FAL1 Program Transition Plan

Date

Thursday, June 1, 2017 - 14:00

Subject

BIA National Faller (FAL1) Program Transition Plan

To

Regional Fire Management Officers, BIA Training Officers and BIA IQCS personnel

From

Garth Fisher, Fire Management Training Specialist

Office Contact

Garth Fisher, BWFM Training Specialist

Files

BIA_FAL1_Program_TransitionPlan_508.pdf

FAL1 Program Transition Plan

Background:

Due to recent changes in administration and consensus amongst the Regional FMO’s, and BIA Operations, a decision has been rendered to discontinue the BIA FAL1 program.

Historically this program was instituted due to a lack of standard training among partnering fire agencies and a lack of historic training methodology not meeting OSHA requirements. This problem has since been rectified with all the agencies agreeing on requirements for the FAL1, FAL2 and FAL3 positions, currently included in the PMS 310-1, Wildland Fire Qualifications and System Guide.

Effective Date:

This transition will be effective as of June 1, 2017.

Current Trainees:

• FAL1 trainees and IQCS personnel, from June 1st, 2017 onward, will be required to follow the same procedure in place for initiating, evaluation and certification of all Position Task Books. Evaluation of the FAL1 can be made by a qualified FAL1, use PTB language as guidance.
• There will no longer be a requirement for prospective FAL1’s to take a specific BIA FAL1 course or any other FAL1 course/workshop.
• The CRT1, faller 1 certifier position, will become obsolete and the mnemonic will be discontinued in IQCS.

Process Information:

• Fallers will need to maintain currency every 3 years by performing in the position and recording the experience in the Incident Qualifications and Command System (IQCS.)
• When recording experience, PTB initiation or certification, IQCS personnel will utilize the NWCG Set ID as opposed to the BIA Set ID.
• FAL1’s will still need to meet the arduous fitness level and keep current their CPR/First Aid requirements as identified in the Red Book.

Currently Qualified:

• Not affected by new position task book.

The position task book will be available at https://www.nwcg.gov/publications/position-taskbooks

Please direct questions or comments to Garth Fisher, BIA National Fire Training Management Specialist at garth.fisher@bia.gov, or call (208)387-5315