IGNITE: Use of Power

The less explicitly leaders rely on power to accomplish tasks, the greater greater their power actually is. - Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, p. 38

[Photo: Feather River Hotshots]

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Crazy Horse - Never Forget Your Dreams

(Credit: Wallace family, 1981)

About 35 years ago, my parents packed up the family and headed for the hills—the hills of South Dakota to be exact. The trip seemed to take forever and as majestic as the Badlands and Mount Rushmore were, one thing stuck in my mind—I didn't see an Indian chief on a horse at that other mountain a few miles down the road from Mt. Rushmore. I have had a fascination with the Crazy Horse memorial ever since.

IGNITE: Do What Is Right

The time is always right to do what is right. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Photo credit: Union IHC

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Challenge 1 - 2020 WFLDP Campaign

Challenge 1:

• In your leadership journal, define “command presence.”
• Watch James Scouller’s “What is presence?” video @ https://youtu.be/1iiK70oGd5M

#fireleadership #commandpresence #2020WFLDPCampaign

IGNITE: Be at Peace With Your Imperfections

To be authentic is to be at peace with your imperfections." - Simon Sinek

[Photo credit: Kari Greer/USFS]

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Same Story, Different Chapter—The Hinckley Fire

The year is 1894. The month was September. The place was Hinckley, Minnesota. 

On September 1, 1894, two forest fires converged on the town of Hinckley, Minnesota, trapping more than two thousand people. The fire created its own weather, including hurricane-strength winds, bubbles of plasma-like glowing gas, and 200-foot-tall flames. As termperatures reached 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit, the firestorm knocked down buildings and carried flaming debris high into the sky. Two trains—one with every single car on fire—became the only means of escape. In all, more than four hundred people would die, leading to a revolution in forestry management and the birth of federal agencies that monitor and fight wildfires. (Under a Flaming Sky - The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894)

Same Story, Different Chapter—The Great Boston Fire of 1872

(Boston Fire from Washington & Bromfield panoramic. John Adams Whipple - Boston Public Library)

"America's cities were burning down." - Bruce Twickler

The date was November 9, 1872. The place is Boston, Massachusetts. Fire Chief Damrell was a student of fire and had visited Chicago following the great fire. What could have gone wrong?

Command Presence: Do you know who you are? - 2020 National Wildland Fire Leadership Campaign

What is Command Presence?Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, p. 20

More than anything else, the leader’s command presence sets the tone for the command climate. Command presence is how we present ourselves to others, the myriad of personal attributes and behaviors that communicates to others that we are worthy of their trust and respect. 

IGNITE: Making a Difference

“Great leaders don’t set out to be a leader. They set out to make the difference. It is never about the role—always about the goal.”

♦ Lisa Haisha, Life Coach ♦

[Photo: Kyle Miller/Wyoming IHC]

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IGNITE: See the Light

“Great leaders are optimists. This is not the same as being positive. Positive is finding the light in the now; optimists see the light always." ♦ Simon Sinek ♦

[Photo: Kari Greer/USFS]

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