Bringing Order to Chaos

National Incident Management Teams (IMTs) of the wildland fire service have gained a reputation for bringing order to chaos when disaster strikes. Whether organizing search teams for remnants of the Columbia shuttle or providing command and control for recovery teams at Ground Zero of the Twin Towers, these IMTs have set a powerful example of leadership in uncertain situations. 

The 1995 Wildland Firefighters Human Factors Workshop

Following the South Canyon fire in 1994, fire leaders gathered together for the Wildland Firefighters Human Factors Workshop. The workshop theme was "Improving Wildland Firefighter Performance Under Stressful, Risky Conditions: Toward Better Decisions on the Fireline and More Resilient Organizations."

IGNITE: The Power of Silence

 

Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence. ♦ Leonardo da Vinci ♦

Photo: Kyle Miller/ Wyoming IHC
www.fireleadership.gov

The Authority to Lead versus the Decision to Lead

The authority to lead is established by law. Whether this authority is based on federal, state, or local law, we are legal agents exercising authority on behalf of our organizations. 

The ability to lead is a different matter; it is something that cannot be legislated. To be effective, leaders must earn the trust and respect of others. A leader’s journey is a perpetual cycle of acquiring, shaping, and honing the knowledge and skills of leadership. The leadership journey is never finished.

Once we commit to becoming leaders, our focus is no longer ourselves. Fire leaders assume the serious responsibility of putting others into harm’s way and for making decisions that profoundly affect citizens, communities, and natural resources.

Leadership is a tough choice. Leaders choose to sacrifice their own needs for those of their teams and organizations. They routinely face situations and make decisions that others criticize and second-guess. Leaders take risks and face challenges every day. 

So why do we choose to lead? We lead because leading is where we make a difference. 

Fire leaders bring order to chaos, improve our people’s lives, and strengthen our organizations. Leading enables us to leave a legacy for the leaders of the future so that they can take our places well prepared for the road ahead. 

These are the rewards of leadership. Their effects will be seen and felt long after our careers end. 

(Click here to download a copy of Leading in the Wildland Fire Service.)

Challenge #1: 2021 WFLDP Campaign

Challenge(s) #1: Leaders are readers and students of fire.

• Take notes in your journal while watching South Canyon tragedy videos: 
• 1994 South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain
• Wildland Firefighting: Everyone Goes Home

#WFLDPCampaign2021 #strengthenyourtools #fireleadership #honorthroughlearning

IGNITE: Your Greatest Project

“You are the greatest project you'll ever work on.” ~ Sonny Franco ~ 

[Photo credit: Justin Vernon]
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A Framework for Leadership

Wildland fire is a phenomenon essential to nature’s design. But fire, whether caused by natural force or human beings, can also pose a threat to people and communities.

The ultimate purpose of the wildland fire service is to protect life, property, and natural resources while engaging the forces of nature. Most of us made a commitment to serve our communities, our states, or our nation. We willingly accepted this unique obligation to place ourselves at risk and to put the interests of others before our own.

(Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, p. 5)

A Catalyst for Change

(Redding IHC at South Canyon Staff Ride 2014; photo credit: Shane Olpin)

The 1994 fire season was a pivotal year in United States wildland fire operations. Thirty 38 wildland firefighters lost their lives in job-related activities. Fourteen of those deaths occurred on the South Canyon fire. This tragedy became a catalyst for change.

IGNITE: You Decide

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” ♦ Dr. Maya Angelou♦ 

[Photo: Kari Greer/USFS]
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"Leading in the Wildland Fire Service"- Preface

Leadership is the art of influencing people in order to achieve a result. The most essential element for success in the wildland fire service is good leadership. 

This book expresses the fundamental leadership concepts of the wildland fire service. It outlines the framework, values, and principles that guide wildland fire leaders in providing leadership across a broad range of missions. The concepts in this book are universal to every person in the wildland fire service—from first year employee to senior manager. 

This book serves interagency wildland fire service interests by:

• Defining leadership in the wildland fire service.
• Articulating a universal set of values and principles to guide the actions of leaders in the wildland fire service. 
• Providing a concise reference for the wildland fire leadership development curriculum for use by both instructors and students. 

Leaders often face difficult problems to which there are no simple, clear cut, by-the-book solutions. In these situations, leaders must use their knowledge, skill, experience, education, values, and judgment to make decisions and to take or direct action—in short, to provide leadership.

This book does not state policy. It cannot provide black-and-white answers to the unlimited volume and variety of situations a leader will face. Instead this book simply outlines the broad concepts of leadership in the wildland fire service—fundamental concepts by which expectations of leaders may be established and performance of leaders may be judged. It is intended to make better leaders of us all. 

For these reasons, this book is structured around our leadership values and principles as a means of communicating what right looks like and illustrating effective leadership in action.