Local Fire Research Articles

Fuel to the fire? The sensemaking of volunteer firefighters and public managers in the context of public reform

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance ongoing debates on the organizational impact of wider public sector reform in the field of organizational change management by presenting an analysis the regionalization of the fire service in the Netherlands. How regionalization has impacted the work floor of local fire stations, where the workplace majority comprises volunteers, requires further empirical investigation. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply an interpretive approach and qualitative methodology to study how volunteer firefighters and public management make sense of public reform and the ensuing organizational change. Findings Findings indicate that while the fire service has professionalized, notable tensions have emerged between public management and volunteers, the regional and local level of fire service and between professionalism and volunteerism which are problematised in the paper. Originality/value The originality of the paper is found in the insight it provides in the sensemaking of volunteer firefighters and public managers of diverse of change regions and fire stations during the regionalization process by applying an emergent perspective to change.

Walking through a 'phoenix landscape': hiker surveys reveal nuanced perceptions of wildfire effects

Public opinion of wildfire is often perceived to be negative and in support of fire suppression, even though research suggests public opinions have become more positive over the past few decades. However, most prior work on this topic has focused on homeowners in forested regions. In this study, we shift the lens to hikers in a chaparral- and oak-savannah-dominated landscape that burned at high severity in 2015. We surveyed hikers before and after their hike about their familiarity and perceptions of local fire, and wildfire in the nation at large. We found hikers were familiar with topics such as prescribed fire and basic fire ecology, but knew little about local ecology or fire regimes. Post-hike perceptions of fire and feelings about wildfire in the USA were complex and heterogeneous, not predominantly negative. Contrary to frequent media descriptions of post-fire landscapes as ‘devastated’ or ‘moonscapes,’ many participants described the burned landscape with awe and admiration. These results suggest that residents of fire-prone landscapes may benefit from programming that emphasises benefits and challenges of fire in the local landscape and incorporates visits to local burned sites throughout the recovery period.

Change of Ecological and Biological Properties of Cespitose and Podsolic Soil at Binomial Deposits Exposed to Local Wild Fire

The article deals with the ground wild fire impact on physical and chemical and ecological and biological condition of cespitose and podsolic soils on binomial deposits of the Meshcherska province of Gus-Khrustalny district, the Vladimir region under different forest cultures type. In the course of the study, a clear differentiation of changes in the microbiological pool of sod-podzolic soil on bicompartmental deposits under different types of forests was established. The quantitative composition of ammonia factors after exposure to pyrogenic exposure decreased on the sod-podzolic soil of coniferous forests, while the number of photographers, mushrooms, and oligotrophs sharply decreases in the area of pyrogenic exposure in the mixed forest. Within the territory exposed to fire, there is a decrease in the content of organic matter, as well as the content of other biophilic elements. The physical properties of sod-podzolic soil on bicompartmental deposits are also subject to change, in the direction of significant deterioration.

Sensitivity Experiments of the Local Wildland Fire with WRF-Fire Module

In this paper, it is discussed the performance of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with a wildland fire-behavior module (WRF-Fire model) by the observational data collected in an experiment with a low-intensity prescribed fire (LIPF) conducted in the New Jersey Pine Barrens (NJPB) on March 6, 2012. The sensitivity experiments of the WRF-Fire model are carried out to investigate the interactions between the wildland fire and the atmospheric planetary boundary layer. The two-way WRF-Fire model conofigured with fire and large eddy simulation (LES) mode is used to explore the fire characteristics of perimeter shape, intensity, spread direction and external factors of wind speed, and to discuss how these external parameters affect the fire, and the interactions between the atmosphere and fire. Results show that the sensitive experiments can provide the meteorological elements close to observations, such as the temperatures, winds and turbulent kinetic energy near the surface in the vicinity of the fire. The simulations also can reproduce the fire spread shape and speed, fire intensity, and heat flux released from fire. From the view of energy, the heat flux feed back to the atmospheric model and heat the air near the surface, which will induce strong thermal and dynamic instability causing strong horizontal convergence and updraft, and form the fire-induced convective boundary layer. The updraft will be tilted downstream of the fire area based on the height of the ambient winds. Due to the effect of the this updrafts, the particles and heat from the fuel combustion can be transported to the downwind and lateral regions of the fire area. Meanwhile, there is a downdraft flow with higher momentum nearby the fire line transporting fresh oxygen to the near surface, which will increase winds behind the fire line, accelerate the rate of spread (ROS) and make the fire spread to a larger area. Ultimately, a fire-induced climate is established.

