Never Forget

Where?

Where can you see Paul Gleason talk in-depth about the hard lessons he learned at Cerro Grande? Where can you listen to insightful lessons learned from an air tanker pilot who made more than 13,000 retardant drops, refers to himself as a “wildland firefighter” and confirms that “aircraft is my tool”? Where can you read and learn from actual wildland fire incident Facilitated Learning Analyses and Lessons Learned Reviews—important lessons that your fellow firefighters want to share with you? Where can you share—and learn from—lessons that just occurred in the field [see page 4]?

at the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center

Never Forget

We should never forget that the landmark interagency safety study responding to the South Canyon Fire blow up that killed 14 wildland firefighters—nine Prineville Hotshots: Kathi Beck, Tami Bickett, Scott Blecha, Levi Brinkley, Terri Hagen, Bonnie Holtby, Rob Johnson, Jon Kelso, and Doug Dunbar; three smokejumpers: Jim Thrash, Roger Roth, and Don Mackey; and two helitack crew members: Richard Tyler and Robert Browning—recommended that a permanent “lessons learned” program must be established for wildland firefighters: http://www.wildfirelessons.net/documents/WFSAS_Part_ 3_Appendix_A.pdf

This tremendous tragedy confirmed that there was a definite need to help guarantee that—on every wildland fire assignment—every firefighter return safely home.

In response, the interagency Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center was developed to take this lead in striving to improve safe work performance and organizational learning for all wildland firefighters.

1

I visit the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center website several times a month. In “addition to being an excellent information source for cutting edge initiatives like High Reliability Organizing, the LLC website hosts the most comprehensive and up-to-date library of wildland fire accident/near miss reports available anywhere. In just a few years’ time, the Lessons Learned Center has become an indispensable tool for increasing firefighter knowledge and safety.

Fire & Aviation Project Leader, ” Missoula Technology & Development Center ”

Growing to Better Serve This Country’s Wildland Firefighters – You The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center (LLC) represents a core group of interagency staff members— representing decades of wildland fire experience—who are dedicated to promoting firefighter safety in all wildland fire management activities.

Since its inception in 2002, the LLC has been growing to better serve this country’s wildland firefighters, helping promote a culture of safe and effective wildland firefighter work practices and improving wildland firefighters’ learning and training networks to further enhance their knowledge and skills.

Besides making personal contacts at meetings, conferences, workshops, seminars, and wildfire academies throughout the United States, the LLC provides three popular websites for wildland firefighters: http://www.wildfirelessons.net – This is the LLC’s homepage that introduces and links you to a wide array of wildland firefighter-based useful and relevant information. A helpful fixture here is the (top of the page) constantly scrolling and updated “content rotator” that links you to new incident reviews, videos, publications—whatever might be of interest to wildland firefighters. The tab to our “What’s New” page provides you another in-depth menu of timely information for firefighters. Our Incident Review Database tab takes you to a library of incident reviews that range from today as far back as 1908. “Advances in Fire Practice” is another one of the many tabs available to you here, along with the link to our YouTube channel—providing firefighters a variety of videos [see page 3]. http://www.myfirecommunity.net – Last year, 70 new “neighborhoods” were added to this popular on- line community center that links interagency hotshot crews, smokejumpers, engine crews, fire ecologists, fire dispatchers and a wide spectrum of various other wildland fire “communities.” This around-the-clock meeting and learning place now hosts 634 individual neighborhoods. Over the past year, this site received more than 238,000 visits. http://www.imtcenter.net – This continually growing Incident Management Team site welcomed nine new Incident Management Teams last year—for a total of 151 teams. This convenient location provides everything from team rosters and calendars to photo galleries for: IMT Types 1-4, Area Command Teams, National Incident Management Organization Teams, Fire Prevention Teams, and State Teams.

Tom Iraci Photos 2

The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center is an invaluable clearinghouse for information regarding accidents in fire. I do a fair bit of training at the “ FFT1-Crew boss level. I use that information to build case studies and training simulations for students and to answer coworkers and my own questions about how accidents happen.

It seems as if accident information, once released, disappears into the ethers. For instance, visiting a unit's website may (at best) give you information about a staff ride in their management area. But good luck finding out any details about an event which took place there.

The LLC is an invaluable resource for learning from our accidents. Perhaps even more importantly, it honors those whose sacrifices teach us those lessons by keeping their memories alive with us.

Firefighter, Interagency Hotshot Crew, ” Region 1

The Forest Service is continually striving to engage and inform stakeholders,“ cooperators, and the public in its fire management efforts. One of the more promising methods of doing this involves the use of emerging social media technologies. These often include the use of web- based applications such as Facebook and YouTube. Unfortunately, there are occasional policy and technological restrictions on government agencies using private web applications. Mike Cornwall The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center has created a space for fire managers to take advantage of the opportunities presented on the LLC’s YouTube channel .

Missoula Smokejumper ”

http://www.youtube.com/user/WildlandFireLLC – The LLC’s always growing YouTube channel currently provides 223 videos. The LLC’s popular “Firefighter: Remember This” video series is among the wide array of videos available for viewing here. Other featured playlists include: “Learning from Incidents,” “Learning from the Experts,” “Fatality Case Studies,” and “Vintage Fire Training Films.” Since January 2012, we’ve had more than 58,200 video views.

