September 2004

Fish and Wildlife Service Leadership Group

The U.S. Fish & Wildlfie Service (FWS) Fire Leadership Group will meet in October in Tuscon, AZ. The semi-annualy meeting of the Leadership Group focuses on providing program oversight, operational procedures and interagency coordination for the fire programs of the seven Regions of the FWS. Attendees of the meeting will hear Lark McDonald of MCS give a briefing on attitudes that pose potential risk to operational safety. Later in the week the Group will be given a demonstration of sand table exercises and tactical decision games. The purpose of the demonstration is to provide an opportunity for the leadership of the FWS fire programs to experience these valuable traing tools with some hands on experience. Presenting the demonstration will be Curtis Heaton and Mike Bland from the near by Buenos Aries National Wildlife Refuge. Curtis and Mike were each recipients of the first Paul Gleason Lead by Example award for their effort in promoting the values and principles of leadership to the wildland fire community. Bringing sand table exercises and tactical decision games to this meeting is one of many steps the FWS will take to incorporate the leadership program into all levels of the fire program. Continuing to build support from National, Regional and local leaders to improve leadership skills in U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Fire Management.

August 2004

L-480 Incident Management Team (IMT) Leadership

The National Advanced Fire and Resource Institute (NAFRI), aka NARTC, is soliciting quotes for the development and delivery of the L-480 IMT Leadership course. The synopsis was posted on August 5, 2004 on the Federal Business Opportunities web site. It is posted under the Department of Agriculture, Region 3, Coronado N.F. URL is www.fedbizopps.gov.

The target audience for L-480 is current Unit Leaders and Incident Commanders Type 3 who desire to become qualified as Type 1 and type 2 Section Chiefs, Command and General Staff, and Incident Commanders.

The Goal is Provide leaders of Sections (Type 1 and 2 Chiefs, Command and General Staff) and Incident Command Teams (Type 1 and 2 Incident Commanders) with the leadership tools to effectively manage and encourage sections and teams, develop and provide strategic direction, and communicate and motivate others to that direction to achieve both inter-sectional and team goals.

The first L-480 is tentatively in conjunction with S-420 Command and General Staff the first two weeks of March 2005. The location will at the new National Fire Institute (NAFRI) in Tucson Arizona. The course announcements should be posted by September 1 on both the Southwest Area’s and the National Fire Institute’s Wildland Fire Training Schedule.

For additional information, please contact at the National Fire Institute at 520-799-8787.

July 2004

Leadership and the NWCG S-courses

There is a current effort underway to incorporate leadership components into the existing NWCG “S” curriculum and Position Task Books. The objective is not to duplicate the Leadership Curriculum, but to teach leadership principles in context to a specific position (e.g., Crew Boss).

During the course revision process, Subject Matter Experts use a “leadership analysis tool” to identify competencies needed to succeed in that position. For example:

• The new Rx-410, Smoke Management Techniques course discusses the peer pressure commonly faced by a Burn Boss when the crew is ready to light but the burn window is just out of prescription. This situation has direct ties to ethical decision making and the leadership values and principles.

• The D-311, Initial Attack Dispatcher course teaches the situational awareness cycle and decision making in a hectic, rapid pace environment.

The goal is to help firefighters and support personnel gain the knowledge and skills required to succeed in a high risk environment. The NWCG Development Unit recognizes the need to address leadership and human behavior as well as tactics and fire behavior.

June 2004

Forest Service to Push Leadership Development

The Cramer Fire Accident Prevention Plan was issued by the U.S. Forest Service in May 2004. The plan has two key areas of emphasis; first, a progress review in regard to the Thirtymile Fire Hazard Abatement Plan issued in 2002, and second, the implementation of a formal strategy for leadership development within the firefighter ranks of the Forest Service.

This leadership development strategy will involve a number of changes in how the Forest Service will prepare future fire ground leaders. Some the changes will include:
• Increased use of experiential training techniques such as simulations, tactical decision games, and staff rides.
• Use of simulations as assessment tools.
• Revision of the 5109.17 manual to replace formal training courses that focus supervision skills with courses that emphasize leadership actions.
• Addition to the 5109.17 manual of continuing education recommendations for individual leadership development.
• Reviewing nationally funded training programs to insure leadership development is addressed.

May 2004

Leadership in Cinema

Films possess the ability to entertain audiences of all backgrounds. Recent research has shown that films are a very powerful leadership development tool. The Leadership in Cinema tool is intended to provide a medium to teach leadership at all levels in the leadership development process while applying leadership lessons viewed to the Wildland Fire Leadership Values and Principles.

