Incident Meteorologists

The National Weather Service (NWS) incident meteorology program can be traced back to 1928 when, according to the agency, “Leslie Gray, a fire weather forecaster and first IMET, installed a two-way radio on his truck and traveled to the fires, preparing forecasts and briefing fire bosses on the spot.” Officials at the U.S. Weather Bureau, the predecessor to the NWS, gradually learned that meteorological conditions played a key role in how and when fires could be fought. They formed a mobile weather unit to provide meteorological intel to firefighters. The NWS reports that “during the first five years the mobile weather unit served about 245 fires.” Firefighters continue to be at major risk of injury and death because of fighting fires and the meteorological conditions that exist in and near firefighting sites. On June 30, 2013, 19 firefighters perished in a major fire blowup on the Yarnell Hill Fire, near the town of Yarnell, Arizona. These unfortunate deaths reinforce the need for skilled incident meteorologists. In 2024, there were 64,897 wildland fires that affected 8,924,884 acres in the United States, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center. The center says that the “total number of fires and acres burned were both above the five and 10-year averages.” Today, incident meteorologists are on site not only at large wildland fires, but also in the aftermath of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and hazardous waste spills. Incident meteorologists also provided meteorological reports to help crews during the recovery of the Space Shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere on February 1, 2003.