Lessons  Learned  from  the  Merger  of  Arizona  State  Forestry–Tucson  District  (A3S)  and  the  Tucson  Dispatch  Center  (TDC)  in  

Southern  Arizona  

This   document   describes   the   motivations,   outcomes,   and   lessons  learned  from  the  merger  of  state  and  federal  dispatch  responsibilities  in  southern  Arizona.   Interviews  were  conducted  with  dispatch  personnel  involved  in  the  merger  as  well  as  outside  specialists  to  gain  insights  into  the  benefits  and  challenges  of  the  process.  

Written  by  Josh  McDaniel

December 2,  2014  

Wildland  Fire  Lessons  Learned  Center  

1  

Introduction  

On  July  15,  2013  dispatch  operations  for  the  Arizona  State  Forestry  Division  (AZSF)  –  Tucson  District  (A3S)  were  merged  with  the  Tucson  Interagency  Dispatch  Center  (TDC).  The  move  was  made  to  address  a  problem  in  the  structure  and organization of  dispatch  centers in  Arizona,  specifically  the  embedding  of  Arizona  Dispatch  Center  (ADC)  responsibilities  within  the  existing  federal  initial  attack  centers.  The  structure  of  the  prior  system  created  safety/span  of  control  concerns,  inefficiencies,  and  barriers  to  effective  communication  and  incident  response.  Personnel  from  the  TDC  identified  the  following  issues  as  the  primary  drivers  of  the  merger:  

• Two  separate  dispatch  centers  with  co-­‐mingled  suppression  jurisdictions  launchinguncoordinated  and  simultaneous  initial  attack  operations  to  a  common  smokereport.

• Two  separate  dispatch  centers  initiating  uncoordinated  and  simultaneousaggressive  aviation  operations  to  a  common  smoke  report.

• Two  separate  dispatch  centers  having  to  identify  land  ownership  prior  to  assumingcommand  and  control  of  a  new  incident.

• Dispatching  all  statewide  AZSF  fire  department  resources  from  a single  dispatchcenter  (ADC)  created  (at  times)  confusion,  often  resulting  in  an overlapping  spanof  control  of  suppression  resources.

• Disparate  reporting  requirements  and  systems.

Members  of  the  dispatch  community  as  well  as  incident  responders  in  the  field  report  that  the  new  system  has  improved,  if  not  completely  eliminated,  the  above  problems.  The  new  system  has  also  reduced  response  times  as  well  as  suppression  costs  by  allowing  coordination  and  deployment  of  closest  resources  on  initial  attack  and  extended  attack  resource  mobilization.    

Joseph  DeWolf  is  Fire  Chief  for  the  Sonoita-­‐Elgin  Fire  District,  a  rural  district  covering  350  square  miles  to  the  southeast  of  Tucson  with  a  combination  of  state,  private,  Bureau  of  Land  Management  (BLM),  and  Forest  Service  land.  Chief  DeWolf  says  prior  to  the  merger,  questions  of  jurisdiction  were  a  critical  barrier  to  effective  response.  “In  the  past,  we  would  get  a  smoke  report  and  on  the  way  to  the  fire,  call  Arizona  dispatch [ADC, or Arizona Dispatch Center]  to  order  an  aircraft.  Once  we  arrived  on  the  incident,  we  would  find  out  that  the  fire  was  on  federal  land.  At  that  point,  we  would  have  to  do  the  order  all  over  again.  In  the  meantime,  we  were  losing  homes,”  says  DeWolf.    

Chief  DeWolf  says  that  the  merger  has  improved  the  ability  to  get  resources  ordered  and  on scene  in  a  timely  manner.  “Now  I  don’t  have  to  worry  about  who  I  am  talking  to,  they  all  support  each  other  and  all  of  the  agencies  are  in  the  same  room.  The  dispatcher  might  change,  but  the  resources  keep  rolling,”  says  DeWolf.  

