National Park Service Releases Reading Fire Review

Date: January 30, 2013
Contact: Darlene M. Koontz, 530-595-6102

MINERAL - The National Park Service released its report on the Reading Fire on January 29, 2013. The Reading Fire started from a lightning strike in the interior of Lassen Volcanic National Park on July 23, 2012. It eventually burned outside the park onto national forest and private land.

The report was drafted by an interagency team of fire management specialists at the request of the National Park Service's Pacific West Regional Director, Chris Lehnertz. The purpose of the review was to identify lessons learned from the Reading Fire and to share these lessons with fire management personnel locally, the extended fire management community, and with neighbors and partners at large. Whether an event has success or unintended outcomes, identifying and sharing lessons learned improves future performance.

The key lessons learned revolve around five areas: planning, fire behavior, public information, human factors, and management and coordination. The document provides detail recommendations for the park to improve its wildland fire planning and coordination with other agencies, as well as communication with outside groups.

National Park Service managers are committed to incorporating the recommendations from the report in future fire management activities at Lassen Volcanic National Park.

The full report is available on the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center website. The direct link to the report is http://wildfirelessons.net/documents/Reading_Fire_Review.pdf.