Wildland Fires - Florida 1998 » Key Issues

Issues	Comments
Unusual and extreme fire risk conditions	The El Nino weather condition created a drought which elevated the fire risk level throughout Florida to unprecendented levels.
Populated Interface Areas	The rapid development of many communities has created a large number of interface areas. The level of fire risk in many of these areas had not been recognized.
Resource Demands	The magnitude of the situation demanded tremendous resources from throughout the nation. Even with a maximum commitment, it was very difficult to provide sufficient resources quickly enough to meet the demands.
Complexity	The magnitude and complexity of the operations challenged and may have exceeded the capabilities of established incident management systems.
Structural Fire Fighting Resources	There is no national system in place to facilitate a large scale mobilization of structural fire fighters and other resources. The in-state system worked well under extreme circumstances.
Fatigue	The fires fully occupied the local windland and structural fire services for more than a month, before the most critical period occurred. Many fire fighters had worked to the point of exhaustion.
Aircraft Operations	The magnitude of the air operations was unprecedented and created new challenges in relation to communications, management of air space and operations in populated areas.
Interoperable Communications	The existing communications systems were overwhelmed by the magnitude and complexity of the operations. Interoperability between systems was a major weakness.
Planning	Planning must forecast worst case scenarios and anticipate their occurrence. Pre-positioning of resources and establishment of defensive positions well in advance may prove to be invaluable.
Unified Command	Coordination between wildland and structural fire fighting units was often difficult. Unified command structures should include all components that are operating on a fire.
Evacuations	Evacuations of large populated areas require substantial time and resources, in addition to those that are required to fight the fire(s).

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