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Sources: Esri, HERE, DeLorme, USGS, Intermap, increment P Corp., NRCAN, Esri Japan, METI, EsriChina (Hong Kong), Esri (Thailand), TomTom, MapmyIndia, © OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GISUser Community

LegendSoutheast Zone

TDC responsible

ADC Responsible

Tucson Dispatch Center (TDC) Coverage Pre-merger

µ0 25 50 75 10012.5Miles

1:1,940,908

The Forest Service makes no expressed or implied warranty with respectto the character, function, or capabilities of the data or their appropriateness for any user's purposes; represented featuresmay not be in an accurate geographic location. The Forest Service reserves the right to correct, update, modify, or replace this geospatialinformation without notification. Map created 11/20/14 (CS).

Sources: Esri, HERE, DeLorme, USGS, Intermap, increment P Corp., NRCAN, Esri Japan, METI, EsriChina (Hong Kong), Esri (Thailand), TomTom, MapmyIndia, © OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GISUser Community

LegendSoutheast Zone

TDC responsible

Tucson Dispatch Center (TDC) Coverage Post-merger

µ0 25 50 75 10012.5Miles

1:1,940,908

The Forest Service makes no expressed or implied warranty with respectto the character, function, or capabilities of the data or their appropriateness for any user's purposes; represented featuresmay not be in an accurate geographic location. The Forest Service reserves the right to correct, update, modify, or replace this geospatialinformation without notification. Map created 11/20/14 (CS).

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William  “Dugger”  Hughes  (currently  Battalion  Chief  -­‐  Planning  &  Preparedness  with  Northwest  Fire  District)  stated  that  in  his  experience  as  Coordinator  for  the  Southwest  Area  Geographic  Area  Coordination  Center  in  Albuquerque,  NM,  “On  more  than  one  occasion,  the  Forest  Service  launched  on  an  incident  and  the  BLM  and  State  launched  as  well.  None  of  the  aircraft  knew  that  the  others  had  launched,  and  they  were  all  converging  on  the  same  smoke  while  not  talking  to  each  other."  

While  these  incidents  occurred  years  ago,  there  are  fears  within  the  dispatch  community  that  they  can  occur  again  and  are  more  likely  to  occur  in  areas  where  dispatch  centers  have  overlapping  coverage.  Having  a  single  source  of  contact  for  aircraft  is  a  key  component  of  communication  that  can  avert  such  a  situation.  

“Now  I  don’t  have  to  worry  about  who  I  am  talking  to. The  dispatcher  might  change,  but  the  resources  keep  rolling.”  -­‐-­‐  Joseph  DeWolf,  Fire  Chief,  Sonoita-­‐Elgin  Fire  District  

The  author  interviewed  a  number  of  people  who  have  been  involved  in  the  merger,  field  personnel  who  have  been  interacting  with  the  newly  consolidated  dispatch  center,  and  other  professionals  in  the  dispatch  field  who  have  been  observing  the  merger  process.  The  goal  was  to  describe  the  problems  and  issues  that  spurred  the  merger,  and  the  results  in  terms  of  service  to  the  field.  The  author  also  reached  out  to  dispatch  center  managers  in  other  locations  to  discover  the  questions  and  concerns  they  would  have  with  a  potential  consolidation  involving  their  own  dispatch center.  Those  questions  were  used  to  guide  the  organization  of  this  lessons  learned  case  study,  which  is  aimed  at  dispatch  professionals  who  may  be  considering  a  merger  in  the  future.  The  lessons  learned  here  are  unique  to  the  particular  context  of  southern  Arizona,  but  there  are  general  lessons  to  be  gleaned  from  the  experience.    

Outcomes  

Anytime  you  completely  change  the  way  people  do  their  jobs,  it  is  going  to  be  emotional.  As Chuck Holt, Center Manager of the Tucson Dispatch Center expressed it, “My  give  a  damn  dial  is  turned  all  the  way  up  on  the  topic  of  consolidation."  In  this  case,  the  consolidation  changed  the  way  people  had  worked,  in  some  cases,  for  their  entire  careers.  And,  with  any  big  change  there  have been  hiccups  along  the  way.  However,  the  sources  interviewed  for  this  lessons  learned  publication  all  believe  that  the  consolidation  has  met  the  bottom line  goal,  which  is  providing  better  service  and  support  of  firefighters  in  the  field.  They  feel  that  the  consolidation  has  resulted  in:  

• Increased  safety  by  decreasing  firefighter  exposure.• Reduced  response  times.

