The Office of National Preparedness Smart Practices Spotlight highlights practices and ideas that members of the emergency management and responder community have found useful and effective. Recently the agency showcased a Paradise, Calif., public works action plan for wildland fire evacuations and a Prescott, Ariz., wildland fire academy.

Paradise (Calif.) Public Works Department

The Paradise Public Works Department developed the Emergency Action Plan for Wildland Fire Evacuations, which sets out procedures for all public works employees, including actions to be taken during Red Flag fire conditions.

The plan provides model traffic control diagrams for 11 different wildfire scenarios. Public Works has outfitted a trailer with all the necessary road closure and evacuation route signs, barricades and cones. The types of personal protective equipment required for workers are identified, and conditions when they are to be used are outlined in the plan. For example, high-visibility jackets or vests are to be worn when workers are exposed to traffic; fire shelters are to be available for traffic control personnel who may be exposed to wildfires; and fire-resistant clothing, helmets and goggles are to be provided to those employees who may encounter fire, smoke or burning embers.

The plan specifies that if there is a fire call during non-working hours, police departments will have command and control of traffic operations until traffic control signs and barricades can be deployed and public works crews can arrive. It also lays out a typical sequence of events, communications call-out procedures, potential hazards protective measures, and post-evacuation responsibilities.

The emergency action plan can be found at the Town of Paradise's Web site at www.townofparadise.com.

Arizona Wildfire Academy

The Arizona State Fire Training Committee launched the Arizona Wildfire Academy, held for the first time in Prescott in mid-March. The AWA's inaugural training camp was an overwhelming success, according to Arizona fire officials. More than 400 firefighters participated in the training, worked on Task Book and Red Card requirements in classes from the most basic to advanced, and were certified based on National Wildfire Coordinating Group standards.

The AWA's first annual wildfire academy was conducted in a fire camp environment and run by a professional wildland firefighter incident management team. Procedures were the same as they would have been for an actual wildland fire event.

Classes covered critical wildland firefighting functions, including basic firefighting and wildland fire behavior, advanced firefighter training, initial-attack incident command, fire operations in the urban interface, crew boss/engine boss, incident business management, air operations, intermediate wildland fire behavior, introduction to fire behavior calculations, basic incident command system and wildland foam tactics.

Selected Smart Practices are e-mailed to state and local customers in a weekly Spotlight on Smart Practices bulletin. The smart practices also will be available on the FEMA Web site at www.fema.gov/onp. To submit a Smart Practice for consideration or to subscribe to Smart Practices Spotlight, send an e-mail to SmartPractices@fema.gov.