Getting fire information out and challenges for PIOs

[viejo]

I was in Shingletown this afternoon and spoke with several residents and evacuees. There was no information posted for the public about about fire movement, fire maps evacuations or anything. This is the second day of the fire and the Fire Information Officers were driving around in air conditioned comfort while the refugees sweated and hoped to glean some information from the TV.

I know the Shasta County HQ and the Ponderosa fire both have Fire Information staff just for this emergency. Is it too much to ask for them to publish a map with Division Boundaries , completed fireline and other pertinent information ? How about a billboard in Shingletown and Manton?

Mod Note: originally posted regarding the TGU-Ponderosa fire. A new thread was created and posts moved here for further discussion.

[P-6]

I was in Shingletown this afternoon and spoke with . . .

Pretty harsh words. Are you a fire info officer? Allow me to give you some perspective from a long time PIO. Speaking from experience, the second day of a major fire is too early to expect good maps, message boards and an adequate PIO staff. If you have been involved in the management of a large fire you would realize the first few days are nothing more than building an organization in the midst of chaos. I'm confident the PIO was doing the best job under the circumstances. With hundreds of evacuees, it's a good bet they were overwhelmed. Maybe you could ask the PIO to shut off the A/C while driving in the middle of the afternoon on a hot day.

[RIV F005]

Pretty harsh words. Are you a fire info officer? Allow me to give you some perspective from a long time PIO. Speaking from experience, the second day of a major fire is too early to expect good maps, message boards and an adequate PIO staff. If you have been involved in the management of a large fire you would realize the first few days are nothing more than building an organization in the midst of chaos. I'm confident the PIO was doing the best job under the circumstances. With hundreds of evacuees, it's a good bet they were overwhelmed. Maybe you could ask the PIO to shut off the A/C while driving in the middle of the afternoon on a hot day.

They may be harsh words, but they are a reaction/reflection to the circumstances in which they are faced with. Not every reacts to adverse situations effectively as we would like, but they are what they are. As a citizen or as a fire officer, I expect accurate, correct, and timely information. As soon as it is possible. Anything less is unacceptable. Given the current economic and political environment, it would be VERY important to make sure our external customer base is given a high level of attention or service. Who knows that the guy wanting to find abut his double wide in the middle on nowhere, may be the brother or father of the guy on the local fire board, broad of supervisors, or state assembly person who handles our funding. Just some food for thought.

[the brush slasher]

My fire instructor at reedley college told us stop someone and ask.
PIOs are there to help keep you informed but they may be just as in
the dark as you are.they may have also just came from a meeting and
have some info.

[viejo]

Yes, those are harsh words. No I am am not a PIO , I am a retired CDF Battalion Chief who retired with the ICS quals of Type 2 IC, OPS, PSC and FBAN. I worked in the Battalion affected by the Ponderosa fire for 15 years have run more than a few major fires.

The information flow to the citizens is vital. Fires are our job, but we are affecting their lives.

To think that a citizen should have to stop someone and ask is not acceptable.

The PIO's have plenty of time to spend with the media and I even see some of them have twitter accounts, but they seem to be too busy to stoop to the grassroot level.

Mods...if you want to start a seperate thread on Fire Information or PIO's its fime with me . viejo

[riversideff]

MOD can we make a new Thread for PIO ????

We went ahead and did that. Carry on. M-S

[COPTER 100]

My fire instructor at reedley college told us stop someone and ask.
PIOs are there to help keep you informed but they may be just as in
the dark as you are.they may have also just came from a meeting and
have some info.

If the people who live there can't be given enough consideration to at least have SOME information posted locally, then perhaps the Public INFORMATION Officers might consider changing their current process of informing the public. Granted, there are many fires currently in NoCal but on this particular incident, some of the PIO's were hired back to fill this position and they are retired CalFire PIO's. They have done this job before and should know better than to ignore some of the suggestions offered to them. CalFire can do better ... and yes, I was qualified as a PIO when I worked for CalFire.