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• Reduced  suppression  costs.• A  streamlined  and  more  efficient  dispatch  system  that  has  made  dispatchers  more

efficient  and  effective.• Improved  communication  between  state  and  federal  agencies,  as  well  as  local  fire

departments.

These  gains  in  operational  success  were  attributed  to  the  improved  local  knowledge  associated  with  decentralized  dispatching,  the  coordination  and  cooperation  of  closest  available  forces  in  dispatching  of  initial  attack  on  wildfires,  outreach  to  local  fire  departments,  and  a  new,  specialized  organizational  system  within  the  Tucson  Dispatch  Center  designed  to  take  advantage  of  the  new  opportunities  for  coordination  and  cooperation.  

Local  Knowledge.  Many  of  the  sources  believed  that  safety  has  been  enhanced  because  local  dispatchers  that  know  the  area  are  working  incidents  instead  of  centralized  dispatchers  who  are  not  familiar  with  the  terrain  or  the  capability  of  the  available  resources.  Gene  Beaudoin,  the  District  Forester  for  the  Tucson  District -  Arizona  State   Forestry,  says  that  local  knowledge  can  play  a  crucial  role  in  successful  dispatch  operations. Chuck Holt agrees.  “Dispatchers  that  know  the  local  area  provide  you  with  a  big  advantage. In  many  cases,  they  know  the  terrain,  the  roads,  the  resources–they  can  react  quicker  and  make  better  decisions,” says Holt.  “We  now  have  a  better  idea  of  who  is  out   there  and  what  they  are  doing.”  

Coordination  and  Cooperation.  Another  key  to  the  success  of  the  consolidation  has  been  the  coordination  and  cooperation  of  closest  forces  in  dispatching  of  initial  attack  on  wildfires.  The  prior  system  of  dispatching  all  statewide  fire  department  resources  from  a  centralized  dispatch  center  (ADC)  created  a  significant  span  of  control  problem.  Now,  the  ease  and  logic  of  ordering  closest  forces  for  an  incident  has    improved  response  times immensely,  and  there  are  no  longer  situations  in  which  multiple  agencies  are  fighting  the  same  fire  due  to  a lack of clarity or communication regarding jurisdiction  questions.  “If  we  have  a  fire  on  state  lands  in  Happy  Valley  and  I  know  federal  resources  are  there,  I  can  go  ahead  and  order  them.  That  was  much  more  difficult  in  the  past,”  says  Beaudoin.  He  described  one  fire  in  which  six  different  agencies  were  involved  in  the  response.  “Usually,  if  you  get  that  many  different  agencies  on  an  incident,  the  waters  get  muddy  real  quick.  But,  it  flowed  real  well.  Using  one  dispatch  center  instead  of  multiple  helped  keep  everybody  on  the  same  page,”  says  Beaudoin.  

The  rapid  response  has  also  reduced  suppression  costs.  “The  quicker  you  can  get  somebody  on  the  incident,  the  smaller  the  problem  is  going  to  be,”  says  Holt.  “If  IA  arrives  and  it  is  a  single  tree  fire,  we  spray  some  water  on  it  and  go  home,  but  if  it  takes  a  while  to  get  on  scene  and  the  fire  grows  to  100  acres,  it  is  going  to  be  more  complex,  less  safe,  and  more  expensive.”  

Outreach.  The  Tucson  Dispatch  Center  has  made  a  strong  effort  to  build  trust  and  relationships  with  the  local  fire  departments,  911  Centers,  and  state  agencies  to  get  them  

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more  comfortable  with  the  new  dispatch  organization.  Dispatchers  from  TDC  (both  state  and  federal)  have  been  going  to  monthly  fire  chief  meetings  to  introduce  themselves  to  the  chiefs  as  well  as  to  the  firefighters.  “We  are  getting  to  know  each  other,”  says  Holt.  “And  that  has  improved  interagency  cooperation  on  the  ground.  Our  relationships  are  much  more  personal  now."  