Deployment of an aerial platform system for rapid restoration of communications links after a disaster: a machine learning approach

Having reliable telecommunication systems in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophic event makes a huge difference in the combined effort by local authorities, local fire and police departments, and rescue teams to save lives. This paper proposes a physical model that links base stations that are still operational with aerial platforms and then uses a machine learning framework to evolve ground-to-air propagation model for such an ad hoc network. Such a physical model is quick and easy to deploy and the underlying air-to-ground (ATG) propagation models are both resilient and scalable and may use a wide range of link budget, grade of service (GoS), and quality of service (QoS) parameters to optimise their performance and in turn the effectiveness of the physical model. The prediction results of a simulated deployment of such a physical model and the evolved propagation model in an ad hoc network offers much promise in restoring communication links during emergency relief operations.

Are we ready for bushfire? Perceptions of residents, landowners and fire authorities on Lower Eyre Peninsula, South Australia

Housing developments on the peri-urban fringe of Australian towns and cities create complexities for bushfire management due to the intermingling of natural, rural and urban spaces. To address the risk of bushfire, policies and practices have promoted and encouraged landowner responsibility for bushfire mitigation actions and behaviours. Using a postal survey, interviews and focus groups, we examine perceptions and actions regarding bushfire preparedness from the viewpoints of individual residents, landowners, and the local fire and environmental authorities on the Lower Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. Respondents living on larger sized allotments were more likely to perceive that their property was vulnerable to bushfire than those living on residential-sized allotments. Larger holdings tend to have more fire-susceptible vegetation than the smaller properties located in fringe suburbs, which seems to confer to those latter residents a sense of greater safety from bushfires. On the other hand, residents on larger blocks reported higher levels of bushfire management knowledge and expressed stronger connections to the place where they live, which influenced their willingness to work to mitigate bushfire risk. Importantly, there is a disconnection between such individual landholder preparedness for bushfire and that of the broader community. Individual actions often do not translate into collective responses, suggesting that a greater sense of shared responsibility will need to develop to enable effective mitigation of regional bushfire risk at a regional scale.

The species diversity × fire severity relationship is hump‐shaped in semiarid yellow pine and mixed conifer forests

AbstractThe combination of direct human influences and the effects of climate change are resulting in altered ecological disturbance regimes, and this is especially the case for wildfires. Many regions that historically experienced low–moderate severity fire regimes are seeing increased area burned at high severity as a result of interactions between high fuel loads and climate warming with a number of negative ecological effects. While ecosystem impacts of altered fire regimes have been examined in the literature, little is known of the effects of changing fire regimes on forest understory plant diversity even though understory taxa comprise the vast majority of forest plant species and play vital roles in overall ecosystem function. We examined understory plant diversity across gradients of wildfire severity in eight large wildfires in yellow pine and mixed conifer temperate forests of the Sierra Nevada, California, USA. We found a generally unimodal hump‐shaped relationship between local (alpha) plant diversity and fire severity. High‐severity burning resulted in lower local diversity as well as some homogenization of the flora at the regional scale. Fire severity class, post‐fire litter cover, and annual precipitation were the best predictors of understory species diversity. Our research suggests that increases in fire severity in systems historically characterized by low and moderate severity fire may lead to plant diversity losses. These findings indicate that global patterns of increasing fire size and severity may have important implications for biodiversity.

Climate exceeded human management as the dominant control of fire at the regional scale in California’s Sierra Nevada

The societal impacts of recent, severe fires in California highlight the need to understand the long-term effectiveness of human fire management. The relative influences of local management and climate at centennial timescales are controversial and poorly understood. This is the case in California’s Sierra Nevada, an actively managed area with a rich history of Native American fire use. We analyzed charcoal preserved in lake sediments from Yosemite National Park and spanning the last 1400 years to reconstruct local and regional area burned. Warm and dry climates promoted burning at both local and regional scales. However, at local scales fire management by Native Americans before 850 and between ca. 1350 and 1600 CE and, subsequently, Yosemite park managers from ca. 1900 to 1970 CE, decoupled fire extent dictated by regional climate scenarios. Climate acts as a top-down, broader scale control of fire, but human management serves a bottom-up, local control. Regional area burned peaked during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and declined during the last millennium, as climate became cooler and wetter and Native American burning declined. This trend was accentuated by 20th century fire suppression policies, which led to a minimum in burned area relative to the last 1400 years. In light of projected anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and predicted climate changes in California, our data indicate that although active management can mitigate local fire activity, broader regional burning may become more spatially extensive than has been observed in the last century.

