Field Observer

Welcome back! Our planes are all gone for the season and we are gearing up for out of state deployments for 2021. This provides another opportunity to tell you about one of the different positions available to our firefighters. Field Observer (FOBS) is a position that is useful both on wildfires and on prescribed fires, much like a FEMO. The Field Observer is responsible for collecting incident status information from observations at the incident and passing it on to the Situation Unit Leader, Division Supervisor, and other fire resources as needed. The information may include things like fire perimeter location, onsite weather, fire behavior, fuel conditions, and fire effects information. They collect this information to assess firefighter safety and whether the fire is achieving incident objectives. The FOBS will report occurrences such as structures lost or damaged, accidents or sicknesses. Like a FEMO they can be used to obtain, record, and monitor weather and fire behavior data. They are also trained to be able to recognize atmospheric conditions that affect fire behavior. Something else you can utilize a FOBS for is smoke conditions. They can help identify possible smoke sensitive areas such as roads, communities, schools, hospitals and more; as well as monitoring and recording smoke impacts and notify the appropriate personnel. They can also recon the assigned area, plot fire perimeters on a map, and assist in preparing maps for use in the Situation Unit, Incident Command Post, and Incident Action Plan to ensure accuracy. We have many positions available for our wildland firefighters to qualify in, there is so much more to a wildland fire deployment so stick around to learn more!