Headquarters' Perspective

Although fire is a natural part of our ecosystem, the Corps does not have a fire management training program in place. This shortfall hinders the Corps ability to meet the professional standards it subscribes to for accomplishing its natural resource stewardship goals and also increases the Corps liability concerning fire management. To address this concern, the Headquarters Operations Division-Natural Resources Branch determined that a Fire Management Task Force was needed to gather and analyze data to assist in the development of an effective and efficient Corps fire management program. This task force has addressed fire management policy guidance, project fire management plans, and training and certification requirements. This guidance is currently being incorporated into draft revisions of Chapter 2 of ER and EP 1130-2-540 and Chapters 5 and 9 of The Corps Safety Manual. See Table 14 for a list of Fire Management Task Force Members.