Fire in the Swamp Forest: Palaeoecological Insights Into Natural and Human-Induced Burning in Intact Tropical Peatlands

Tropical peat swamp forests are invaluable for their role in storing atmospheric carbon, notably in their unique below-ground reservoirs. Differing from terra firme forests, the peat-forming function of tropical swamps relies on the integrity of discrete hydrological units, in turn intricately linked to the above-ground woody and herbaceous vegetation. Contemporary changes at a local, e.g. fire, to global level, e.g. climatic change, are impacting in the integrity and functioning of these ecosystems. In order to determine to what extent and predict their likely future response, it is essential to understand past ecosystem disturbance and resilience. Here, we explore the impact of burning on tropical peat swamp forests. Fires within degraded tropical peatlands are now commonplace; whilst fires within intact peat swamp forests are thought to be rare events. Yet little is known about their long-term natural fire regime. Using fossil pollen and charcoal data from three peat cores collected from Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, we looked at the incidence and impact of local and regional fire on coastal peat swamp forests over the last 7000 years. Palaeoecological results demonstrate that burning has occurred in these wetland ecosystems throughout their history, with peaks corresponding to periods of strengthened ENSO. However, prior to the Colonial era c. 1839 when human presence in the coastal swamp forests was relatively minimal, neither local nor regional burning significantly impacted on the forest vegetation. After the mid-19th Century, at the onset of intensified land-use change, fire incidence elevated significantly within the peatlands. Although fire does not correlate with past vegetation changes, the long-term data reveal that open vegetation, a proxy for human forest clearance, does follow a similar pattern. Our results suggest that human activity may be strongly influencing and acting synergistically with fire in the recent past, leading to the enhanced degradation of these peatland ecosystems. However, intact tropical peat swamp forests can and did recover from local fire events. These findings support present-day concerns about the increase in fire incidence and combined impacts of fire, human disturbance and El Nino on peat swamp forests, with serious implications for biodiversity, human health and global climate change.

Smart Sensor Network Based Fire Rescue System Design using LabVIEW

This paper enhances fire rescue system for reducing the number of victims in case of fire accidents. This system has been developed and implemented using the smart sensors and LabVIEW technology. It will automatically identify the fire accident and inform it to the rescue team (loco pilot for trains, security in buildings) through voice signal transmission. Servo motors are connected to water sprinklers to control fire. As an initial step, fire will be suppressed and intimation about the accident will be sent through short message service to the local fire stations, ambulance. This short message service consists of the status of fire accident accurately by transmitting the physical parameters. This also display the particular area code based upon that global system for mobile network. The complete details about the location (buildings, trains) could be intimated. With simple camera the number of members entered into the room can be known. So that directly saves the people instead of searching every room. As a whole this system ensures that it will reduce the human death ratio due to accidents.

Sem-Eds and Tg-Dt Analysis on Coal-Bagasse Ash and Clay-Perlite Aggregates

An industrial waste removal process plays main roles in all production industries, in this paper discussed about the sugar industry waste i.e. bagasse used as fuel along with coal in thermal power plant. After combustion of Coal-Bagasse, it produces bulk amount of ash and clay from the local fire brick manufacturers and expanded perlite from the thermal insulation powders suppliers. Coal-Bagasse ash, clay and perlite were performed to brick manufacturing. These three constituents with different ratios (10:5:1) on weight basis, mix properly with little addition of water for required plasticity. This mixture poured into moulds for required shape of sample (120mmx60mmx50mm) according to the laboratory requirements. Prepared samples were dried in atmosphere until the removal of wet content in samples. For final curing, dried samples heated in electrical furnace, at different temperature ranges. Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive Spectrum (SEM-EDS) was performed to study the microstructures and chemical composition (on mass & weight basis) of samples, Thermo gravimetric-Differential Thermal Analysis (TG-DTA) to study the variation in mass of samples at different temperatures with respective time. The result shown maximum weight loss obtained at more quantity of coal, high compressive strength and low thermal conductivity at more amount of clay-bagasse ash.

