About Decisions: Course of Action (COA)

The Course of Action portion of the decision displays one or more Action Items designed to achieve the Incident Objectives. The Course of Action, strategy (selected using the slider bar, if used), and Management Action Points (M.A.P.s) are auto-populated in a decision.

• Review the auto-populated content for Course of Action and Management Action Points (M.A.P.s).
• Ensure that the content is appropriately included/excluded. If more work is needed, go to the Course of Action page or the Management Action Points page (see Developing Action Items, or Editing a Management Action Point).
• Ensure that the Action items listed in the Courses of Action can achieve the objectives.
• Ensure the Strategy slider bar setting communicates the overall strategy for the fire. Add comments as necessary to clarify the Course of Action and/or identify priorities.
• Add map images, analysis outputs or pictures to help clarify the situation.
• Add information pertaining to contingency plans (e.g. identify roads and ridges that may be used for contingency).
• Avoid delineating a geographic "box", unless it describes the area to be burned (e.g. if the objective is to keep the fire "as small as possible," describing a large box indicates that the unit is willing to accept fire inside this area--these two ideas are in conflict with one another and do not provide clear management direction).

A COA is required and a decision cannot be accomplished without at least one Action item.

 

In This Section Decision Content Tree

See Also About the Decision Content Tree About Decisions: Objectives and Requirements About Decisions: Rationale About the Text Editor

Reference Field Descriptions Glossary Resources Spatial Data Reference Landscape Data Source Reference Relative Risk Reference Organization Assessment Reference Fire Behavior Reference About the WFDSS Decision Editors