National guidance for COVID-19 wildfire response released

With the potential for serious operational impacts due to COVID-19, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) recently released national guidance for wildfire response during the pandemic.

The new NWCG guidance addresses:

• Medical Unit Concept of Operations.
• Roles and Responsibilities of Medical Unit Leaders and Medical Unit Operations.
• Personal Protective Equipment.
• Appendix A: COVID-19 Medical Action Plan.
• Appendix B: State Public Health Departments, State COVID-19 and State EMS Contacts.
• Appendix C: Wildland Fire COVID-19 Screening.

Also included are appendices on the Medical Treatment Support Matrix, workers' compensation, Employee Contact Assessments, and recommendations for difficult situations.

The NWCG Fire Management Board's newly established Medical and Public Health Advisory Team has reviewed the new guidance and will provide interagency recommendations for wildland fire COVID-19 planning materials.

For more information on wildfire response during the pandemic

• NWCG's Emergency Medical Committee.
• Department of the Interior: Wildfires and COVID-19.
• National Interagency Fire Center: COVID-19 and Wildland Fire Management.
• Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center: Incident Reviews/Lessons Learned.