Ben Croft Kelly Goodick Ben Croft 3

A lesson is learned when we change our behavior.

Rapid Lesson Sharing

The LLC has a new, easy method for you to quickly get your lessons back out to the field. Called Rapid Lesson Sharing—or RLS—if you have a lesson to share with the wildland fire community, this new communication tool now provides you this ability.

Your “lessons” could include successes, challenges, close-calls—any valid insight into operating more efficiently or safely. You simply fill out a user-friendly electronic form. (To see this form, or to submit an RLS, click on the white button below.) So far, we’ve received RLS’s from firefighters on everything from a drip torch malfunction, to insights on loading tools for helicopter transport, to why you shouldn’t use that falling wedge if it’s missing its metal strike plate.

RLS’s are posted and available at: http://wildfirelessons.net/HotTips.aspx

Do you have a Rapid Lesson ‘We Will Never Forget You – Remembering to share? Andy Palmer’ Video

Click this button: This “Firefighter: Remember This” LLC video’s conclusion stresses the importance of three key questions: “1) What will we do if someone gets hurt? 2) How will we get them out of here? 3) How long will it take to get them to the hospital?”

http://youtu.be/TFLgOQqLq_Q

The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center is the single most important step forward for wildland fire agencies in becoming ‘learning organizations’. The “LLC is an invaluable resource for wildland firefighters who want to learn from the experiences (both positive and negative) of others.

It is particularly important at this time. A large cohort of senior wildland fire managers are retiring within the next 4-5 years. The LLC offers an opportunity for those highly experienced firefighters to provide the next generation with well-learned lessons in fire behavior, safe practices, wildfire management, prescribed fire, and all other aspects of wildland fire management.

The LLC facilitates the documentation of lessons in a variety of formats to make them accessible to a wide variety of personnel with varying learning styles. Well-written reports, PowerPoint slide shows, video interviews, and on-scene footage of actual incidents are a few of the offerings at the LLC.

I encourage all firefighters who seek to excel in this profession to use the LLC to learn and also to document their own lessons.

Wildland Fire Program Manager, Former: Hotshot Superintendent, Type 1 Incident Commander, ” District Fire Management Officer

4

In 2011, the LLC launched its new quarterly publication Two More Chains—dedicated to sharing useful and relevant information with wildland firefighters. To see all back issues: http://wildfirelessons.net/Additional.aspx?Page=TwoMoreChains

Thank you for your terrific articles and insights. Your publication really connects with the folks on the ground. Please continue the great work. I look forward to every issue.

Wildland Firefighter

This is an excellent publication. I make sure all the wildland folks on the District have access to it. The Hotshot Crew utilizes it for safety meetings…

Wildland Fire Manager

I really enjoy Two More Chains and I use it to express things to my crew.

Wildland Fire Crew Supervisor

Thank you for the effort and work you folks continually show to make the lessons applicable and accessible.

Wildland Firefighter

If you would like us to include you on our Two More Chains/LLC email subscription list, please click: here.

5

Providing 'lessons learned' to our field personnel and our fire leaders plays an important role in learning. We have been beaten over the head for years “ which has resulted in a culture that is cautious about reporting near- misses, mistakes, or other possible significant health and safety issues.

The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center has proven to be an invaluable resource in capturing and sharing these 'stories' in an effort to ensure that they are accessible to anyone who is interested in learning these lessons and reading these shared stories.

The LLC is basically a 'one-stop-shopping' venue. Whether you are a crew leader looking for a specific incident to share with your crew during a tailgate safety meeting, or a firefighter who is interested in reviewing past stories and incidents, the LLC provides an opportunity to any audience.

Also of great opportunity is the ability to participate in the My Fire Community venue which can provide a multitude of items such as open forums for discussion purposes or 'live chat' opportunities to share information during meetings. Information sharing is so relevant in our current culture and the LLC provides every opportunity to do just that, regardless of what agency you work for or your position.

I use all the options available to me in sharing information and as a referral to others who are seeking information. It's nice to be able to refer individuals to one single website rather than a multitude of others.

Regional Fire Operations Health and Safety Specialist ”

Kari Greer

Ben Croft Tom Iraci 6

Pre-season I am always assembling training and looking for topics to present “ to my crew. Some are topics that are presented annually and others are new—based on what is current in the training world.

I look to the LLC [Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center] site to see if there is anything I can work with to help present these topics. Sometimes I'll hear about a new topic—as when “HRO” came out—and I'll go to the LLC site and find a presentation about it. Other times, I'll use the LLC presentations to confirm some of the material I've already put together in a presentation.

The LLC videos are interesting and there seems to be a push for these personal testimonials dealing with specific topics. . . I do utilize the site, and find a lot of good information there.

Squad Leader, Interagency Hotshot Crew, ” Region 8

Fire can be unpredictable and mistakes can result in horrifying accidents. “ The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center is the only place that maintains a comprehensive record of past incidents and accidents.

If we can’t learn from our history, then we should just consider wildland fire management a hobby and not a profession.

Regional Fire Manager (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), ” (Former Fire Management Officer, U.S. Forest Service)

Kari Greer Photos

7