in response to high fire danger and the threat of a high amount of wildfire activity.

Statement of Work and Budget (SWB) –This is a yearly budget document identifying the amount of stations to be maintained and associated costs to be paid.

Supporting points – Points that provide detail for the key messages and enable individuals to further explain the identified topic.

Threat Fire – Fires that start on non-NPS land that are not under an agreement to provide wildfire protection, but where NPS response was initiated to prevent fire spread onto NPS land.

U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) – The federal agency that oversees the procurement of goods and services.

Vaisala – A manufacturer of remote automated weather stations.

Washington Office, Branch of Wildland Fire (WASO) – This branch is formerly referred to as the Fire Management Program Center at the National Interagency Fire Center.

Wildland - An area in which development is essentially non-existent, except for roads, railroads, powerlines, and similar transportation facilities. Structures, if any, are widely scattered.

Wildland Fire Management Information System (WFMI) – This interagency system, managed by BLM, is designed to enter and display wildland fire occurrence reports, provide lightning occurrence data, display weather data for the U.S. and provide aviation tracking software for the BLM.

Working Capital Fund (WCF) – A program that provides cyclic funding for the replacement of wildland fire vehicles.

Appendix 3: Acronyms

List of acronyms used in Reference Manual 18.

AAR – After Action Review
AC – Area Commander
ACA – Alternative Consultation Agreement
AD – Administratively Determined Pay Plan
AFS – Alaska Fire Service
APT – Administrative Payment Team
ARD – Air Resources Division
ARD – Associate Regional Director
ASCADS – Automated Sorting, Conversion, and Distribution System

BAER – Burned Area Emergency Response
BAR – Burned Area Rehabilitation
BPA – Blanket Purchase Agreement / Business Purchase Agreement

CA – Community Assistance
CAA – Clean Air Act
CAR – Communities-at-Risk
CBI – Composite Burn Index
CE – Categorical Exclusion
CESU – Cooperative Education Studies Unit
CFFP – Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Program
CFR – Code of Federal Regulations
CIO – Chief Information Officer
CMMS – Computer Maintenance Management System
CO – Contracting Officer
COR – Contracting Officer Representative
COTR – Contracting Officer Technical Representative
CPIC – Capital Planning and Investment Control
CWN – Call-When-Needed agreements
CWPP – Community Wildfire Protection Plan

DASHO – Designated Agency Safety and Health Official
DAWG – Data Administration Working Group
DIAR – Department of the Interior Acquisition Regulation
DM – Departmental Manual
DO – Director’s Order
DOI – Department of the Interior
DOT – Department of Transportation
DRGS – Direct Readout Ground Station
DRM – Data Reference Model
DROT – DOMSAT Receive-only Terminal

EA – Enterprise Architecture
EA – Environmental Assessment
EERA – Emergency Equipment Rental Agreements
EFT – Electronic Funds Transfer
EIS – Environmental Impact Statement
ELA – Enterprise License Agreement
EPA – Environmental Protection Agency
ES – Emergency Stabilization
ESA – Endangered Species Act
ESF – Environmental Screening Form
ESM – Environmental Statement Memorandum
ESR – Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation

FAAP – NPS Fire and Aviation Applications Portal
FAR – Federal Acquisition Regulation
FEA – Federal Enterprise Architecture
FEAT – Fire Ecology Assessment Tool
FEIS – Fire Effects Information System
FEMO – Fire Effects Monitor
FFS – Federal Financial System
FGDC – Federal Geographic Data Committee
FIREMON – Fire Effects Monitoring and Inventory System
FISMA – Federal Information Security Management Act
FLE – Fire Line Explosives
FLSA – Fair Labor Standards Act
FMLB – Fire Management Leadership Board
FMO – Fire Management Officer
FMP – Fire Management Plan
FMPC – Fire Management Program Center
FMU – Fire Management Unit
FONSI – Finding of No Significant Impact
FOR – Fixed Ownership Rate
FPA – Fire Program Analysis
FPU – Fire Planning Unit
FRAMES – Fire Research and Management Exchange System
FRAWS – Wildfire Support Remote Automated Weather Station
FRCC – Fire Regime and Condition Class
FTE – Full Time Equivalency
FTP – File Transfer Protocol
FTS – Forest Technology Systems

GACC – Geographic Area Coordination Center
GACG – Geographic Area Coordinating Group
GIS – Geographic Information System or Geospatial Information System
GMP – General Management Plan
GOES – Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
GPO – Government Printing Office
GPRA – Government Performance Results Act
GPS – Global Positioning System
GSA – U.S. General Services Administration
GTG – NWCG Geospatial Technology Group
GVW – Gross Vehicle Weight Rating