First Responder knowledge, perception and confidence in administering naloxone: Impact of a pharmacist-provided educational program in rural Mississippi

ObjectiveIn July 2017, Mississippi passed House Bill 996, which permitted first responders to carry naloxone and required training before administration. There is no standard training offered in Mississippi for first responders. The purpose was to evaluate the change in first responder knowledge, perceptions, and confidence in administering naloxone after pharmacist training. SettingThe study was conducted at an independent community pharmacy in Holly Springs, Mississippi, with a longstanding presence in Marshall county. Participants included firefighters and law enforcement. Practice descriptionParticipants provided informed consent and attended a 1-hour training class taught by a pharmacist. Participants were recruited by telephone to the local police and fire chiefs, who agreed to have their departments trained by the pharmacy. Practice evaluationThe survey consisted of 12 questions and covered topics including, knowledge and perception of the opioid crisis, overdose symptoms, reversal agents, and confidence to perform correct administration. The first outcome was change in participants’ knowledge of opioid overdose symptoms and was gathered with multiple choice questions. The second and third outcomes included change in perception and confidence in ability to administer reversal agents and were measured using a Likert-type scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Fifty-seven participants completed the training, and the majority had more than 21 years of experience. The pre- and post-training survey responses demonstrated a statistically significant change in the first outcome where the average score of the knowledge assessment increased from 35% to 56% (P < 0.001). The perception and confidence outcomes had a statistically significant improvement in 5 of the 8 questions. ConclusionProviding opioid education to law enforcement and firefighters increased their knowledge of overdose symptoms and improved administration technique, perception, and confidence to administer naloxone correctly.

Intervention to reduce gymnast exposure to flame retardants from pit foam: A case study

Gymnasts can have high exposures to flame retardants (FRs), which are used in gymnastics safety equipment such as the loose foam pit. Therefore, we aimed to reduce gymnast exposure to FRs by replacing the foam in the pit using foam free of additive FR and measuring personal exposure during practice using hand-wipes. To assure maintenance of fire safety we first conducted a flammability study and facilitated a fire inspection for our partner gym. The FR-treated cubes had similar heat release rates to the non-FR treated cubes, required a 11 cm larger flame size applied for 6 s longer to ignite, and took 4 min longer to reach peak flame height. Based on these findings and the presence of other fire safety measures including smoke detectors and a sprinkler system, the local fire and building departments approved replacement of the foam pit with FR-free foam. We then replaced foam in the gym's pit, verified it was free of any additive FRs, and quantified common halogenated and organophosphate FRs on hand-wipes collected from ten collegiate gymnasts before and after practice, pre- and post-intervention. We observed a 5-fold decline in the median mass of FRs found in pit foam that accumulated on hand-wipes during practice among gymnasts who used the foam pit (p = 0.02), indicating that replacing the foam in a pit using materials free of FRs can reduce gymnast exposure to these chemicals during practice.

Late Holocene environmental change and the anthropization of the highlands of Santo Antão Island, Cabo Verde

Cabo Verde was the first tropical archipelago colonized by Europeans. Historians have suggested that the first colonizers initiated archipelago-wide ecosystem degradation, loss of vegetation cover, and erosion. However, the human–environment interactions that led to the archipelago's current environmental status remain poorly understood. Here, we report the first palaeoecological study of past vegetation change and disturbance regimes for Cabo Verde. We present a 2130-yr old sediment sequence from a volcanic caldera (Cova de Paúl) located at ~1200 m asl on Santo Antão Island, for which we analyzed fossil pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs), charcoal, silica bodies, and grain size distribution. Our analyses do not show evidence of the presence of temperate, tropical or subtropical forests growing on the summits of Santo Antão in pre-human times. The pollen record shows that scrubland and grasslands dominated the highlands and underwent compositional changes ca. 1850 and 1300 cal yr BP. These shifts overlap with erosion phases and are linked to intensified seasonality. Steady rates of sedimentation marked the period 1230 to ca. 350 cal yr BP, but an increase in charcoal concentrations indicate a drying phase. Increases in regional and local fire, peaks of coprophilous fungi and the presence of New World crop pollen (Zea mays) are interpreted as the onset of Portuguese settlement of the highlands after 450 BP. Sustained erosion between ca. 350 and 100 cal yr BP indicate soil degradation, and the pollen record shows the increase in introduced herbaceous taxa (Rosaceae, Centaurea, Verbenaceae) and exotic tree taxa (e.g. Pinus), while shifting abundances of coprophilous fungi indicate changes in land-use. The record shows stabilization of soils in the last century due to recent afforestation of the highlands. Further palaeoecological studies have the potential to provide further detail of the long-term dynamics of Cabo Verde ecosystems and to inform conservation initiatives.

