The Systematic Dismantling of Fire Leadership / Fire Program Management Within the United States Forest Service

In a fully anticipated show of top down bureaucracy and lack of understanding about it’s very own fire program, the Forest Service has once again canceled the Region 5 Chief Officer’s Workshop. As some of you might understand, the Region 5 Chief Officer’s Workshop was a yearly multi-level workshop featuring collaboration and information exchange. The workshop has been instrumental in addressing federal wildfire issues such as recruitment & retention; firefighter safety; emerging technology; risk management; and countless other wildland fire topics. The workshop is probably best known for the synergy and voice gained after the 2003 Southern California wildfires, and the realization by firefighters and fire managers that several past events (South Canyon, Thirtymile, Cramer) were crippling the federal land management programs… or per se.. the various “Land Management Agencies” in their inability to manage complex wildland fire programs. In all actuality, it showed exactly why a complete re-organiation of the federal wildfire program is needed… and soon.

The workshop participants typically consisted of the following groups working collaboratively on issues:

• The Chief Officers Group
• The Hotshot Group
• The Engine Captains Group
• The Helicopter Managers Group
• The Prevention Group
• The Dispatchers Group

Here is what the Region 5 Fire Director sent out as an explanation:

I am deeply disappointed that we will not hold the Chief Officer’s Workshop yet another year. Your committee did everything asked of them to the detail and in the time asked. The failure was not theirs, and as Allen pointed out we received excellent support from Joni Cook in the Chief’s Office. Just exactly why or how our request languished in the Washington Office for six-months without action or inquiry is unknown.

It was my responsibility to do all I could to impress on others the importance of this meeting to our cohesion and our effectiveness. I should have been more diligent in keeping the issue fresh and the pressure on to move it forward. For these failures I alone am responsible.

I will engage with the committee shortly after the first of the year to begin the process anew; with greater determination and focus.

In the meantime it is important that the key attributes of the workshop not die with it. I urge all of you to hold video conferences, informal meetings, and use whatever other methods that are available to communicate within and among your groups and committees. The intent of ensuring cohesion and the sharing of lessons learned within and between forests, crews, and leadership must be realized regardless of whether we have a workshop or not. I would recommend inter-forest preparedness reviews and meetings, resource type-specific workshops within your province or group of provinces, or other creative means that achieve the end-state of honing yourselves to meet the challenges of 2010. Knowing your creative genius, I have every confidence you will do just that.

May we all have a successful and safe 2010!

-ed-

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Ed Hollenshead

Director – FAM

Pacific Southwest Region

Instead, someone at the Regional Office and Washington Office levels  has determined it is more important that Fire Managers and Incident Management Team Command and General Staff members attend the following:

Date: December 11, 2009

Subject: GACC Level Continuous Improvement Sessions

To: Forest Supervisors, Fire Managers and Staff

I am requesting you to attend one of two important 2-day wildland fire management workshops to be held between March 8 and 15, 2009. I want each of you to be in attendance or have an acting that will bring back information. Please hold these days on your calendar. Exact dates will be announced soon. Workshops will be held at McClellan and at a yet to be determined location in southern part of the state.

To prepare for the upcoming fire season and develop a more common approach to fire management, a “Continuous Improvement in Decision Making on Large Fires” workshop is being held at the Geographic Area Coordination Center level. The purpose of these sessions is to provide an opportunity for dialog regarding the challenges fire managers and line officers are facing; and potential methods and alternatives that could be implemented.

In recent years the agency has been experimenting with systematic changes in fire management to ease resource demands, mitigate firefighter exposure and reduce costs of large “problem fires”.

Even though phenomenal efforts have been made to improve effectiveness and reduce risks, additional refinements in managing these “problem fires” are needed. The focus of the GACC level workshop is to share information with leaders at the Forest, Incident Management Team and Coordination/Dispatch level throughout the state. I expect these leaders to have a common understanding of their roles and engage in a collaborative effort of decision making when managing large fires.

Two sessions have been scheduled for agency administrators and their staffs and Incident Management Team Command and General staff members. The workshops will be facilitated by the Atlanta NIMO team, who will provide the framework for a common approach to fire management and the protocols involved in Continuous Improvement in Large Fire Management.

The sessions will last two days. Day One will be an overview of Continuous Improvement with Forest Service expectations as to how large fires are managed. It will include topics such as risk management, line officers roles, social networking, importance of preseason stakeholder engagements and resource allocations. Day Two will be centered on a simulation involving multiple fires within the GACC and the decisions and expectations that can arise from these.

With our busy schedules and constant demands I felt it was important to get this information out to you now, so that time can be set aside for this important engagement. More information will follow within the next month.

If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact (snipped to protect the innocent).

/s/ Randy Moore

RANDY MOORE

Regional Forester

It is a pretty disappointing time within the Forest Service and other federal wildland fire agencies. All I can say is WTF are they thinking everytime decisions like these are made. The truth of the matter is… these decisions aren’t being made by firefighters nor by fire managers… but by folks who are not qualified to be setting policy and direction for a fire management program that they are not qualified to lead, supervise, or manage…. or in any way provide effective oversight.