[thenet411]

This is an area where I have some experience. When I started http://www.thenet411.net in 2005, it was nothing more than a scanner feed with a small website to link people to the feeds. In 2006, I started experimenting with different technologies to get residents more involved. Finally in early 2008, I integrated a chat room into the site. Within a few months, we were under siege in Butte County from the lightning complex fires. We were talking to 2,000-3,000+ people simultaneously. Although we had some basic knowledge of wildland firefighting, we learned on the fly and translated and captured info we received from the scanners. After everything calmed down, we were recognized by Cal Fire as a media organization and they started communicating with us as they would any other news organization. Our moderators even attended a class given by the local PIOs. What was interesting during this class was the "old school" method of information dissemination they still thought was happening. There was seemingly no recognition of the fact that the people were listening to the scanners, both online and physical scanners. People heard information as it was being given from the lines (evac recommendations, line jumps, new threats, etc.) over the radio. No longer were the PIOs in complete control over the information people were hearing. But their procedures seemed to indicate that they still thought they were. We have heard time and time again from our visitors that we put information out there far faster than any media outlet and we're always careful about accuracy. If we can't confirm it, we don't put it out there. If there is a local fire we are calling the PIO to confirm any significant event we hear about and most of the time, the PIO has to call in to verify the info then call us back to verify to us. I resisted social networking for a long time. I finally relented and created a Facebook account to interface with those listeners. We now have over 1,200 followers who rely on us for rapid updates on local incidents. Even more when you consider who they speak to and share our status updates. It works.

I would say that regardless of the opinions and traditions of the "old guard", the time has come to either hire an online and social networking-savvy PIO or work with volunteers that understand the medium because it's here, is being used and even relied on by the public when services such as ours are available in a given area. It's getting better (Riverside is THE template for rapid, organized, and accurate information) but there is still a ways to go before information is delivered with the speed online resources are capable of.

[hitdoghowls]

Thenet411 - good comments. As PIO1 who has worked on the Station, Wallow, Las Conchas, and Waldo Canyon Fires, I can tell you that there is no one solution to getting information to the people that need it. A fire in LA is going to be handled with social media (Inciweb, Twitter, Flicker, etc.) plus news conferences. The Waldo Canyon fire which became world news trended at the top of news feeds and Twitter for 3 days. The traditional paper posting at the store does not work for these types of fires and thus the need for the social media PIO on Type 1 teams. A fire in the northern Sierra Nevada such as the Chips and Ponderosa should blend old and new. You need to put the PIOs in front of the general store in pre-evacuation areas and you need a PIO updating CalFires Fire Info and/or Inciweb and Twitting offical status to those in the area that now use social media and the broader regional audience. Community meetings and visits to evacuation centers are critical as well. In a post under the Chips Fire some one asked why the information flow had slowed on the web. That was the result of less use of social media after a transfer of command. That does not mean the new team is not doing their job but may rather suggest they want to focus their efforts in the field with face to face communications. Each fire and each phase of fire needs to be evaluated and PIO techniques adjusted to meet the local and regional need. One size does not fit all.

[viejo]

To the net411 and dog howls thank you so much for responding. I agree 100% that not one method works in every case. I also agree there is a whole new world of media and information flow.

That's why each team has a staff PIO and its his job to know those things. When I ran a fire, I did not expect my PIO to know how many dozers to order, but I did expect him to know community relations and I expected him to find the best way to communicate with the public that we were doing our best and were concerned for their property.

Maybe CalFire will read this and learn something. I see one PIO on the Ponderosa whose job it is to tweet...what a complete waste of my tax dollar. Tweeting is nice, but when you have hundreds of rural citizens evacuated with TV or computer access your tweets don't help them at all. Its a darned shame when people have to rely on internet sites such as this when we have paid staff on the fires that cannot figure out how to get the word to the people.

You guys, NorCalScan, the net411 and doghowls represent the new breed of PIO and you are doing a great job spreading the info that you are given. Don't get discouraged, keep up the good work.

For those who missed the ball this time, Shame on you. Learn from your mistakes and try to do better next time.