Wildfire data is pulled into the FTEM system nightly from IRWIN and the Wildland Fire Interagency Geospatial Service (WFIGS). FTEM contains current actives fires and fires that have been declared contained, controlled, or out. This technical documentation page details:
The Fuels Treatment Effectiveness Monitoring (FTEM) process relies on geospatial datasets to depict wildfire locations from participating NWCG agencies, including four land management Agencies within the Department of Interior (National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA Forest Service). These geospatial datasets consist of both point and polygon features. The FTEM wildfire locations datasets are derived from data stored in:
- The Wildland Fire Interagency Geospatial Service (WFIGS) . This service provides fire perimeter (polygon) data, where it exists.
- The Integrated Reporting of Wildland Fire Information (IRWIN) data exchange service. This service provides point locations and fire-related data for fires across the United States.
Wildland fire data is drawn from IRWIN and from WFIGS. Next, the data is filtered before being displayed in the application. Details of each process are outlined below.
Loading IRWIN Wildfire Point Data into FTEM
Point data is taken from IRWIN which can be thought of as a central hub orchestrating data between the various applications. IRWIN has interfaces with several systems:
- INFORM – Interagency Fire Occurrence Reporting Modules, used for reporting of wildland fire information integrated with IRWIN.
- IROC – Interagency Resource Ordering Capability used to order resources for wildland fires.
- WFDSS – The Wildland Fire Decision Support System, used to support decision making.
- Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems, used for managing information during Initial Attack and Extended Attack wildfire management activities at local units.
- The FireCode application used to generate financial codes for wildfires.
- The Sit/209 application used to track the status of large or significant fires.
All data for an incident is linked to a single unique identification code (ID) associated with that unique wildland fire incident. By linking all data for an incident to a single ID, IRWIN is a convenient “one-stop shop” for information on specific fires from many wildland fire computer systems.
The location for a wildfire in FTEM is based on the fire’s Point of Origin (Origin). The Origin location for a wildfire is part of the IRWIN dataset. As the Origin location is refined over the life span of an incident, it may change within IRWIN, but each incident only has one Origin value defined at any point in time. IRWIN maintains control over which systems in the data exchange network are “authoritative” for the data that they exchange. Over the life span of a fire, INFORM, IROC, WFDSS, CAD, FireCode, and Sit/209 systems may all update Origin location data. In the event of a data conflict, IRWIN prioritizes the most authoritative system.
The Fire Management Information System (FMIS), used by US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), is currently not writing data to IRWIN. As a result, corrections such as “final” size, locations, and in some cases control and out dates, may not be available for FWS fires via the IRWIN service.
Important! If you do not see a wildfire or fuel treatment in FTEM, it is likely because it has not been included in one of the above systems. Please follow FAQ on Wildfires and up with your Agency Administrator if necessary to have the information added to the system.
Loading WFIGS Wildfire Perimeters into FTEM
Wildfire perimeters, represented as polygon features, are collected and made available using the WFIGS. The wildfire dataset contains current, active wildfires. Perimeter data comes from a variety of sources:
- Trained incident GISS specialists
- Infrared interpreters
- Field observers
- Incident operations resources
- Agency staff
WFIGS data is uploaded to FTEM nightly. Updates by the GISS and designated editors to WFIGS occur in near real-time via the Hosted National Incident Feature Edit services if the incident has a reliable internet connection. In cases where a reliable internet connection is unavailable, local edits are synced nightly and it is possible WFIGS may not always reflect current conditions on the ground. For a better understanding of the workflows involved in mapping and sharing fire perimeter data, please see the NWCG Standards for Geospatial Operations, PMS 936 .