Leadership in Cinema is patterned after Reel Leadership: Hollywood Takes the Leadership Challenge (Graham, Sincoff, Baker, and Ackermann of Wright State University). The authors use Kouzes and Posner’s five practices for exemplary leadership and Clemens and Wolff’s four-step process of teaching with films.

Kouzes and Posner, authors of The Leadership Challenge, present five practices for exemplary leadership: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Other to Act, and Encourage the Heart.

Clemens and Wolff’s, authors of Movies to Manage By: Lessons in Leadership for Great Films, suggest a four-step process of teaching films: (1) while watching the movie, students take notes; (2) they pair with other participants and share notes; (3) they develop leadership insights from the movie; and (4) they discuss how to apply those insights at work.

Used in conjunction with other tools in the Leadership Toolbox, Leadership in Cinema is a very powerful, interactive self or team leadership development tool.

April 2004

More and More Sand Tables

A cadre of eight fire management personnel from the Greenhorn Ranger District of the Sequoia National Forest have stayed busy this past winter facilitating Sand Table Exercises and Decision Making Games. This group has presented and facilitated this program to other forests within California with the intent of passing this technique on to fireground leaders so they can use it with their firefighters. So far they have traveled and presented it on the Sequoia, Stanislaus, Angeles, and Los Padres National Forests and also to the Fire Management Officers for the Western Region of the National Park Service. In addition, personnel from the district built six furniture grade sand tables and transported them to the McClellan Training Center in Sacramento. This effort enabled the Apprentice Academy and other training sessions conducted at the facility to have access to a fully outfitted sand table room.

Sand table room at McClellan Training Center

This has been a rewarding experience for the group from the Sequoia. When you visit another forest and walk in front of a large group of people who are skeptical of the program and a few hours later watch the group become completely engaged in the scenarios, learning, and having fun, that is the pay off.

March 2004

Paul Gleason Lead by Example Award

To honor the memory of Paul Gleason and pay respect to his legacy, the NWCG Leadership Committee is proud to present the Paul Gleason Lead by Example Award. A recognized leader of the wildland fire community, an agent of change, and a student of fire; this award is presented to remember all of the many contributions that Paul Gleason made during his exceptional career. In the spirit of true leadership Paul Gleason was dedicated to mentoring and teamwork. He used these tools for developing future leaders and unifying firefighters in striving to make their work safer. The wildland fire community has benefited from the motivation and vision that Paul Gleason held for fire fighting. Most evident is the effect he had in changing fire operation safety standards and the approach he used to accomplish this. Using initiative and innovation he developed such ideas as Lookouts, Communications, Escape routes and Safety zones and worked to improve training for the wildland fire community. These are just a few ways that Paul Gleason helped shape the wildland fire culture.

Paul Gleason’s career can not be adequately measured with a list of accomplishments but would be better measured by how many firefighters he reached with his doctrine of safety and his example of leadership. It is with those ideas and Paul’s memory that this award was developed. The NWCG Leadership Committee will use this award to acknowledge individuals or groups in the wildland fire service who take actions that exemplify the wildland fire leadership values and principles. The award will have three categories:

• Mentoring and Teamwork
• Motivation and Vision
• Initiative and Innovation.

Nominations will be evaluated using the following criteria:

• demonstration of significant accomplishment in the category nominated;
• alignment with the wildland fire leadership values and principles;
• scope of accomplishment, considering available resources.

An online nomination form and complete description of the award can be found at the link on the home page of the leadership web site.

When asked to give a quote about leadership, Paul replied, “Those are my people, wherever they go I must follow for I am their leader.” The wildland fire community goes on, though Paul Gleason is no longer with us, he will continue to lead by example.

December 2003

Sand Tables and Kiwis

In November 2003, Pacific Northwest Area Training Specialist Nic Anthony made a trip to New Zealand to share Sand Table and Tactical Decision Making concepts with various New Zealand firefighting organizations. Four sessions were conducted involving about 120 participants. Three sessions were train the trainer session. The last one was designed to give their three Type #1 Incident Management teams a method to practice the skills needed to build their combined experience and team structure. The sessions started off with three pre-determined scenarios. The first scenario demonstrated the table's diversity incorporating multiple people and multiple levels of training at once. It contains some surprises in it designed to engage all observers and participant and to give an example of how to facilitate a table. The second scenario demonstrated a single participant decision on what would be non-normal fire fighting concepts to the New Zealanders so as to demonstrate the ability of the table and facilitator to convey abstract fire concepts and generate discussion. The third scenario was designed to show fire teams the multi-level flexibility of the table and facilitator to focus on team dynamics and to provide a practical tool to help the incident commanders diagnose the level of their individuals and team abilities. Following this introduction the New Zealanders designed their own scenarios. Nothing teaches the Sand Table better than the Sand Table itself…Nic simply pointed out a few basic concepts to get them started, then used a light hand on the wheel as they took off and trained themselves.