When folks are allowed to stop communication as they are currently being allowed to do… things crumble from the inside – out…. and it’s usually from the backlash in which the first small cracks & holes appear… presenting ripe conditions for latent conditions to overwhelm, and active failures to occur with regularity in the system. We can do better. One senior fire manager stated it like this: “It is hard to gain supporters for positive change while you [as an agency] are circling the drain… especially when all you’re used to giving them is toilet paper and promises to hold on to … and fond memories of great sunsets that they all used to enjoy.”

..

Thoughts? Please comment by clicking the comments link…. or by e-mailing your thoughts to: Admin@RamblingChief.com

Blasts from the Past: Emerald Fire, San Bernardino County (2006) and Old Fire, San Bernardino County (2003)

Sometimes when folks communicate about working in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) as firefighters, often times the “Land Managers” or “Line Officers” never really understand or appreciate the complexities involved or experienced by the firefighters and fire managers…. Why should they care?… They are never held accountable.


In the following audio links you won’t hear a District Ranger… a Forest Supervisor… a Regional Fire Director… a Regional Forester… a Washington Office Fire Director… or the Chief of the Forest Service making decisions or providing Leadership. None of them are on the “pointy ends of the stick” if things go gunnysack.


Folks who have never been “in the hot seat” (ie – the folks above) in a rapidly evolving WUI wildfire will never match the knowledge, skills, and abilities of folks who have “seen the elephant” and have served their entire careers as either firefighters and fire managers protecting the public, our communities, and our firefighters (ie – Incident Commanders, Operations Section Chiefs, Air Tactical Group Supervisors, FMOs, etc…). Folks who have “seen the elephant” are folks who have been “in command” when things went bad beyond their control.


There has been a large effort lately within the federal land management agencies to effectively put “firefighting” back into the box under folks entirely educated in lands and resource management… folks with little to no firefighting experience or education.  Is this a proper direction? or Should the management of fires on federally protected lands be more managed like a fire department… or a full service (all risk) firefighting agency? 


Does sending a Biologist, Archaeologist, Hydrologist, Forester, or Landscape Architect to two “one week sessions”… and then a fire or two for evaluation and certification… actually qualify them to provide oversight, management, and leadership of a fire program?


I have my opinions, but I’d like to hear your thoughts. Please comment in the comments section of this post, or at: Admin (at) RamblingChief (dot) com.

Blast from the past:

Emerald Fire – San Bernardino County, CA.

The “Emerald Fire” started on 08/29/2006 within the City of Highland… progressed into the state responsibility area (SRA) of CAL FIRE San Bernardino Unit… and then progressed into the San Bernardino National Forest.

The fire eventually burned 2,129 acres and destroyed 2 homes. It also resulted in injuries to 15 firefighters.

Here is an audio link to the initial attack: Click Here

Old Fire – San Bernardino County, CA.

The “Old Fire” started in the morning of 10/25/2003 within the City of San Bernardino… Before the fire was suppressed it grew to over 91,281 acres….. making it the largest wildfire in San Bernardino County history. It was also the largest ever interagency response in San Bernardino County history.

Before the fire was controlled, it destroyed 993 private residences and 22 commercial buildings. The fire also contributed to the deaths of six civilians. It could have been far worse if the preplanning effort of the Mountain Area Safety Taskforce hadn’t been undertaken in the years prior.

Here is an audio link to the initial attack and extended attack: Click Here

Want more examples: Click Here
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Admin note: The combined acreage of the Old Fire (91,281 acres)  and the Grand Prix/Padua Fires (59,448 acres) was the largest yearly acreage lost in the recorded history of San Bernardino County. The acreage from these two fires, as well as three other significant fires that year… pushed upwards of 175,000 acres burned due to wildfire within a 9 month period. These losses even eclipsed the 160.577 acres destroyed in the Station Fire in Los Angeles county during the summer of 2009 in regards to the numbers of lives lost… structures destroyed or damaged… and infrastructure negatively impacted.


No single county in the US (other than San Diego County) has experienced such similar catastrophic losses in the Wildland Urban Interface as San Bernardino County (Panorama Fire, Old Fire, Grand Prix Fire, Grass Valley Fire, and the Slide Fire)…. Unfortunately…. I was a firefighter or supporter on all of them in my career.


During the 2007 SoCal Fire Siege… Once again… San Diego County, San Bernardino County, Los Angeles County, Ventura County, Riverside County, and Santa Barbara County….. all had fires at the same time of various significance and importance…. Each time since the early Lessons Learned from FIRESCOPE in the late ’60s and early ’70s…. We all ask why? Have WE really learned to communicate as Fire Chiefs and Fire Managers, and properly learned enough from our history and losses? You’ll hear the stories of the 2007 Fire Siege at some later date…. if you return. 

Take care… Keep safe…. and those around you safer...