IGNITE: Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is an inward application of situation awareness. Fire leaders have an inner drive to analyze and know ourselves. – Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, page 59

NWCG Meets at TFS to Discuss Future of Wildland Fire Leadership

National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Leadership Subcommittee in front of the Sanders Corps of Cadets Center on Texas A&M University; photo credit: Jessica Jackson

April 15, 2016 — COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Some of the nation’s brightest and most accomplished leaders in wildland firefighting met this week at Texas A&M Forest Service headquarters to discuss the future of leadership development in the field.

Attendees were all members of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Leadership Subcommittee, representing all facets of wildland fire from fire departments to state and federal agencies.

IGNITE: No Lapses of Integrity

There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity. – Tom Peters, author

IGNITE: Building Cohesive Teams

Fire leaders build cohesive teams—not simply groups of individuals putting forth individual efforts—to accomplish missions in high-risk environments. – Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, page 52

Honor & Learning - Rattlesnake Staff Ride

Looking Back and Remembering Our Fallen

In preparation for the 2016 fire season, the Carson City District BLM took its entire fire staff to the Rattlesnake staff ride on the Mendocino National Forest. This idea came from the District’s operations group that was tasked to come up with a team building exercise to help prepare our on the ground leaders for the 2016 fire season. Justin Cutler, Assistant Superintendent for the Silver State Hotshots coordinated with the Mendocino Hotshots to make this happen. Chris Markey, Superintendent for the Mendocino Hotshots facilitated our staff ride. 

On July 9, 1953, a brush fire started Northwest of Elk Creek, CA on the Mendocino National Forest. That evening 24 men were sent to contain a spot fire. The wind shifted and the main fire jumped containment lines. Nine of the men made it to safety, however 15 men were overran and perished by the quick moving fire.

What We Learned from the Rattlesnake Staff Ride

• Remembering and learning from history helps bring the importance of what we do closer to heart.
• Helped create District cohesion by going through the staff ride as a team.
• Helped see where we have been and where firefighting is now.
• Helped see the importance of good communication between resources. 
• Helped show the importance of having clear escape routes to sufficient safety zones.
• Helped show the importance of being aware of local weather influences.
• Helped identify areas of focus for the 2016 fire season to bring back for our seasonal staff.

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A special thank you to Shane McDonald, Jon Palma, Justin Cutler, members of the Carson City District BLM and Chris Markey. All pictures are compliments of the Carson City District BLM.

For more information, check out the Rattlesnake fire in the Staff Ride Library. 

IGNITE: Developing Your Subordinates

Exemplary leaders strive to create the conditions that make flow possible. That means they need to continually assess their constituents’ capacity to perform in the context of the challenges they face. Such assessment requires attention to the skills and the willpower of each person they lead. – Kouzes & Posner, The Leadership Challenge

IGNITE: The Art of Leadership

Ultimately, the art of leadership requires successfully balancing many factors in the real world, based on the situation at hand, to achieve a successful outcome. – Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, page 9

Fitness Park to Memorialize Fallen Smokejumper

Howling wind and driving rain did not deter a group of northern California firefighters and volunteers as they began work to develop a physical fitness park being named in honor of a fallen smokejumper. 

Luke Sheehy, a former member of the U. S. Forest Service Redding Smokejumpers and the BLM Diamond Mountain Hotshots, was killed in summer 2013 while fighting a fire in northeast California.

IGNITE: Follower Facts

Follower Facts:

• Look for opportunities to excel and problems to solve
• Study the organization’s mission, vision and operations and look for new ways to fulfill them
• Success comes to those who take initiative, not to those who only wait for orders

– Don Mercer, Follow to Lead

IGNITE: Duty-Bound to Act

Leaders in the wildland fire service are not only empowered but also duty-bound to act on a situation that is within our power to affect, even without direction from above. – Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, page 26