Nic did find the world turned upside down: the sun tracks across the northern sky in what appears to be the wrong direction, the stars are all different, north slope fire behavior is like our south slopes, everything is in metric, the fire vocabulary is often very different along with the fire organization and fire fighting philosophies. So writing scenarios proved to be especially challenging. The Sand Table courses proved very successful in meeting the objectives of the New Zealand fire folks. The success was in part due to the enthusiasm and openness of their people to observe then incorporate new concepts into their way of doing business.

More and More Staff Rides

An interagency group met in Willows, California on a rainy morning the first week of December to begin work on a formal staff ride package for the Rattlesnake Fire. This arson fire, on the Grindstone Ranger District of the Mendocino National Forest in July 1953, took the lives of 15 wildland firefighters. Local fire personnel have long preserved the memory of what happened on that fateful day, and there is a great deal of background material available covering the tragedy. However, until now there has never been a package of information readily available that would support staff rides on this fire. The interagency group that met in Willows - composed of U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Forestry, and Shasta College personnel - is doing something about that.

A template for organizing information for staff rides has recently been developed, largely due to efforts related to the Loop Fire. This was a wildland fire on the Angeles National Forest in 1966 that cost the lives of 12 wildland firefighters. (It is widely thought that the Downhill Line Construction Guidelines were a direct outcome of this fatality fire). Another group of fire personnel has worked diligently to develop materials to support staff rides on the Loop Fire. The primary types of information to support staff rides can be categorized as follows:

1. Documentation: includes investigation reports, newspaper articles, survivor interviews, etc.
2. Map Support: includes travel maps, USGS Quads, fire progression maps, etc.
3. Images: includes historic photos, contemporary photos, video, etc.
4. Facilitator information: includes travel plan with distances and times, suggested daily schedule, etc.

One of the key items being developed for these fires is a description of each of the "stands" or significant locations. A stand can be a viewpoint or a location where a key decision was made or event occurred. Different topics can be covered at different stands. For example, transfer of command and fuels/weather/topography can be covered at one stand, while fire behavior and tactics can be covered at the next. Another technique being put into use is the use of Tactical Decision Games (TDGS) at specific stands.

In February 2004, a new web site will come on line that is tailor-made for materials supporting staff rides. Look for that URL at http://www.fireleadership.gov. Work is progressing on a number of other staff ride packages including the 1939 Rock Creek fire north of Winnemucca, Nevada and the 2000 Cerro Grande Fire near Los Alamos, New Mexico.

A group of L.A. County, USFS and BLM firefighters above the 1993 Glenallen fatality fire site. Two L.A. County fly crew firefighters died here while cutting line downhill.	A group of students and faculty from an S-230 coursevisit the site of the 1966 Loop Fire. The consensus of the class was that seeing things for yourself beats any amount of lecture. This is the gully that a dozer couldn't get across just before the fatalities occurred.

October 2003

On October 29, 2003, the Leadership Committee was granted a unique opportunity to visit the Johnson Space Center and gain some understanding of the training methods and procedures used by NASA, specifically in the areas of decision-making and crew cohesion. In gratitude for assistance provided by the wildland fire community during the Space Shuttle Columbia recovery efforts, NASA offered to help with our leadership development efforts. Dave Pitre, Simulation Supervisor and Steve Dillon, Flight Instructor, who were involved with training the astronauts on the Columbia, provided direct support. They visited an ongoing fire in Montana during August, 2003, to get some firsthand experience with fire operations. After their visit Dave and Steve wanted to bring some representatives of the wildland community to their facility and exchange some of their ideas and experience in training that might be beneficial to firefighters. On Wednesday October 29th the Leadership Committee members entered Johnson Space Center and were escorted through the facilities used to train astronauts and flight controllers. Dave and Steve provided briefings for the events of the day and answered questions. The tour provided a great opportunity to exchange ideas and benchmark the leadership training of a highly respected organization. In the areas of team situation awareness, decision-making and communication, the concepts and techniques used by NASA are very similar to those being used in the wildland fire leadership curriculum and provided validation to this program. This exchange is another step in building working relationships between the wildland fire service and a variety of organizations where developing effective leaders is critical for successful accomplishment of missions in dynamic, high-consequence environments.