The National Academy of Public Administration

In many parts of the nation, the capacity of state and community organizations to address the widespread risk of wildland fire is far from adequate. This portion of the study explored administrative improvements, amendments to existing programs, and potential new provisions of law that would:

Local fire departments - paid and unpaid, urban and rural - are a huge potential resource for fighting wildfires, but barriers to wildfire training and qualification often prevent them from doing so. This portion of the study examined ways to increase the availability of local fire - fighting forces for wildfires, and to better integrate local forces into wildfire response. The final report, released in December 2003, includes recommendations to make training and certification of local firefighters more widely, easily, and inexpensively available; and to develop leadership teams committed to managing local fires, even when many firefighters have been deployed to other areas.

Major equipment and services for fighting large wildfires are provided by a variety of means including national contracts, regional contracts, state contracts, purchases off local economies, and cooperative use of existing federal, state, local, tribal, and volunteer resources. In most cases, the sources of supply are not systematically analyzed and compared to assess which are most cost-effective. Several other federal agencies have been able to save money by performing such evaluations. This portion of the study examined the acquisition systems of other federal agencies in order to develop a methodology for acquiring these items for the agencies having wildfire responsibilities. The potential for cost savings was demonstrated with examples. The final report was issued in September 2003.

Academy Panels have been studying wildland fire issues since 2000. They have examined the adequacy of the 1995 Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy, made recommendations to improve implementation of the Policy, and developed strategies for containing suppression costs, in addition to the issues addressed in the 2003 study. Reports from those studies are linked below.

An Academy Panel has found that federal, state, and local agencies must strike at the main causes of wildland fires to bring the costs of fighting them under control. These costs have increased dramatically with the buildup of hazardous fuels, rising home construction in fire-prone areas, and severe drought. The Panel focused on federal wildfire assistance to state and local governments, and offered steps to better prepare federal, state, local, and tribal officials to work together. Studies of six large fires from 2001 formed the basis for the findings and recommendations.

The Panel's report, Wildfire Suppression: Strategies for Containing Costs, is available in two parts. The shorter report provides the recommendations, and the longer Background and Research Report provides the case studies and other research on which the Panel based its recommendations.
Free Online Report (77 pages)
Background and Research Report (462 pages)

Managing Wildland Fire: Enhancing Capacity to Implement the Federal Interagency Policy (December 2001)

An Academy Panel has recommended an organizational structure and other management tools for enhancing the federal land management agencies' capacity for managing wildland fire. Strong leadership and coordination already exist for operational firefighting activities, but the Panel found that ecosystem health, fire hazard reduction, and community safety goals contained in the agencies' fire management policy must be addressed immediately in a more consistent and accountable manner by all of such agencies. Otherwise, the threat of unnaturally severe wildfires will continue to grow, putting both communities and ecosystems at increasing risk.

The study, Managing Wildland Fire: Enhancing Capacity to Implement the Federal Interagency Policy, offers recommendations that are consistent with the President's Management Agenda, which directs federal agencies to face the urgent management challenges confronting them.
Free Online Report

Implementation of the Federal Wildland Fire Policy (Phase I Report) (December 2000)

This report was prepared for the Department of Interior and contains perspectives on the Cerro Grande Fire and issues recommended for further study in Phase II. Phase II will examine the implementation of the 2001 fire policy, and present an Academy panel's recommendations on how its implementation can be improved. The Phase II report will be published in Fall 2001.
Free Online Report