“We Will Never Forget You—Remembering Andy Palmer”

Submitted by Jim McMahill (Regional Fire and Aviation Management Officer, Midwest Region - National Park Service and NWCG Leadership Subcommittee NPS Representative) and the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center

This—wildland firefighter Andy Palmer’s tragedy—is the story of how we arrived at today’s Dutch Creek Protocol guidelines for emergency medical response and extractions.

Fireline Leadership Challenge:

1. View the video and share this with your employees and incident management team members, either during your annual fire refresher or at your annual team meetings.
2. After viewing, discuss the contents of the video, which challenges us with three questions we should ask ourselves each time we are weighing the decision whether or not to engage on a wildland fire incident.

• What will we do if someone gets hurt?
• How will we get them out of here?
• How long will it take to get them to the hospital?”

This is the Wildland Lessons Learned Center's second presentation in this year’s “Firefighter: Remember This” video series. Check out the first, "Firefighter: Remember This - Engine Rollover: Why This Accident Started Months Ago."

Happy Thanksgiving

On behalf of the NWCG Leadership Subcommittee, I would like to wish all readers a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. May each of you take this time to reflect upon all for which you are thankful.

Exposing Our Roots: 1997 - 1998

In 1998, the TriData Corporation completed the four-phase Wildland Firefighter Safety Awareness Study.

• Phase I -Identifying the Organizational Culture, Leadership, Human Factors, and Other Issues Impacting Firefighter Safety
• Phase II - Wildland Firefighter Safety Awareness Study - Setting New Goals for the Organizational Culture, Leadership, Human Factors, and Other Areas Impacting Firefighter Safety
• Phase III - Implementing Cultural Changes for Safety
• Phase IV - Developing a Cooperative Approach

Wildland Lessons Learned Videos - 10-Year Anniversary

• Introduction
• Successes
• Continuing Challenges
• Looking to the Future

Additional Events from 1999

• The Safety and Health Working Team (now the Risk Management Committee) sponsors L-180 development.
• A 40-hour leadership development training course is proposed.

Help Wanted

This blog was created as an avenue for wildland fire leaders to share their experiences in writing. Unfortunately, few have contributed. The following Seth Godin interview conducted by Dan Cathy may provide some insight and encourage wildland fire leaders to use their written voice.

Communicating Across Generations

I recently had an encounter with a young man of about 13 years of age. I had given him answers for a Halloween station he was to facilitate. As soon as he attempted to read the paper I had given him, I knew we had a serious problem. A deep sense of fear overtook him and he handed the paper back to me saying he could not read what was written. I had used cursive writing instead of printing. Our ability to communicate had taken a direct hit.

While attending L-580 this past spring, a number of participants had discussed the coming trend of public school systems eliminating cursive writing from the curriculum. Little did I know that it would be only a few months until I encountered my first experience with this new barrier to communication.

The new generation firefighter communicates differently. Right, wrong, or indifferently, changes in communication methods generally require that the older generation adapt.

I enabled my young friend to succeed by printing my work; however, there may be times in the future where technological ineptness or other factor(s) may render me unable to communicate. I keep myself open to new ideas and methods; but, I may find myself in a similar situation as my young friend some day.

How do feel about the ever-changing face of communication? How are these changes affecting communication in the wildland fire service?

Exposing Our Roots - 1995/1996

Where were you in 1995? Some of you may have been employed in wildland fire and can remember focus on changing our culture. Every once in a while I think there is great value in "exposing our roots"--letting those new to the wildland fire service know where the Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program (WFLDP) began. Over the next few weeks, we'll revisit our history.

A Glance Back at 1994

Thirty four lives were lost on wildland fire incidents in 1994. Fourteen of those fatalities occurred on South Canyon fire near Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

1995

The Missoula Technology Development Center (MTDC) hosts the 1st Firefighters Human Factors Workshop.

• "To begin to address some of the human factors questions, experts in psychology, sociology, organizations, fire safety, and wildland firefighting attended a 5-day workshop in June 1995 to discuss ways of improving firefighter safety" (Finding from the Firefighters Human Factors Workshop, p. 3).

Smokejumpers and pilots participate in Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) training.

Following the deaths on South Canyon, the BLM commissioned the Firefighter Awareness Study--a four-phase study awarded to the TriData Corporation. Phase I - Identifying the Organizational Culture, Leadership, Human Factors, and Other Issues Impacting Firefighter Safety was completed in 1996.

1996

The National Park Service develops and tests a human factors course. The WFLDP now administers L-180 - Human Factors in the Wildland Fire Service. The 2010 video component of L-180 is available on YouTube. The course is currently under development for online delivery.

When Wrong Feels So Right

"I err therefore I am." - St. Augustine

In this blog entry, I share Kathryn Schulz's video from TED-Ideas Worth Spreading titled "On Being Wrong."