Terminology and the FTEM Process

FTEM Terminology

The following terms may be encountered when using FTEM, these have specific definitions as follows:

Treatments: In FTEM, the treatments that are available to filter and further summarize in tiles (gold values) are a subset based on funding source and are limited to those treatments that have been identified geospatially to represent a potential interaction. Sometimes also referred to a “fuel treatments”

Interactions or Interacting Treatments: In FTEM, “interaction” indicates that a treatment has:

  • Been automatically detected by the FTEM system but still requires an FTEM Editor to verify and monitor the interaction OR

  • Been verified and monitored by an FTEM Editor.

Because “interaction” can include treatments in all stages of monitoring, it is important to consider wildfire status when examining interaction statistics. Interaction numbers for fires in “completed” status, where all treatments have been verified and monitored, will be more informative than interaction statistics on “not started” or “in-progress” fires, where treatments have not all been verified or monitored by FTEM Editors.

Monitoring Status: In FTEM, both wildfires and treatments are assigned a monitoring status.

For wildfires, status includes:

  • Not Started: One or more interacting treatments for the wildfire have been automatically detected by the system but have not been verified or monitored by an FTEM Editor.

  • In Progress: One or more interacting treatments are in the process of being monitored by an FTEM Editor.

  • Completed: All interacting treatments have been monitored by an FTEM Editor.

For treatments, status includes:

  • Not Started: A treatment for the wildfire has been automatically detected by the system but has not yet been verified or monitored by an FTEM Editor.

  • In Progress: A treatment for the wildfire is the process of being monitored by an FTEM Editor. Some data has been entered but the information is not yet complete.

  • Completed: A treatment for the wildfire has been confirmed as having interacted with the fire and has been monitored to completion by an FTEM Editor.

Monitor: In FTEM, the process of verifying treatments and entering data to document the interaction, this task is performed by FTEM Editors.

The FTEM Process

Data in the dashboard is populated based upon the FTEM application. Steps in the FTEM process include the following:

Step 1 – Integrating wildfire and treatment data

Geospatial data listing all wildfires and fuel treatments for all five agencies come into the FTEM system from various systems of record. Fuel treatments in FTEM refer specifically to hazardous fuel treatments.

For technical documentation on this step, please refer to the FTEM help topics describing wildfire data sources and treatment data sources.

Step 2 - Identifying interacting treatment

As data enters FTEM, the system detects treatments and appear to intersect with fires based on proximity. This process works slightly differently depending upon whether the fire data is a polygon or a point, but the result is the same (a fire with a list of interacting treatments to be monitored by an FTEM Editor). Data in this step are updated each weekday.

In the FTEM Dashboard, fires at this stage are categorized as 'Not Started.' The system has automatically detected treatments, but an FTEM Editor must verify that list of treatments is correct, add or remove treatments if necessary, and record what happened on each treatment during the fire. This step is described in Step 3.

Note: Similar treatments may be categorized differently depending upon the policy of the recording agency.

For technical details describing the Automatic Setting of Treatment Interactions, see the Buffering topic.

Step 3 - Monitoring interacting treatment

FTEM Editors tasked with monitoring treatments in FTEM start by reviewing the automated list of wildfires and treatments. Treatments that were falsely detected by the system are removed, and any treatments that were not detected by the system are added. Next, details about the treatment effects on the fire are recorded by the FTEM Editor for each treatment.

In the FTEM Dashboard, fires with treatments in this step are categorized as “In Progress” when one or more treatments undergoes monitoring. Only when all treatments for a fire have been monitored is the fire categorized as “Complete.”

Data shown in the Dashboard

The FTEM Dashboard shows a real-time record of data monitored in FTEM. It is important to note monitoring conducted by FTEM Editors occurs on different timelines. Some fires will be monitored and listed as “Complete” within days of an incident, though many may remain in “Not Started” or “In Progress” for several weeks or months. This is especially true for active fires where the fire perimeter is continually changing, or large fires that may be active for an extended period of time. Agencies typically have until the end of the calendar year to enter their data into FTEM.

By default, the Dashboard filter is set to show “Completed” wildfires, in which all of the steps above have been completed. However, because different incidents and agencies may be in different stages of their reporting processes, it is possible to change the filter settings to show data in various states of completion.