Justin Cutler Receives Kevin Hull Fire Leadership Award

Assistant Superintendent Justin Cutler (middle) accepting the Kevin Hull Fire Leadership Award with State Fire Management Officer Rex McKnight (left) and Nevada State Associate State Director Marci Todd (right)

On November 12, Nevada State Associate State Director Marci Todd and State Fire Management Officer (FMO) Rex McKnight presented Justin Cutler, the Kevin Hull Fire Leadership Award. Justin is a member of the Silver State Hotshot and Assistant Superintendent.

The BLM Nevada State Leadership Team annually recognizes a fire employee with the Kevin Hull Fire Leadership Award. Kevin Hull was the Nevada state fire management officer from 1996 to 2005. Upon Kevin’s retirement, he presented the State Leadership Team with a challenge - to reward excellence in fire leadership throughout BLM Nevada.

“This award recognizes excellence in fire leadership by an individual or group of individuals who are nominated by their peers or supervisors, said Rex McKnight,” State FMO. “This annual traveling award is housed at the district office of the recognized leader until November of each year.”

“Justin has promoted leadership development not only for his crew, but for the whole State of Nevada BLM fire organization,” said Jon Palma, acting Carson City FMO. “Justin’s efforts continue to strive to advance our understanding of leadership and promote a culture of learning.”

For the 2014 BLM Nevada pre-season fire leadership training, Justin helped organized the ropes course for fire leaders in Nevada. This course encouraged people who are from different districts and different backgrounds to work together resulting in leadership development through group problem solving and cooperative decision making. At the conclusion, there was an abundance of positive reviews and everyone seemed to come away knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses better, along with wanting to build a stronger team.

Justin played another key role in the States pre-season fire leadership training and in the Carson City Districts pre-season rollout. Justin was part of a core group of Nevada fire employees who participated in a site tour of the Yarnell Hill fire in the spring of 2014. That incident left a void in the fire community that needed to be addressed. From his experience on the site visit, Justin created a presentation that allowed group discussion during the Carson City Districts pre-season rollout and during the States pre-season fire leadership training. Justin led the much larger group through the presentation and he facilitated one of several small discussion groups.

Showing the commitment to a resilient organization, he looked for ways to strengthen himself and the Hotshot crew. Justin requested to attend a Mindfulness training over the winter to help him become a better leader through self-realization.

Justin’s commitment to learning more about leadership has helped him, the crew, and the state become more self-aware and work towards becoming better leaders.

By Lisa Ross, Carson City District public affairs specialist

Reprinted from BLM Nevada's website.