Fire Management today Volume 66 • No. 2 • Spring 2006 SAFETY FIRST! United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service After many years of editing Fire Management Today, I am leaving the journal. I first worked on the journal in 1994, when it was undergoing a facelift by Editor Donna Paananen and General Manager April Baily. In that year, it went from a black-and-white version to the current full-color design. The editorial style had earlier been honed by Editor Doris Celarier, working with General Manager Fran Russ. When I took over as editor in 1998, I tried to bring a fresh focus on my own areas of keenest interest: wildland fire ecology, policy, and history. I am grateful to General Manager April Baily for her full support. I enjoyed working on the journal, but other Forest Service assignments now take up more of my time, so I’m moving on. The new managing editor, Paul Keller, is a former firefighter and pro­ fessional journalist. A new general manager, Melissa Frey, has also recently come aboard. I am sure that Melissa and Paul will make an outstanding team. –Hutch Brown Fire Management Today is published by the Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC. The Secretary of Agriculture has determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public business required by law of this Department. Fire Management Today is for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, at: Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: 202-512-1800 Fax: 202-512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001 Fire Management Today is available on the World Wide Web at <http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/fmt/index.html>. Mike Johanns, Secretary Melissa Frey U.S. Department of Agriculture General Manager Dale Bosworth, Chief Paul Keller Forest Service Managing Editor Tom Harbour, Director Madelyn Dillon Fire and Aviation Management Editor Mike Apicello Issue Coordinator The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and—where applicable—sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal oppor­ tunity provider and employer. Disclaimer: The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement of any product or service by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Individual authors are responsible for the technical accuracy of the material presented in Fire Management Today. Fire Management today Volume 66 • No. 2 • Spring 2006 On the Cover: CONTENTS Safety: From Staff Rides to Fireline Fitness . 4 Mike Apicello The First Pulaski Conference A First Step Toward Improved Fireline Safety and Efficiency. 6 Paul Keller Why We Need Doctrine Now . 7 Ed Hollenshead Thirty-Thousand Firefighters Entrusting You to This Enormous Task. 9 Tom Harbour Saving a hot helispot. In a typical wild- land firefighter whir of action and Pulaski Conference Chronology . 10 commotion and flame, the Superintendent of the Stanislaus Interagency Hotshots points out a Putting the Pulaski Conference in Perspective . 13 Jack Kirkendall heads-up to his fellow members of the Eldorado Interagency Hotshots—as Where Do We Go From Here? . 14 everyone hustles to save their helispot from the approaching Codfish Fire on Chief of Forest Service Endorses Fire Suppression Doctrine. 15 the Tahoe National Forest. These peo­ Moving Toward a Learning Culture . 17 ple whom our country depends upon Paul Keller to engage with wildland fire—to work inside the ever capricious wildland fire Staff Ride to the Battle of Little Bighorn and Mann Gulch Fire. 21 environment—must constantly heed Lori Messenger safety on various vital levels. For a dis­ Improved Decision Support for Proactive Wildland Fire Management . 25 cussion of safety issues that confront Tom Wordell and Rick Ochoa firefighters and wildland fire manage­ ment today, see the articles beginning Portals: Key to Safety Awareness . 29 on page 4. Photo: Keith Redington, Paul Chamberlin Eldorado Interagency Hotshots, 2003. A National Fitness Regimen Would Benefit Firefighter Safety and Effectiveness . 30 The USDA Forest Service’s Fire and Paul Keller Aviation Management Staff has adopted a logo reflecting three central principles of Wanted: A Standardized Firefighter Fitness Program. 32 wildland fire management: Bequi Livingston • Innovation: We will respect and value Rappel Academy Wins Award for Excellence. 33 thinking minds, voices, and thoughts of Paul Keller those that challenge the status quo while focusing on the greater good. Integrating Social Science Into Forestry in the • Execution: We will do what we say we Wildland/Urban Interface . 35 will do. Achieving program objectives, Jeffrey J. Brooks, Hannah Brenkert, Judy E. Serby, Joseph G. Champ, improving diversity, and accomplishing Tony Simons, and Daniel R. Williams targets are essential to our credibility. Wildfire Monitoring Using Wireless Sensor Networks . 44 • Discipline: What we do, we will do well. David M. Doolin and Nicholas Sitar Fiscal, managerial, and operational dis­ cipline are at the core of our ability to fulfill our mission. SHORT FEATURES Machine Provides Access to Wetlands . 48 Gerald Vickers Websites on Fire . 8 Guidelines for Contributors . 50 Firefighter and public safety is our first priority. Annual Photo Contest . Inside Back Cover Volume 66 • No. 2 • Spring 2006 3 SAFETY: FROM STAFF RIDES TO FIRELINE FITNESS Mike Apicello lthough the overall theme of this issue of Fire Management A Today is “safety,” for the most part, our authors are really address­ ing the collective consequences and outcomes that have emerged as safety issues during the last dozen fire seasons. Many of the challenges facing our country’s wildland fire grounds today can be attributed to the over­ all changed forest and range condi­ tions that have emerged during this period. The lessons of tens of thou­ sands of wildfires during this time—when aggregated into what are clearly more complex and com­ plicated landscapes and fuel arrangements—must be acknowl­ edged and remembered. Through this issue’s diversity of safety-themed articles—from staff rides, lessons learned, predictive services, and even fireline fitness— we have tried to bring the reader a broad and informative view of these important wildland fire topics. For, if there was ever a time to be more mindful of field conditions and their relationship to negative con­ sequences or “bad outcomes” on wildland fires, it is now. As many of the articles in this issue reveal, we must therefore: • Evolve new fire suppression doctrine, Mike Apicello, coordinator for this special “safety” issue of Fire Management Today, is the public affairs officer for the USDA Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Management, Washington Office, National Safety first. The Black Mountain 2 Fire on the Lolo National Forest the night this wild- Interagency Fire Center, Boise, ID. land fire blew up. Photo by Kari Greer, National Interagency Fire Center contractor, 2003. Fire Management Today 4 • Incorporate new reality-based first Pulaski Conference and the It is evidentially clear that the training scenarios, and need to evolve basic firefighter tac­ return to basics—complimented • Increase the overall collective tical and strategic templates. This with using new methods of train­ intelligence carrying capacity of important conference explored how ing, role playing, after action our wildland fireline leaders and we can entwine simpler philoso­ reports, and simply sharing lessons program managers. phies that will allow for decision- from the past—will eventually making and leadership to attain bring us to a higher level of con­ Some of our authors share infor­ their highest levels. sciousness in wildland fire safety mation and thoughts about this and professionalism. ■ Sign of the times. Firefighter observes extreme fire behavior on the Paradise Fire in Valley Center, CA. Photo by Keith Redington, Eldorado Interagency Hotshots, 2003. Volume 66 • No. 2 • Spring 2006 5 A FIRST STEP TOWARD IMPROVED FIRELINE SAFETY AND EFFICIENCY Paul Keller pression,” says Hollenshead, who Director of Fire and Aviation “This is the beginning of served as the conference’s incident Management for the Forest a new culture.” commander. Service’s Washington Office, Washington, DC, explain the “This doctrine is foundational, not agency’s central dilemma that hat’s how Ed Hollenshead, fire operational,” he explains. “It is not prompted the need for this confer­ operations safety officer for the yet the finished product, but rather ence. Jack Kirkendall, fire manage­ T USDA Forest Service at the the base upon which the finalized ment officer for the Bitterroot National Interagency Fire Center in foundational doctrine will rest.” National Forest,