Part  of  the  interagency  outreach  has  involved  training  many  of  the  first  responders  on  how  to  contact  the  TDC,  and  the  most  efficient  way  to  interact  with  dispatch  in  giving  an  incident  size-­‐up  to  get  the  resources  they  need.  The  consolidation  has  resulted  in  a  reorganization  of  dispatch  into  a  more  specialized  structure  with  functional  areas  (described  below),  so  routing  the  caller  to  the  appropriate  person  is  key.  “It  is  somewhat  of  a reeducation  process  to  train  people  in  how  to  interact  with  TDC,  but  we  have  made  progress,”  says  Rawles  Williams,  a  subject  matter  expert  (SME)  for  dispatch  operations  at  TDC.  

Consolidation  has  met  the  bottom-­‐line  goal,  which  is  better  service  for  the  firefighters  in  the  field.  

Streamlined  Operations.  Along  with  the  consolidation,  TDC  has  also  undergone  an  internal  reorganization  in  response  to  the  increased  workload,  and  to  just  generally  improve  efficiency  and  effectiveness.  Now  TDC  is  organized  according  to  a  flow  system  with  initial  attack,  initial  attack  support,  and  logistics.  IA  takes  the  smoke  reports  and  directs  resources  to  the  incident.  IA  support  pulls  maps  and  starts  all  the  dataset  management  required  for  WildCAD,  the  GIS-­‐based  dispatch  support  system,  and  ROSS,  the  national  resource  ordering  and  status  system,  when  the  incident  becomes  more  complex.  The  logistics  person  steps  up  when  mobilization  starts,  and  is  responsible  for  supporting  the  needs  of  the  team  in  the  field.  

In  the  past,  resource  orders  and  logistics  requests  would  swamp  the  IA  and  one  person  might  be  handling  operations,  paperwork,  and  logistics  for  an  incident.  Now  with  the  flow  system,  logistics  requests  are  routed  to  the  appropriate  person,  and  the  IA  dispatchers  can  concentrate  on  the  safety  of  the  firefighters  in  the  field.    

Lessons  Learned  

While  those  interviewed  for  the  case  study  agreed  that  the  gains  were  substantial,  there  are  still  some  lingering  problem  areas.  There  are  also  issues  many  felt  should  have  been  resolved  before the merger  to  make  the  transition  to  the  new  system  smoother.  In  this  section  we  detail  what  the  interviewees  identified  as  the  key  factors  and  issues  in  a  successful  merger,  and  describe  how  the  A3S/TDC  merger  has  either  resolved  these  challenges  or  is  still  struggling  to  resolve  the  issue.  

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 Political  Will.  Susie  Stingley-Russell,  the  Center  Manager  at  the  National  Interagency  Coordination  Center,  says  that  a merger  is not  going  to  occur  through  a  top down  policy  directive.  It has to  occur  because  there  is  political  will  among  the  interested  parties  to  proceed  with  the  process,  and  management  is  completely  supportive  and  invested  in  the  move.  

This  goes  beyond  a  simple  agreement  to  proceed  with  the  merger.  Agency  managers  must  provide  a  clear  vision  of  leadership’s  intent  with  active  communications  both  up  and  down  the  chain  of  command.  Interviewees  said  that  they  feel  that  the  consolidation  has  not  been  completely  embraced  by  some  agency  administrators  and  this  has  somewhat  delayed  and  weakened  the  transition  to  a  merged  dispatch  system.  

Financial  Plan.  Stingley-­‐Russell  also  says  that  a  recent  study  shows  that  it  costs  on  average  about  $1–2  million  to  combine  dispatch  centers,  depending  on  workload  and  staffing.  This  is  a  significant  investment,  requiring  long-­‐term  planning  and  budgeting  in  order  to  make  it  financially  viable  in  the  long  run.  