Responses of vegetation and testate amoeba trait composition to fire disturbances in and around a bog in central European lowlands (northern Poland)

Compared to boreal or Mediterranean biomes, the influence of fire on peatlands in Central Europe is not well studied. We aim to provide first analysis of statistically significant charcoal-inferred fire events from a peatland from central European lowlands, spanning the period of the last 650 years, and define peatland vegetation and microbial trait-related responses to local fire events. Here, we reconstructed regional and local fire activity from Bagno Kusowo bog (Poland) using high-resolution microscopic charcoal and macroscopic charcoal and its morphotypes, inferring past fire regimes using numeric analyses. We compared fire data with extra-local (pollen) and local (plant macrofossils, testate amoebae (TA) and their trait composition) proxies. Our data show that within the chronological uncertainties, regional fires recorded in the peat core coincide with historically-documented fires. Macroscopic charcoal analysis suggests 3–8 local fire events, while fire frequency varied between 0 and 2 events/1000 years. Wood charcoal was dominant throughout the profile, pointing to forest fires in close proximity to the peatland. Local fire activity was the most intensive in the 17th century, when the water table was at its lowest. The abundance of Sphagnum spp. declined, whereas vascular plants, mixotrophs and TA with proteinaceous shells were significantly positively correlated to fire. Xenosomes were significantly negatively correlated to fires, and they responded to water table lowering. We show that the peatlands’ vegetation recovered from low-intensity and short-lasting disturbances and, to some extent, maintained “pristine” local vegetation cover with Sphagnum as the dominant taxon. TA traits common before disturbances, mainly mixotrophs and TA with proteinaceous shells, temporarily re-appeared after fire. We conclude that TA communities in peatlands are good bioindicators of disturbances.

Position of cones within cone clusters determines seed survival in black spruce during wildfire

It has recently become clear that the regeneration density of serotinous species within a burned area declines with local fire intensity. It is assumed that this occurs because variation in local fire intensity leads to variation in incident heat fluxes and, ultimately, seed necrosis. We argue here that this same relationship between incident heat flux and seed necrosis is important at the scale of individual plant crowns. Using Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P. (black spruce), we show that postfire seed viability increases with crown height, depth into the crown, and angle from wind direction (with the windward side enjoying greater viability). All three effects are what one would expect given the physics of buoyant plumes, interactions of moving fire lines with wake flow around cylinders, and heat transfer in porous bodies such as a tree crown. We conclude by discussing the broader consequences of cone cluster size and global change on regeneration in serotinous species.

Do relationships between leaf traits and fire behaviour of leaf litter beds persist in time?

Wildland fires are a dominant disturbance on Earth. On the local scale, fire activity is also influenced by species-specific fire behaviour of leaf litter beds. Thus, researchers strive to identify plant functional traits governing fire behaviour. The currently accepted relationships between morphological characteristics of the individual particles, fuel bed structure and resulting fire behaviour have been established on freshly constructed leaf litter beds. To investigate to what degree these relationships are altered upon exposure of constructed leaf litter beds to outside weather conditions, a novel testing system was designed. It enables outdoor exposure of the constructed litter beds, their subsequent retrieval and fire behaviour testing without disturbing the sample structure. Two treatments were applied on seven monospecific leaf litters. “Fresh treatment” corresponded to the common practice of testing fire behaviour directly after fuel bed construction. In the “settled treatment” constructed fuel beds were exposed for 30 days to outside weather conditions before being tested. The “settled treatment” was designed to address physical changes in the fuel bed structure which occur due to repeated wetting of the fuel bed. Thus, to minimise the effects of decomposition and fragmentation, winter exposure was chosen. Within the “fresh treatment” previously established relationships between size, curl, bulk density and fire behaviour characteristics could be confirmed. In the “settled treatment” the majority of these relationships lost their significance. The “settled treatment” had significantly lower bulk density (BD), rate of spread, maximum flame height and maximum sand temperature at 1 cm depth; and significantly higher flaming duration and amount of unburned residues compared to the “fresh treatment”. Species with low initial BD were more affected by the treatment than species with high initial BD. The abrupt change in the fire behaviour of some leaf litter beds and the loss of numerous relationships between morphological characteristics of the individual particles and fire behaviour characteristics upon settled treatment indicate that fast occurring changes in the fuel bed structure should be taken into consideration if we are to understand the relationships between functional traits and local fire activity.

