TCC Forestry Wildfire Training
Opportunities
(Last updated 3/3/2009
Tanana Chiefs Conference Forestry has held meetings with the
agencies responsible for fire suppression in Alaska - BLM-Alaska Fire Service
and the State of Alaska Division of Forestry - fall and winter
of 2008-2009 to discuss the upcoming 2009
fire season to strategize how we can improve employment
opportunities for people in villages in the TCC region.
While the Emergency Firefighter (EFF) Crew program is well
established and has been in place for many years, another
potential source of employment is also available for people with
finance, logistics and other skills that support firefighters.
These are referred to as single resource positions. This winter,
BLM-AFS held a 2 day information workshop February 25 -26,
2008 titled “Orientation to Alaska Incident Management Teams”.
This workshop was intended to help identify individuals who may
be interested in fire support positions.
BLM will administer several fire support training courses
this spring. However, there will be a limited number of students
in each course and only those individuals who apply for and show
the most interest and potential will be selected for further
training. Fire support positions which have been identified as
most needed include Staging Area Managers, Base Camp Managers,
Radio Operators, Receiving and Distribution Managers and
Ordering Managers in Logistics as well as Personnel and
Equipment Time Recorders in Finance and Status/Check in
Recorders and Display Processors in the Planning Section.
Other training and employment opportunities include the
Helicopter Crewmember workshop being sponsored by BLM-AFS this
spring. You must be a qualified firefighter in good standing to
be nominated.
If you are interested in the potential for qualifications in
Finance, Logistics, Planning or Helicopter Crewmember and think
you would like to work with Incident Management Teams to support
firefighters, please contact Tanana Chiefs Conference Fire
Management Officer Clinton Northway at (907) 452-8251, ext.3379.
In addition to recruiting and training single resources this
year, the BLM-Alaska Fire Service will continue to train EFF
Firefighting Crews in Villages. BLM-AFS will send the medical
examination forms to firefighters who will be over 45 years of
age. If you are a firefighter over 45 years of age, you should
expect to receive the examination forms in the mail beginning in
mid-January. TCC Health Services will be conducting examinations
for firefighters requiring them, but a schedule for these
examinations has not yet been established for those villages
that will be visited. For those villages where clinics will be
able to conduct the examinations, you will receive that
information from BLM.
The schedule for BLM to conduct the annual Work Capacity
(Pack Test) and Fireline Refresher Training is also not
available at this time. TCC will post these schedules as soon as
they are made available.
For more information on any of these or other wildland fire
related issues you can contact TCC FMO
Clinton
Northway …………….
