Silence Amid the Noise

During a discussion revolving around last year's Yarnell Hill tragedy, a firefighter mentioned the importance of focusing on the basics. The conversation reminded me of Paul Gleason's position following the Dude fire. Paul's leadership efforts challenged wildland firefighters to focus on the basics: LCES (Lookouts, Communication, Escape Routes, and Safety Zones).

"LCES is just a re-focusing on the essential elements of the FIRE ORDERS. The systems view stresses the importance of the components working together. The LCES system is a result of analyzing fatalities and near-misses for over 20 years of active fireline suppression duties. I believe that all firefighters should be given a interconnecting view of Lookout(s), Communication(s), Escape routes and safety zone(s)." ~ Paul Gleason in "LCES and Other Thoughts."

See what Richard St. John has to say about a focusing.




Video Takeaways:

• Go wide then focus.
• Success requires a single-minded focus.
• Become an expert at something.
• Short-term concentration is important.
• Eliminate the distractions when you need to concentrate.
• Some people use noise to eliminate distractions.
• Learn to concentrate through practice.

Wildland Fire Leadership Challenge

Join the TED Ed discussion on the topic of focus. Create a lesson for the wildland fire service and send us a link to the lesson (BLM_FA_Leadership_Feedback@blm.gov), so we can share it with others.