Many  of  those  interviewed  for  this  case  study  expressed  strong  concerns  about  the  lack  of  a  financial  plan  to  cover  the  increased  workload  for  the  merger  on  the  part  of  the  Arizona  

Steps  in  the  Consolidation  Process  

Strategy  (Planning  Phase)  

ü Realign  dispatch  protection  boundaries  to  maximize  interagency  suppression  efficiencies  

ü Recruit  a  dispatch  consolidation  cadre  to  evaluate  established  business  practices  (BPs)  

Ø Identify  common  BPs  

Ø Identify  unique  BPs  

Tactics  (Implementation  Phase)  

ü Deploy  a  Dispatch  Consolidation  Cadre  to  assist  affected  dispatch  centers  develop  written  standard  operating  procedures  for  integrated  dispatch  operations  

ü Develop  outreach  plan  (fire  departments)  

ü Develop  in-­‐reach  plan  (federal  and  state  partners)  

ü Train  fire  department  personnel  in  resource  ordering  and  billing  BPs  

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State  Forestry  Division.  TDC  is  now  responding  to  67%  more  fires  than  it  did  prior  to  the  merger;  however,  the  center  has  not  received  a  significant  increase  in  funding  to  cover  the  increased  costs.  TDC  staff  initially  determined  that  the  creation  of  a  financial  plan–  determining  who  paid  for  what–was  one  of  the  key  steps  required  before  consolidation  could  proceed.  A  financial  plan  was  never  completed  and  is  now  viewed  by  some  as  the  most  significant  weakness  in  the  ongoing  success  of  the  move.  

David  Geyer,  the  Fire  Management  Officer  with  Arizona  State  Forestry,  points  out  that  while  wildland  fire  dispatch  functions  were  transferred  from  Arizona  Dispatch  Center  (ADC)  in  Phoenix  to  TDC,  the  ADC  has  remained  open  due  to  its  continued  role  in  all-­‐hazard  dispatch  response.  So,  state  costs  have  already  increased,  making  it  difficult  to  pay  for  more  of  the  operating  costs  in  the  TDC.  

“Dispatchers  that  know  the  local  area  provide  you  with  a  big  advantage. In  many  cases,  they  know  the  terrain,  the  roads,  the  resources—they  can  react  quicker  and  make  better  decisions.”  -­‐-­‐  Chuck  Holt,  Center  Manager,  Tucson  Dispatch  Center  

Staffing.  The  increased  workload  has  also  not  been  met  with  a  significant  increase  in  staffing.  Only  one  full  time  employee  was  added  to  the  dispatching  staff  at  TDC,  with  additional  seasonal  dispatchers  added  during  the  fire  season  [This  was  the  recommended  staffing  level  suggested  by  the  Interagency  Dispatch  Optimization  Pilot  Project  (IDOPP)  report  published  in  January,  2013].  Local,  state,  and  federal  fire  managers  are  continuing  to  work  together  to  increase  and  stabilize  the  staffing  so  that  continuity  is  maintained  throughout  the  year.  TDC  recommends  that  support  of  A3S  dispatch  operations  require  an  A3S  Intel  Dispatcher  at  TDC.  

Liability.  “We  have  inherited  a  lot  of  people  out  in  the  field  and  in  many  cases  we  don’t  know  their  capabilities,”  says  Holt.  “The  chance  of  an  accident  is  multiplied  as  the  workload  increases  and  so  does  the  chance  of  a  lawsuit.  That  can  put  you  in  a  bind.”  This  question  was  also  identified  by  outside  dispatch  professionals  as  a  key  question  in  any  proposed  merger  of  centers.  Differences  in  state  and  federal  approaches  to  liability  could  become  problematic.    

Flexibility.  Consolidation  requires  an  honest,  thorough  and  exhaustive  review  of  all  established  dispatch  business  practices  (both  federal  and  state)  and  a  willingness  to  integrate  change.  “We  have  to  get  rid  of  the  concern  for  the  color  of  trucks,”  says  Chief  DeWolf.  “We  are  in  it  for  one  thing,  and  that  is  to  protect  communities.  It  is  time  to  let  go  of  egos  and  do  what  is  best  to  accomplish  that  goal.”  

Outreach.  The  development  of  relationships  between  TDC  and  the  local  fire  departments  is  critical  to  the  consolidation  success  –  this  includes  training  fire  departments  about  new  

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standard  operating  procedures  for  both  initial  attack  and  extended  attack  mobilizations.  Sources  interviewed  for  this  lessons  learned  document  feel  that  the  relationship  between  TDC  and  the  local  fire  departments  has  been  significantly  strengthened  over  the  past  two  fire  seasons,  and  that  interagency  cooperation  has  improved  at  the  ground  level.  “It  has  worked  unbelievably well,”  says  Chief  DeWolf.  “Everyone  is  on  the  same  page.”  

