Gaming wildfires

The following item was written for PAXsims by Steven Sowards, a retired academic librarian, with a graduate degree in history and a longstanding interest in games and simulations.

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Before climate change, November marked the end of the wildfire season, but it’s no longer likely that any time of the year is fire-free. Planning to manage wildfires is increasingly important, with too many tragic stories in the media. Training materials include a variety of table top and sand table exercises. 

The National Wildfire Coordinating Group brings together multiple US agencies to work on wildfire issues, including the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Defense, and others. Available on the NWCG website is a link to the Tactical Decision Games (TDGs), with links for resources.

• “The Library” has hot links to a dozen archived short scenarios in PDF, related to wildfires (an example: “Direct vs. Indirect Attack/Johnson Fire: Players should decide on direct or indirect attack strategy”).   
• “The Library” links to a guide for scenario design, a 2-page crib sheet called “TDG Development Guide with tips about audience, objectives, resources, facilitator briefings, “Murphy’s Law” suggestions, facilitator notes, and after action reports.  
• NWCG offers a 40-page PDF manual, “Design and Delivery of Tactical Decision Games, PMS 468-1” (2018).
• Also posted: “High Tech vs. Low Tech Training” … a 2011 paper by Larry Sutton about simulation training theory and a comparison of high and low tech models. The 10-page PDF discusses general issues in simulation design, in a fire-fighting context. An excerpt: 

…computer-based wildland fire simulations … promise to add exciting new dimensions to wildland fire training. However, there are disadvantages associated with this type of training tool. First, it requires several computers with high-end video cards installed. Second, it requires someone with Information Technology skills to run it. Third, it requires some level of effort to integrate this technology into existing training courses. Fourth, software development is very expensive. Sand table exercises, on the other hand, require only an 8′ x 4′ box of sand with some toy figures of people and fire engines, material that looks like vegetation and smoke (e.g., cotton), and chalk to mark fire perimeters and roads. Sand tables can be used in remote locations. The only limitation to sand table exercises is the trainer’s imagination; an infinite number of scenarios can be created to stimulate learning. Individuals can be placed in situations where they have to make decisions and communicate them to subordinates.

Other agencies, big and small, also post table top exercise suggestions and reports: for example the Grizzly Flats Fire Safe Council has a webpage describing some brief scenarios used for training.  

The Wildfire Threat Tabletop Exercise: Situation Manual is a 26-page Word document from CISA—the Cyberstructure & Infrastructure Security Agency (part of US the Department of Homeland Security). The manual / template supports an exercise about communications challenges in a wildland-urban fire situation. This is one of many CISA tabletop exercise templates: others include “Supply Chain Severe Flooding” and “Chemical Sector Unmanned Aerial System Threat” scenarios. Each text has a schedule and guided questions for players, observers, facilitators, moderators and evaluators to work in “an open, no-fault environment wherein capabilities, plans, systems, and processes will be evaluated.” 

Of course, there are new sand table options based on digital technology. SimTable can be programmed with recent fire data. Stop Disasters! is a browser-based educational game by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction that includes a wildfire scenario. At the low-tech end of the game production spectrum, Smokejumpers: Wildland Fire Fighting is a solitaire hex-and-counter boardgame available from Microgame Design Group in Edmonton, Alberta.

Steven Sowards