Doug Campbell worked 30 years for the US Forest Service in
fire control, retiring in 1984. He continued being interested in
the safety of firefighters so Wildland Fire Specialists
was created. The mission:
The Campbell Prediction System Book and the Fire Behavior Tactics Course came from 30 years of wildfire experience and 10 years of course development. Read the Overview for more information on the Campbell Prediction System (CPS).
The Campbell Prediction System Book book is a collection of stories and information about wildland fire situations. The book describes how to make observations and derive predictions of fire behavior change that will enable the firefighter to select the best tactic for the situation.
The Fire Behavior Tactics Course includes the CPS book as the primary textbook. The outline, objectives and other information are available upon request.
The course begins with a firefighter's mission and vision. This is the driving force behind the firefighters actions. If the mission and vision is to fight fire accompanied by an attitude, the tougher it is the better, it sets up certain predictable responses which are not always safe and effective. However if the mission and vision are to win each engagement, then the risk is lowered and CPS training takes hold.
The next part of the course centers on basic fire science and exposes misconceptions about how air affects forest fuel. This segment proves that fuel temperature variables are the key to certain predictions. Special language is taught enabling students to communicate wildfire potential. The language makes it possible to extract personnel from dangerous situations.
The rest of the course is the application of this system on fires of the past. To avoid repeating the errors of the past we must be able to predict the fire behavior event and use different tactics. When we can teach how to better predict past fire behavior, then events on future fires can be predicted and a safe tactical approach can be devised. This is called fire behavior tactics.
Wildland Fire Specialists offer services to solve wildland fire problems.
Doug is a qualified Fire Behavior Analyst and provides FBA services on wildfires and prescribed fires. He is developing improvements in prescribed burn planning and implementation. These improvements are being used by the Ventura County Fire Dept. and details will be furnished upon request. Wildland Fire Specialists is available for consultation services on a variety of special wildfire exposure problems such as community planning.
"Learn from the past -- Predict the future."
Doug Campbell
Author/Publisher of The Campbell
Prediction System Book © Second Edition 1995
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