Weather Information Management System/Remote Automated Weather Station (WIMS/RAWS) Guide

United States Department of the Interior
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Wyoming State Office
P.O. Box 1828
IN REPLY REFER TO: Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009-1828
In Reply Refer To:
9200 (931) P
March 30, 2011
EMS TRANSMISSION: April 12, 2011
Instruction Memorandum No. WY-2011-028
Expires 09/30/2012
To: District Managers
From: Deputy State Director, Resources Policy and Management
Subject: Weather Information Management System/Remote Automated Weather Station
(WIMS/RAWS) Guide
Purpose: This Instruction Memorandum (IM) establishes policy on roles and responsibilities for
the WIMS/RAWS programs and provides operating guidelines for each to ensure that the most
accurate and representative National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS) outputs are generated
daily so as to be able to base fire and aviation management decisions.
Applicability: All Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wyoming Fire and Aviation
Management programs are subject to the policy set forth in this IM.
The goal of the Wyoming BLM Fire and Aviation Management Branch is to operate a fire
danger rating system that produces an accurate assessment of the wildland fire potential across
all Districts to support planning and implementation of the local fire and aviation management
programs.
This guide to the WIMS/RAWS programs provides the foundation for the operation of the
NFDRS at the District level. Deficiencies in either program will result in misleading or
erroneous NFDRS outputs which may affect suppression and prevention effectiveness and could
jeopardize firefighter safety.
In 2010, the national BLM Fire Leadership Team tasked a committee to study three general areas
of fire suppression resources. One of these was to identify and recommend potential areas for
savings and/or increased efficiencies in program areas not associated with direct suppression
assets. An area of consideration for potential savings is within the Remote Automated Weather
Stations (RAWS) program. State Fire Management Officer’s (FMO) were directed to work in
cooperation with Predictive Services, to evaluate RAWS sites and identify unneeded or
unnecessary stations, looking at potentially reducing the program costs by 40 percent nationwide
2
District FMO’s are required to review their RAWS programs and determine if they can reduce
their number of stations by working in cooperation with other agencies’ RAWS like BIA, NPS,
FS, and to provide reasonable and accurate local indicies, and development of National Fire
Danger Rating Plans (NFDR Plans).
Timeframe: This policy is effective immediately. The response to the 40 percent reduction
must be completed by May 1, 2011.
Coordination: This policy was coordinated with the Rocky Mountain Coordination Center’s
Predictive Services and the Wyoming BLM Fire and Aviation Branch.
Please refer questions to Jeff Fedrizzi, State Fire Management Office, at (307) 775-6234.
Signed by: Authenticated by:
Bill Hill Sherry Dixon
Deputy State Director, Secretary
Resources Policy and Management
1 Attachment:
1 - WIM/RAWS Operations Guide (38 pp)