Land  and  Fire  Management  Policies.  Each  land  management  agency  has  different  rules  and  regulations,  as  well  as  distinctive  approaches  to  fighting  fire  on  their  landscapes.  David  Geyer,  the  Fire  Management  Officer  for  Arizona  State  Forestry  says  that  these  differences  may  be  a  result  of  the  specific  land  management  challenges  they  face  or  the  stakeholders  that  they  serve.  “In  the  past,  if  we  needed  federal  resources,  we  would  order  them  and  brief  them  on  our  concerns.  Now,  we  are  ordering  federal  resources  for  IA  on  state  and  private  land,  so  they  are  often  the  first  on  the  scene.  They  might  not  understand  the  different  rules  that  we  use  in  fighting  fire.  For  example,  we  never  take  water  from  a  rancher’s  private  catchment  and  we  try  not  to  conduct  burnouts  on  private  land,  if  possible.  These  are  the  sort  of  actions  that  can  make  or  break  a  rancher  or  landowner  financially.  And  vicet versa,  you  might  have  a  local  fire  department  that  is  the  first  on  the  scene  of  a  fire  on  federal  land.  They  might  want  to  put  some  water  on  the  fire  and  stomp  it  out,  while  the  feds  want  it  to  burn  for  resource  benefit,”  says  Geyer.  He  says  that  these  are  the  sorts  of  issues  that  have  been  worked  on  over  the  past  two  years  through  outreach  and  will  continue  to  improve  as  the  agencies  work  together.  

Next  Steps  

Many  of  those  interviewed  for  this  lessons  learned  case  study  expressed  support  for  consolidation  at  some  level  for  the  rest  of  the  state,  with  the  recognition  that  other  parts  of  the  state  may  face  significantly  more  challenges  in  terms  of  infrastructure  needs  and  the  logistics  of  combining  staffs.  Some  of  the  quotes  from  the  interviews:  

• “We  can’t  have  overlapping  boundaries.  We  need  one  circle  and  one  center.”  -­‐-­‐Rawles  Williams.

• “It  would  be  better  if  the  whole  state  was  integrated  into  a  zone  concept  similar  tothe  regional  groups  that  the  state  uses  for  dispatching  equipment  and  resources  onextended  attack.  We  need  zone  offices  instead  of  separate  agency  offices. There  arenow  15  districts  with  7–12  fire  departments  in  each.  A  lot  of  the  time,  they  are  notdispatching  the  closest  resource  and  that  is  really  hurting  our  ability  to  respond  tofires  safely  and  effectively.”  -­‐-­‐  Dugger  Hughes,  Battalion  Chief  with  Tucson’sNorthwest  Fire  District  and  the  former  Center  Manager  of  the  SouthwestCoordination  Center.

To  this  end,  the  personnel  involved  in  the  merger  have  proposed  the  establishment  of  a  “dispatch-­‐driven”  Arizona  Dispatch  Boundary  Realignment  Committee.  This  committee  could  conduct  a  statewide  dispatch  workload  analysis  and  propose  alternatives  for  dispatch  boundaries  within  the  state  of  Arizona.  

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Conclusion  

The  experience  of  the  merger  of  Arizona  State  Forestry  (AZSF)  –  Tucson  District  (A3S)  with  the  Tucson  Interagency  Dispatch  Center  (TDC)  shows  the  clear  benefits  of  increasing  communication  and  reducing  barriers  to  interagency  coordination  in  wildfire  response.  The  merger  has  not  been  without  challenges,  and  still  has  a  number  of  lingering  issues.  However,  as  the  personnel  involved  in  this  consolidation  have  shown,  the  bottom  line–  service  to  the  field  and  protection  of  communities–has  improved  due  to  the  effort  of  many  individuals  to  set  aside  egos,  problem-­‐solve,  and  communicate.  Their  experience  has  charted  a  roadmap  for  others  who  might  want  to  go  down  the  same  path.