As the final part of the after-action review of this year's fire season on Wednesday, items for future discussion were listed.

Loretta Benavidez of the Las Cruces office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management served as the facilitator.

The first list generated consisted of rehab protocol, dispatch protocol, communications protocol, additional resources, planning activity, extended attack, safety, training, emergency operations plan/planning and safety.

"This is the beginning of the action plan," Benavidez said.

Gary Benavidez, Grant County Fire Mangement Officer, said he and Emergency Management Officer Gilbert Helton had been working with a few volunteer fire departments on some of the issues.

Helton pointed out that the county would have to be radio narrow-band compliant by 2013. "Our self-imposed deadline is October 2012," he said. "All departments will have to purchase new equipment. Repeaters we continue to purchase."

In another project, the county received $104,000, with a good part of the money being slated for communications. "For communication upgrades we encourage the departments to participate in upcoming meetings, so they can upgrade their communication systems. They have to apply for the funding in a prior year. Communication is ongoing and can always be improved on."

Loretta Benavidez said she wants to set an early spring date for progress reports from the departments.

Gary Benavidez will do the coordination of training. "I want one of the chiefs to help me in dealing with structural needs."

Silver City Fire Department Chief Rudy Bencomo said he would assign Jeff Fell, his training assistant chief. Don May of Sapillo VFD also offered to help. Gabe Holguin, Gila National Forest acting fire staff officer, said he would serve for now. Several other expressed interest.

Helton asked Holguin if he could also help in emergency management, and Holguin agreed.

Several also volunteered to help with dispatch protocols. Gary Benavidez said it was intentional not to invite Central Dispatch, and other agencies, such as Red Cross and the Animal Shelter to this meeting, with the intention of holding another meeting for support groups.

Bencomo, Commissioner Christy Miller, who was not present, and Gary Benavidez form the working group. Holguin committed the Forest Service Dispatch manager to the group to discuss protocols.

Loretta Benavidez said: "Safety falls on everyone's plate."

Extended attack, with the expectation of the same scenario of a fire season next year as this year, was briefly discussed.

May said he was not sure anyone could say how it should be done. Ellen Harris, Tyrone VFD chief, said she would hope the incident commander would be aware that it becomes a safety issue and "that if we ask to release personnel, it is only because of fatigue."

Helton said the issue should be under the emergency operating plan and planning.

Jim McCormick, U.S. Bureau of Land Management Las Cruces District assistant manager, asked if Grant County could meet with state and federal fire management officers, as part of the severity request at the zone board meeting.

Doug Boykin, New Mexico Forestry district forester, said all seven counties in his district have FMOs or representatives, who could attend.

Gary Benavidez said county representatives should go to some meetings, such as those addressing weather or held by state forestry, National Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Services and BLM. "If it's a true extended attack, I am asking for their resources. We don't have resources with our VFDs for running a 24-hour shift for several days. Sometimes we don't recognize soon enough that it's an extended attack. We need to call state and federal sources earlier."

Boykin said a protocol is needed for time on a fire. "You can always turn resources around if you get a handle on the fire."

Gary Benavidez said he would have extended attack protocols by February.

Helton will work on the Emergency Operations Plan and the annual review of it. "We have the all-hazards part of it. The town of Silver City has its own plan. Ours is a broad operating plan. We can identify resources and put them in a separate book. We need help locally to help sustain our capabilities."

Becomo offered his Assistant Fire Chief Tim Heidrick to help.

In reference to rehab protocol, Harris said the Tyrone VFR has "an active auxiliary trying to feed everyone, but we need protocol on how to get it to the fire scene and how to distribute it. It's also a big budget hit, and the problem is timing. Perhaps it could be a coordinated effort."

Bencomo said each department should be responsible for feeding its own people. Harris said she hated to see her firefighters get fed and others not.

Joe Chavez of the Fort Bayard VFD concurred the Tyrone VFD shouldn't carry the whole burden.

"So really, it's a logistics issue," Harris said.

Loretta Benavidez asked Harris to capture the model her department uses and share it.

Gary Benavidez said more structure is needed for multiple departments on a fire. Perhaps a separate logistics person is needed an incident commander, an operations person and a logistics person. "Instead of rehab, it would be an incident command system implementation.

Helton said the Red Cross offered support for every fire. "The ICS has to be developed on an Emergency Operations Center level."

Tony Diaz of the Lincoln National Forest, who served as assistant facilitator, said the whole outline of priorities "is right on track. With joint-powers agreements with county and municipal departments, I am encouraging everyone to have emergency operating plans and community wildfire protection plans."

Helton said the county mitigation plan has identified specific things that need to be accomplished. Diaz requested Helton ask the Forest Service how it can help.

McCormick asked how the county can follow up to get the governor back engaged and the momentum going. "She is very supportive of what you did. Perhaps you can ask for special appropriations for radio compliance, for example."

Gary Benavidez and Boykin agreed to get together to address the issue.

McCormick said it is important to share with the community "what you're doing." He suggested creating a good liaison with the press.

Gary Benavidez, for the closeout of the meeting, thanked participants, including the facilitators and the audience.

"Can you imagine how many changes I've seen?" he asked. "I'm going into my 43^rd fire season. In 1994, I got knocked flat on my back. My jumpers were getting killed. As a result, we changed federal policy. That's how VFDs started getting fire grants. Next week, I'm going back to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, to say: ‘Hi' to my buddies whose bodies I identified and took home."