Wildland Fire Operations
Integrated Research Management Team
Linking science to practice.
TEA’s mission of restoring the relationship between communities and fire on the landscape begins with understanding fires natural role and processes. Fire science and technology help us understand those characteristics and properly value fire in the right context. The Integraed Research Management Team (IRMT) plays a vital role in translating science to action and facilitating needed fire research that produces practical solutions that make communities safer.
About the IRMT
An Integrated Research Management Team is an organizing structure used to manage complex incidents such as large research projects to ensure safe and effective scientific outcomes. The primary goal of an IRMT is to provide an integrated system to maximize personnel safety, collaboration, and overall positive impact for integrated research projects. An effective result is co-production of actionable science outcomes while minimizing impacts to the host units. Facilitating participation, synergies, communication, coordination, and data sharing between participating projects for enhanced science outcomes is also a key IRMT goal.
Where We Focus
- Large-scale prescribed burn campaigns: Complex, multi-phase operations involving 100+ personnel, full IRMT command structure, and significant research, media, and outreach over 7–14 days.
- Technology transfer events: Smaller, training-focused workshops (in-person and virtual) designed to share tools, technologies, and knowledge among partners and researchers.
- Mini prescribed burn campaigns: Shorter, research-focused burns (under 7 days) that support specific disciplines and allow for deeper collaboration between researchers and fire managers.
PAST IRMT Projects
TEA Helps to Coordinate NASA FireSense Campaign
TEA’s IRMT helped to coordinate NASA’s FireSense Campaign at Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield, advancing the collection of real-time micrometeorological, vegetation, and fuel data to improve prescribed fire planning and management.
Cutting-Edge Smoke Modeling Research to Improve Prescribed Fire Management
TEA joined researchers to validate QUIC-SMOKE– a new physics-based smoke model designed to help fire managers better predict and manage smoke impacts from both wildfires and prescribed fire.
Meet the IRMT.
The IRMT is composed of career wildland fire professionals. All current core IRMT members have over 30 years of wildland fire service although this is not a requirement. Many are also concurrent members of federal incident management teams. The IRMT members are NWCG qualified as Complex Incident Management Team (CIMT) Planning Section Chief, CIMT Operations Section Chief, CIMT Logistics Section Chief, CIMT Air Operations Section Chief, CIMT Fire Behavior Analyst, and Air Resource Advisor among other qualifications. The IRMT members are great teachers, communicators, and educators, and are passionate about connecting the next generation of wildland fire professionals with the tools they need.
Interested in working with us?
Contact: Dan Gualtieri, dan.gualtieri@emberalliance.org