FIRESCOPE (

backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...

: Firefighting Resources of Southern California Organized for Potential Emergencies) is a system for efficient interagency resource coordination system for fire and other emergencies in the

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

region of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It was developed after a bout of massive wildfires in southern California in 1970 that burned for days and involved multiple jurisdictions. Major

wildland fire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

s are a common annual occurrence in Southern California with its warm climate which typically gives the area four to six months of almost total drought. In addition, the region is threatened with infrequent, but potentially disastrous, urban emergencies precipitated by flooding, earthquake, and fire. FIRESCOPE is directed towards improving the effectiveness and cooperation of

fire services A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

in response to a major incident. A major component of the program was the design and development of the

Incident Command System The Incident Command System (ICS) is a standardized approach to the command, control, and coordination of emergency response providing a common hierarchy within which responders from multiple agencies can be effective. ICS was initially develo ...

, which has been adopted by

FEMA The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Ex ...

for the management of all that agency's emergency activities. The design of the program, as well as its initial development and testing was begun in 1972 by a specially chartered research development and application (RD&A) program at the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

Forest Fire Laboratory in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

. Funding for the five-year RD&A program was provided by a special appropriation from the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

in response to concerns raised by disastrous southern California wildfires in 1970 which burned more than a half million acres, destroying 700 structures and taking 16 lives.California aflame! September 22-October 4, 1970. Clinton B. Phillips. State of Calif. Dept. of Conservation, Div. of For. Sacramento, Calif. 73 p. 1971.

References

External links

{{commonscat-multi, Aerial firefighting in California, Wildfires in California
FIRESCOPE website

California Fire Alliance
Firefighting in the United States Wildfires in California Wildfire suppression 1972 establishments in California

See also

References

External links