HFI – Healthy Forests Initiative

I&M – Inventory and Monitoring
IA – Initial Attack
IAP – Incident Action Plan
IC – Incident Commander
ICC – International Code Council
ICP – Incident Command Post
ICS – Incident Command System
IDIQ – Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity
IDT – Interdisciplinary Team
IFPM – Interagency Fire Program Management
IGO – Intra-Governmental Order
IMT – Incident Management Team
IPAC – Intra-Governmental Payment and Collection
IQCS – Incident Qualifications and Certification System
IRM – Information Resource Management
IRPG – Incident Response Pocket Guide (NFES 1077, PMS 461)
ITIC – Information Technology Investment Council

JFSP – Joint Fire Science Program
JHA – Job Hazard Analysis

LAL – Lightning Activity Level
LCES – Lookouts-Communications-Escape Routes-Safety Zones
LODD – Line of Duty Death

MAC – Multi-Agency Coordinating Group
MCR – Human-caused Risk
MIST – Minimum Impact Strategy and Tactics
MMA – Maximum Manageable Area
MOU – Memorandum of Understanding
MTBS – Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity

NAAQS – National Ambient Air Quality Standards
NAFRI – National Advanced Fire and Resource Institute
NEPA – National Environmental Policy Act
NFDRS – National Fire Danger Rating System
NFES – National Fire Equipment System
NFP – National Fire Plan
NFPA – National Fire Protection Agency
NFPORS – National Fire Plan Operations and Reporting System
NGO – Non-governmental Organization
NHPA – National Historic Preservation Act
NICC – National Interagency Coordination Center
NIFC – National Interagency Fire Center
NISC – National Information Systems Center
NITC – National Information Technology Center
NMAS – National Map Accuracy Standard
NOI – Notice of Intent
NWCG – National Wildfire Coordinating Group
NWFEA – National Wildland Fire Enterprise Architecture

OMB – Office of Management and Budget
ONPS – Operations of NPS funding
OSHA – Occupational Safety and Health Administration
OWFC – Office of Wildland Fire Coordination

PII – Personally Identifiable Information
PM – Particulate Matter
PMIS – Project Management Information System
PMS – Publication Management System
POC – Point of Contact
PPE – Personal Protective Equipment
PRAWS – A non-fire project support Remote Automated Weather Station
PRM – Performance Reference Model
PSD – Prevent Significant Deterioration
PTB – Position Task Book
PWE – Primary Work Element

QA/QC – Quality Assessment / Quality Control

RAMS – Risk Assessment and Mitigation Strategies
RAWS – Remote Automated Weather Station
RCU – Responsibilities for Computer Use
RFD – Rural Fire Department
RMP – Resource Management Plan
ROD – Record of Decision
ROMAN – Real-time Observation Monitoring and Analysis Network
RSFWSU – Remote Sensing Fire Weather Support Unit
RSS – Resource Stewardship Strategy
RX – Prescribed (fire)

SACS – Shared Application Computer System
SAIT – Serious Accident Investigation Team
SCC – Servicewide Comprehensive Call
S&PF – State and Private Forestry
SHPO – State Historic Preservation Office
SIP – State Implementation Plan
SMIS – Safety Management Information System
SMTP – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SOP – Standard Operating Procedure
SUA – Satellite User Agreements
SWB – Statement of Work and Budget

T&E – Threatened and Endangered
THPO – Tribal Historic Preservation Office

USC – United States Code

WASO – Washington Support Office
WCF – Working Capital Fund
WFMI – Wildland Fire Management Information System
WIMS – Weather Information Management System
WRCC – Western Region Climate Center
WUI – Wildland Urban Interface

Last updated: January 23, 2024

Reference Manual #18: Wildland Fire Management

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Managing Wildland Fire

Chapter 3: Standards for Operations and Safety

Chapter 4: Fire Management Plans

Chapter 5: Preparedness

Chapter 6: Prevention and Mitigation

Chapter 7: Fuels Management

Chapter 9: Air Quality and Smoke Management

Chapter 10: Training, Qualifications, and Certification

Chapter 11: Wildland Fire Reporting

Chapter 12: Fire Facilities

Chapter 13: Fire Equipment

Chapter 14: Wildland Fire Management Budget

Chapter 15: Incident Business Management

Chapter 16: Evaluations, Reviews, and Investigations

Chapter 17: Fire Research

Chapter 18: Post-Wildfire Programs

Chapter 19: Information and Technology Management

Chapter 20: Communication and Education

Appendix 1: Websites

Appendix 2: Definitions and Terms

Appendix 3: Acronyms

Tools

Contact Us

Reference Manual #18: Wildland Fire Management

Appendix 1: Websites

Chapter 1 Websites

Chapter 2 Websites

Chapter 3 Websites

Chapter 4 Websites

Chapter 5 Websites

Chapter 6 Websites

Chapter 7 Websites

Appendix 2: Definitions and Terms

Definitions for commonly used terms and acronyms

Appendix 3: Acronyms

List of acronyms in alphabetical order

Tools