About

• Terms of reference and TOIS Backgrounder
• TOIS Executive and Organizational Chart
• Roles and Responsibilities

Roles and Responsibilities

The TOIS membership consists of all agencies having jurisdiction over any events associated with wildland fires. The Society members, reporting to the Co-Chairs, meet to discuss, review, evaluate, plan, coordinate, propose and express viewpoints on matters that evolve from the Wildland Urban Interface as well as to educate and share information.

Co-Chairs

The three Co-Chairs are represented by:

Office of the Fire Commissioner, Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General

Provincial Emergency Program, Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General

Wildfire Management Branch, Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations

They function as a unified management team providing leadership to the Society and act as the reporting body.

 

Goals:

ˇ         Ensure effective communication amongst the Society members regarding wildland/urban interface issues and challenges,

ˇ         Ensure that the Society is working cooperatively with regional and provincial stakeholders, the public, response agencies, and the private sector to promote effective emergency planning, preparedness, response and recovery related to wildland fires in order to:

ˇ         Reduce the potential for catastrophic losses by developing strategies for prevention and mitigation,

ˇ         Encourage community ownership of preventative and maintenance measures, and

ˇ         Facilitate and promote training/education to assist the responsible agencies in their efforts to provide a coordinated inter-agency response.

ˇ         Communicate regional issues to the appropriate provincial ministry for its information, consistency, and support.

Objectives:

ˇ         Facilitate meetings to maintain an active flow of current information and initiatives,

ˇ         Provide strategic direction regarding interface issues through facilitating training and    information sessions, and

ˇ         Identify and forward issues relevant to the Prevention, Operations, and support committees.

Coordinator

The Coordinator, reporting to the Co-Chairs, works closely with them in support of the Society Committee initiatives and special projects.

Goals:

ˇ         To provide timely support to Committee members and the Co-Chairs.

Objectives:

ˇ         Organize venues and facilities as required for the Annual General Meetings,  Symposiums and Workshops,

ˇ         Recommend marketing strategies and initiatives with private sector partners,

ˇ         Liaise with other agencies with the implementation of TOIS approved plans and actions, and

ˇ         Maintain and manage the TOIS web page.

Secretary / Treasurer

The Treasurer maintains current records of income and expenditures and has the ability to receive and pay bills in a timely fashion. The Treasurer also reports to the Co-Chairs and Society members, committee, and working groups regarding finance status, needs, and income, including donations.

The Secretary ensures meeting minutes are recorded and distributed, and acts on behalf of the Treasurer position in their absence.

Goals:

ˇ       To keep current records of income, receivables and expenditures (including donations), and accurate meeting minutes.

Objectives:

ˇ         Meet standard accounting principles and ensure all bills are validated and paid in a timely manner within 30 days upon receipt,

ˇ         Ensure signing authorities are maintained,

ˇ         Update the Society on financial status and issues, and

ˇ         Distributes minutes to members in a timely fashion.

Prevention and Operations

These two functions, reporting to the Co-Chairs, work closely on initiatives and projects, ensuring all members direct communications simultaneously to both.

Goals:

ˇ         Recommend strategic direction and make recommendations on the need to establish committees and/or working groups,

ˇ         Provide written progress reports, actions, and recommendations of the committees and/or working groups, and

ˇ         Make recommendations on initiatives to improve the workings of the Society.

Objectives:

ˇ         Set and review strategies and terms of reference for committees and working groups,

ˇ         Maintain ongoing communications with the committees and/or working group leaders to ensure they are meeting their terms of reference in order to meet timelines,

ˇ         Conduct meetings or conference calls to review the final drafts of committee and/or working group reports before referring to the Society as a whole for approval, and

ˇ         Maintain communications and information flow between Prevention and Operations functions.

Public Education:

A co-operative public education program should be undertaken, building on material already available in various British Columbia government departments and agencies, as well as from external sources. The Education function supports the development of partnerships between stakeholders and local learning institutes.

 

 

Goals:

To maintain an inventory of relevant courses, and instructors and/or institutes related to Structural and Wildland Fire Fighter cross training.

Objectives:

ˇ         Complete a training gap analysis to help provide direction for stakeholders in training    their personnel on delivering public awareness presentations,

ˇ         Determine what common gaps exist amongst all involved stakeholders and agencies, and

ˇ         Review existing Wildland/Urban interface training materials and identify areas requiring updating, replacement with more recent research information, or new ones for development.

Training

The training function works toward developing cross training needs of structural and wildland firefighters.

Goals:

ˇ         To promote cross training between structural and wildland firefighters,

ˇ         To promote the use of the British Columbia Emergency Response Management System (BCERMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS) at the site level, and

ˇ         To review structural and wildland firefighting cross training standards and needs in order to advise on how reasonable and attainable the training is for all firefighters and managers.

Objectives:

ˇ         Establish working minimum levels of training for structural and wildland firefighters,

ˇ         Make the information available to all trainers within the wildland and structural areas,

ˇ         Review and, as necessary, draft recurrency material for structural and wildland firefighter cross training, and

ˇ         Review and recommend simulation material that will assist in structural and wildland fire fighters in testing their ability to respond to wildland urban interface fire scenarios.

Inter-Agency/Resource Sharing

The Inter-Agency/Resource Sharing function is responsible to encourage increased awareness of mutual aid agreements, resources available, and their capability to help manage an interface incident.

Goals:

ˇ         To increase awareness of Mutual Aid Agreements and other resources available to assist with the management of an interface incident.

 

Objectives:

ˇ         Locate and provide documents and information to increase awareness of Mutual Aid and other resources available to assist with interface incidents, and

ˇ         Share the information across all agencies including posting the information on the TOIS web site.

Recovery:

The Recovery function provides advice and technical information by recommending strategies to support:

ˇ         Stakeholders during their planning for community recovery, and

ˇ         Recommendations related to Critical Incident Stress and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome issues, and providing recommendations to stakeholders during the planning and preparedness phases.

Goals:

ˇ         Support stakeholders by providing resource information for community recovery and recovery related to the stresses of response and recovery, and

ˇ         Help pre-identify sources of recovery funding that stakeholders can use in the Emergency Planning Process.

Objectives:

ˇ         Provide information from current rehabilitation literature,

ˇ         Pre-Identify resources or information and agencies that would assist Stakeholders in dealing with major incidents, and

ˇ         Provide advice in pre-developing resources that will help the Stakeholders address the recovery needs of their first responders.

Communications Committee:

The Communications function, through dissemination of information amongst the membership, stakeholders, agencies and the public is crucial to the continuing success of TOIS.

Goals:

ˇ         Develop a communication strategy to effectively manage information flow amongst the membership, stakeholders, agencies and the public.

ˇ         Develop a media relationship to disseminate FireSmart and personal preparedness information to the public.

Objectives:

ˇ         Develop a comprehensive list of options to which we can gather input and share results, and

ˇ         Develop a TOIS Communication Plan for use by the TOIS executive, members, stakeholders, agencies, and the public to address effective information sharing.

Symposium Committee:

This committee reports to the Co-Chairs, and works closely with them in support of the development of a Biennial Wildland Urban Interface Symposium.

Goals:

ˇ         To coordinate all facets of the symposium in conjunction with other Committees and the Co-Chairs.

Objectives:

ˇ         Organize venues and facilities as required for Symposiums,

ˇ         Develop symposium agendas, recruit exhibitors and presenters

ˇ         Prepare symposium-related marketing materials

ˇ         Promote the symposium to interested stakeholders and agencies