Updated 12.17.08

Prescribed Fire -

Learning from the past, Preparing for the Future

January 28-30, 2009

This conference is designed to provide working professionals and all involved in the prescribed fire field with in-depth, up-to-date information regarding tools and techniques, legislation and outreach, ecology, safety, and much more. This year's venue is large enough to hold up to 500 participants, so whether you are an employee, a small business owner, or a state or federal employee, this conference is sure to provide you with an opportunity to network and share ideas/information with a plethora of professionals in our region and beyond.

With speakers hailing from Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wisconsin, you can be assured that this conference will provide you with pertinent insight and information regarding prescribed burning issues and situations that you and your company will most likely encounter.

Conference Brochure (pdf file)

Lodging and Venue - Ramada Inn, Stevens Point

Please contact the Ramada Inn, Stevens Point directly to book your room(s) at 800-998-2311. There is a guest room block under: WI Prescribed Fire Council. Please note that the reservation deadline for this room block is January 1, 2009.

Registration Form

On-line Registration

Sponsor

Exhibitor

Conference Coordinator

Heather L. Ross
Email: rrsllc_hross@sbcglobal.net
Phone: 877.284.3882

Sponsors

• Burn Boss Level
  • U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Keynote Speaker Mr. David Thomas

Mr. Thomas, retired from the Forest Service after 33 years, currently works as a private consultant in the areas of high reliability organizing, dialogue, staff rides, organizational learning, and disaster analysis. The address is titled “Seven Dead in Seven Minutes, But “It Can’t Happen to Me”. The following is a brief review of what the talk will cover: Igniting and controlling a prescribed fire is always a high risk operation. There are so many things that can go wrong. No burn boss gives the order to light a prescribed burn thinking it is going to escape, yet burns often cause trouble for many of the most highly trained and experienced burning crews around North America, sometimes major trouble. It doesn’t seem to matter how thoroughly our burning plans are prepared or, whether we are using the most advanced fire behavior prediction models and state of the art weather forecasting systems—the unexpected just seems to happen. Is there a better way to prepare for and contain these unexpected events?
By applying the concept of high reliability organizations (HROs)---organizations that are in high risk occupations but still have relatively few accidents---we will show how there might be another way to think about your prescribed fire operations so that you can become even better at being prepared for unexpected prescribed fire events before they occur and managing them when they do happen.

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