Information Experts

Information Experts’ Structural Firefighter Skills Crosswalk Featured on USFA Website

RESTON, VIRGINIA, February 14, 2008—Information Experts, a strategic communications-consulting firm, recently concluded the development of the Skills Crosswalk for the National Wildland Coordinating Group (NWCG) and the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Fire Administration. This Skills Crosswalk is a new aid to help local and rural firefighters identify training equivalencies and needs for effectively fighting wild fires that encroach on residential areas. Crosswalk identifies critical wildland firefighting skills that structural firefighters need to be safe and effective when making an initial attack on a wildland fire in their jurisdiction, or when working with state and federal wildland firefighter agencies.

As housing development continues to expand into wildland areas, rural firefighters are increasingly called upon to address fires on the Wildland Urban Interface. The Skills Crosswalk is an important training vehicle for every structural firefighter.

The Skills Crosswalk is another project demonstrating the breadth and depth of Information Experts’ Instructional Design capability. This project involved team building and consensus decision-mailing in working comprehensively with multiple federal agencies, state officials and firefighting organizations to create integrated and comprehensive training. The final product is a performance-based methodology and a learning resource guide for qualified structural firefighters to develop wildland firefighting knowledge and skills in a focused and time-efficient format.

“The recent wildland fires in San Diego County horrified the nation. This project will be instrumental in helping rural and volunteer firefighters receive the training that will improve their wildland fire suppression skills,” Annamarie Pluhar, Senior Consultant, Information Experts.

About Information Experts
Information Experts is an award-winning strategic communications firm with a wealth of conceptual and implementation experience serving public service agencies and corporations. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Information Experts offers full-service strategic consulting and messaging, content development in marketing and instructional design, print and digital graphic design, and learning solutions across an array of media. Information Experts, founded in 1995, is an 8(a) woman-owned business.