Learning from Wildland Firefighting

Whenever I start to write about wildland firefighting, I feel obligated to disclose that I have virtually no experience in this arena. Yet, I am interested in the topic in that there is much to be learned from studying the approach taken to organize the suppression efforts, the need for qualifications, and the public information aspects.

There is also a consideration that one should learn as much as he can about his profession because those on the outside will often turn to their perceived “experts” when they want information. With the newsworthiness of the massive fires a high priority, often fire service members will be asked their opinion and being a little prepared is not a bad thing. Though the communities where I have worked are not threatened by wildland fires, I view the opportunity they provide to engage in discussions with policy makers and citizens who may be interested.

A few years ago, I had an interesting question posed to me by a friend and fellow employee in the community where I worked. He is good guy and always expressed interest in the fire service. He said his wife wanted to know about the risk to their home and family from a wildland fire since there were a lot of trees in their neighborhood. She saw the devastation of some fires out West and naturally was curious as to their risk level. Now, I told my friend that I think he was using his wife to ask the question, but I really think he wanted to know! To my friend and his wife, trees were trees, dry was dry, and wind was wind. They were not in tune with the fuel difference, the Santa Ana winds, and the severe dryness because of a lack of rainfall that created the drought. They, like many, liked living among the trees and wanted to make sure they took steps to lessen their exposure. I assured them of the vastly different circumstances and that their risk was almost zero. In fact, if they were ever in a position to have a big fire, there were other problems that would have greatly preceded that. I think that just hearing from someone else was helpful, even in a small way.

COMMAND SYSTEM

One example of learning from the wildland experience is the incident command system. Before there was such a thing or the National Incident Management System (NIMS), there was FIRESCOPE. It was a system developed to gain control and manage an incident that covered a large area and took a lot of time. There were many work periods to consider, and the number of people needed was beyond almost every structural fire situation. Command and control were vital. Back in the 1970s, Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department Chief Alan Brunacini thought there was much to be learned and gathered some of his staff and made a road trip. They took the lessons learned and developed what he called Fire Ground Command. It was essentially taking the elements of a working system and applying the concepts to structural firefighting.

The wildland system has been way ahead of developing incident action plans (IAPs) and using incident management teams (IMTs). In essence, fire department responses to structural fires have had an action plan and a mana