An Intelligent Wireless System for Field Ecology Monitoring and Forest Fire Warning

Based on Internet-of-Things and multi-sensor technology, an intelligent wireless monitoring system was developed to obtain field ecological parameters and provide forest fire warning in real-time. The GPRS and China’s Beidou satellite communication were selectively used for date transmission in the field with weak cell phone signals. This monitoring system is mainly composed of several field ecological monitoring stations, a cloud server, and online system software. Atmosphere, soil, sunlight and plant parameters of different regions are obtained real-time by sensors stably and reliably. This system has functions such as field ecological data storage, dynamic query, report generation, and data analysis. As an example of typical application, the forest fire weather grade, which was supplemented with the litter layer soil humidity, was calculated to realize the early warning of the local forest fire in this system through continuous experiments at Beijing Jiufeng National Forest Park from March to May 2017 and Inner Mongolia from March to June 2018. The success ratios of data transmission through Beidou satellite were 98.57%, 99.43%, 99.59%, and 98.85%, respectively, in Beijing, and through GPRS were 99.89% and 99.90% in Inner Mongolia. Long-term real-time field ecological monitoring and forest fire warning were successfully realized. This system can be widely used for big data field acquisition and analysis in forest and agriculture regions.

Improved Assessment of Fire Spread over Horizontal Cable Trays Supported by Video Fire Analysis

Fire safety analyses in nuclear power plants need to assess the heat release rate (HRR) of potential cable fires. This study deals with the FLASH-CAT model which assesses the HRR of a fire spreading over horizontal ladder cable trays. As part of the OECD PRISME-2 project, fire tests which involved horizontal trays supported by a wall, highlighted fast fire growth and large HRR peak. This study investigated the ability of the FLASH-CAT model to predict the HRR for such configuration. The first assessments of the PRISME-2 tests with the FLASH-CAT model significantly delayed the ignition and under-estimated the fire growth rate and the HRR peak. A video fire analysis method was developed and contributed to propose updated input parameters, such as the ignition time and the horizontal spread rate, for cable tray configurations with a wall. In addition, modifications in the model which affect the burning cable tray area and the local fire duration are also discussed. The assessments of the PRISME-2 experiments with the modified FLASH-CAT model and the proposed input parameters are consistent with the measured HRR. In addition, the modified model also gives acceptable predictions of the HRR for numerous tests of the CHRISTIFIRE programme.

Study on the Improve me nt of a Spe cial Fire Police Judicial Police System

최근 한국 사회의 고도성장한 경제화로 크고 작은 사건·사고가 많이 발생하면서, 안전을 갈망하는 국민의 기대로 소방분야 등 안전관련 법령이 강화되고 있지만, 법령위반 사범은 여전히 증가하는 추세이다. 이에 본 연구는 현재 일선에서 소방특별사법경찰로서 활동하고 있는 경기도·강원도 소방공무원을 중심으로 현 운영의 문제점 및 개선방 안을 설문조사하였다. 주요 연구결과로는 소방청, 광역시 ·도 소방본부 및 일선 소방서에 변호사, 전문경력관 등의 우수한 수사전문 인력을 업무에 배치·운영할 필요가 있다. 특히, 위 기관에 특사경 전담부서를 구성 및 설치하고, 소방특사경 업무의 세분화를 통해 기획수사 및 단속업무와 일선 소방서에서 처리가 곤란한 사법사건 등을 해결하여야 할 것으로 의견을 제시하였다. 또한, 향후 연구에서는 소방특사경들의 보다 전문적인 교육의 필요성과 다양한 재난 현장 경험에 관한 분야의 연구가 보완되어야할 것으로 판단된다.In recent years, the high growth of the Korean society has led to the development of large and small incidents and accidents, while safety regulations, such as the firefighting sector, have been strengthened with the expectation of people desiring safety. This study surveyed the problems and improvement plan of the current operation centered on the fire service public officers in Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon. As a result of the main research, it is necessary to arrange and carry out excellent investigative manpower, such as lawyers and professional career veterans in the fire department, metropolitan city and provincial firefighting headquarters, and frontline fire departments. In particular, it was suggested that a special task force should be established and set up in the above agency, and the planning investigation and enforcement work should be solved through subdivision of the fire special enforcement officer tasks, and the judicial cases that are difficult to be handled by the local fire station. In future research, it will be necessary to study the field of fire - fighting specialists needs for more specialized education and various disaster field experiences.