InciWeb is an interagency all-

risk In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environ ...

incident web information management system provided by the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

released in 2004. It was originally developed for wildland fire emergencies, but can be also used for other

emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

incidents (

natural disaster A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community brought by natural phenomenon or Hazard#Natural hazard, hazard. Some examples of natural hazards include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides ...

s, such as

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

s, and

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

es).

Introduction

It was developed with two primary missions: * 1. Provide the public a single source of incident related information * 2. Provide a standardized reporting tool for the Public Affairs community Official announcements include evacuations, road closures, news releases, maps, photographs, and basic info and current situation about the incident. Incident information can be accessed by: * web browser at https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/ *

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many ...

web feed

Technical

The original application was hosted at the

- Wildland Fire Training and Conference Center, at McClellan Airfield,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, comprising three

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides requested information for other programs or devices, called clients. Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending custome ...

s: *

Database server A database server is a server which uses a database application that provides database services to other computer programs or to computers, as defined by the client–server model. Database management systems (DBMSs) frequently provide database- ...

* Administrative server *

Load balancer In computing, load balancing is the process of distributing a set of tasks over a set of resources ''Resource'' refers to all the materials available in our environment which are Technology, technologically accessible, Economics, economically ...

for the public content which routes traffic to a pool of eight servers.

Web traffic Web traffic is the data sent and received by visitors to a website. Since the mid-1990s, web traffic has been the largest portion of Internet traffic. Sites monitor the incoming and outgoing traffic to see which parts or pages of their site are ...

averages 2 million plus

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

daily during the fire season with the ability to handle 3.5 million hits. The servers were moved to the National information Technology Center (NITC),

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

on July 16, 2008, along with the release of version 2.0; the current version is 2.2.

Availability issues

InciWeb was having technical difficulties due to the high volume of Internet users trying to access the site during the September–October 2006 Day Fire and the

Summer 2008 California wildfires The 2008 wildfire season was one of California's most devastating in the 21st century. While 6,255 fires occurred, about two-thirds as many as in 2007, the total area burned— —far exceeded that of previous years. By July 5, 2008, 328 wildf ...

.. June–July 2008. W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking, Western Institute for Study of the Environment. Retrieved 2009-09-02.

Participating agencies

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...

Fish and Wildlife Service A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fins and a hard skull, but lacking limbs with digits. Fish can be grouped into the more basal jawless fish and the more common jawed fis ...

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploration ...

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relatin ...

Office of Aircraft Services *

National Association of State Foresters The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) is a non-profit organization that represents the directors of the 50 state forestry agencies, eight United States territories, and the District of Columbia. State foresters manage and protect stat ...

United States Fire Administration The United States Fire Administration (USFA) is a division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) located in Frederick County, Maryland, near Emmitsburg. Per the official website, "the mission of the U.S. Fire Administration is to supp ...

These same agencies are also in the National Interagency Fire Center.

References

{{reflist

External links

Inciweb official website
* Judith L. Downing, Ronald W. Hodgson, Jonathan G. Taylor, and Shana C. Gillette. Fire Information for Communities at Risk in Interface Wildfires: Lessons Learned From the 2003 Southern California Megafires. pages 135-152 i
Fire Social Science Research From the Pacific Southwest Research Station: Studies Supported by National Fire Plan Funds
August 2008.

. InciWeb is mentioned on page 139, footnote 11. 2004 establishments in the United States Wildfires in the United States Web applications Incident management Disaster preparedness in the United States Firefighting in the United States Management systems Emergency management software