Coos Forest Protective Association
CFPA Home Page


Welcome to the CFPA - Explore and Discover Zone

Check out some of the activity links we have here for you. You can learn to operate a GPS, use a Compass,
read a Map, make Weather Instruments, and more.
This page was designed for people of all ages to have fun and learn a little bit about the job of a Wildland Firefighter.

Fire Behavior

Play the game - Wildfire (must download)
Live and experience what the professionals have to do to contain a fire,
manage the firefighters, manage equipment, order resources, order helicopter
water drops, all while the wind is blowing and your fire is growing.

Experiment with this Wildfire Simulator

Experiment with this Forest Fire Simulator

Living with Fire (How would you handle wildland fire?)


Weather Data

Make a Sling Psychrometer

Make a Complete Weather Station

View Current National Lightning

Make Lightning Strike

Map Current Weather Conditions


Detection Center

Oregon Web Cameras
 These cameras work much the same as the cameras Coos Forest Protective Association uses for detection of fires.

Communications Base

Study the Wildland Firefighter Dictionary
Firefighters use a different language than you while on the job. The firefighter language is
learned and used by all firefighters. See if you can learn the firefighters terminology.

24 Hour Clock Time (Military Time)

Convert 12 Hour Clock to 24 Hour Time


Wildfire Responder

See the Outfit of Firefighters
Firefighters by law and by regulation have to wear a special attire before they go into the fire zone.
This outfit has been proven to be beneficial to the firefighters life.


Equipment Pool

View the Wildland Fire Apparatus
Firefighters have to have a special made vehicle to respond to the fires. These vehicles have
to access many different type of terrain. Click on a photo to see images of the trucks up close.


Tools Warehouse

Fire Fighting Tools

Learn how to operate a GPS (Global Positioning System)
Firefighters use this tool to pinpoint the exact size of the fire, they walk the perimeter
of the fire and mark waypoints, the waypoints connect to form a shape and from that shape we
calculate acres within the shape and this gives us the size of the fire.
 
Create a Map with GPS
 

Learn how to use a Compass
Firefighters use a compass to create a "triangulation" on a column of smoke in the forest to pinpoint
the exact location of the column of smoke and to figure which direction a fire is spreading.

Make a Compass


Understanding Latitude and Longitude
Firefighters use Latitude and Longitude to find the exact location of a fire, but more importantly they
use Latitude and Longitude to relay to the pilot of aircraft to have a specific location to drop water on a fire.


Improve Map Reading Skills Firefighters use a variety of maps, they use topography (topo) maps, orthoimagery (ortho) maps,
aerial maps, shaded relief map, street maps, to name a few. Every one of these maps ties together,
however each map is read differently.


Learn how to Measure a Tree
Firefighters have learned through experience how to measure trees and to determine the threat
of the "ladder fuels = forest litter, brush, small tree, timber within a fire perimeter that allow a fire to
burn upwards" which can cause possible "crowning = a fire burning in tops of trees" which
leads to an extreme fire situation.

Learn To Identify Trees