Question and discussion time. How will Covid 19 impact and affect the way we manage large campaign fires this season?
Base
Camp
Sleep trailers
Meal halls
New policies
Check in procedures
Etc
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We were told to expect smaller, spike type camps. No trailers, individual tents… etc.,
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There are a lot big ideas. Time will tell. Tents work great for day shift. There is talk of some team members being at the ICP and others being at a hotel or some kind of conference room. Severing food, hand washing/cleanliness and showering will be a high priority.
Fires will vary however some things I’ve heard and read so far.
Base - base camp will have much fewer people in them. A fire in Arizona has overhead in one base camp, with multiple spike camps.
Sleep trailers - not a good year to be in the sleeper business.
Meal halls - mostly everything is to go. I haven’t heard of any community eating areas, however it’s possible with distancing.
New policies - each GACC has BMPs. They can be found at the NIFC website.
Check in procedures - I heard of one that used a QR code. Finance is virtual mostly as well as other ICS positions.
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It definitely won’t be the same. As a finance person I enjoy interaction with firefighters and all folks on the teams. I am at least hoping we can be at camp and not at a hotel to perform our duties. New normal will be the QR code for check-in and sending docs to finance. Stay tuned!
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I bet you can expect a county Public Health person at base camp monitoring the situation. 
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Catering co. Had tables 6’ apart 4 per table servers were in masks and if you wanted a condiment they did it for you. At briefing was told to keep 6 feet apart but you know how that went, this was at the avila Fire smaller fire but a good look at big things to come.
At the Kincade they started implementing some chow line distribution changes when the crud started running around. Couldn’t grab your own coffee, condiments were placed on your plate as requested, etc. They were strict on hand washing stations as well prior to feeding and briefings. Hadn’t seen that level of reaction before.
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New email stating we (cal fire employees) have to wear face masks inside the station now when we can’t maintain distancing. Any company officers going against this directive??
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If they were, they probably wouldn’t announce it here. Just follow the rules even if you don’t agree with it. It’s easier that way.
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Easy directive to follow and it’s a California government wide order to all agencies, my agency got this one right off the get go in March.
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I’d love to see that being enforced
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Easy to enforce…FC’s and FAE’s can brush up on their progressive discipline procedures at the same time. Provided they lead by example!!
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You cant enforce it actual some people have disabilities or medical conditions that they cant wear mask 24-7 Also its HIPPA violation. Goodluck on enforcement I would lawyer up if you start the progressive discipline on some one you will lose all day in court.
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Pretty sure if you’re healthy enough to wear an SCBA you can wear a mask. It’s a lawful order issued by the director of the department. The government code section you can be fired under is the one about insubordination. The fact is people’s personal opinions don’t matter. That is the direction given by the highest level of management. But if people’s ego tells them they are sooo important that they should challenge it I welcome them to try and see how it turns out.
Also, telling someone to wear a mask is not a HIPAA violation.
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Just wear a mask and stop being difficult it’s not that hard we’re adults
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Correct tell them to wear a mask is it a HIPAA violation. Asking why they aren’t wearing one if they state it’s for medical reasons is. But no hear to argue was just saying to be careful. No government has your back when it comes down to it was my point.
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Don’t you work for the government ? Does that imply the general public shouldn’t trust you or your co-workers?
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I think in our line of work being a role model is just as important. I hope as professionals we can contribute to ending COVID-19
I’m with leftcoast87 and end this discussion thread, remember there are people that use this site for Intel on wildfire. I hope everyone stays safe.
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