Ten Years Later
Recently, we held our 10
Now as we all know administrators, including myself unfortunately, have little time to focus on something so all-encompassing. We always look for the Executive Summary to guide where the emphasis needs to be placed. The U.S. federal agencies responsible for wildland firefighting, understandably, decided to focus on specific issues that could be addressed producing some relatively immediate results and work on other items as soon as possible. Some of the recommended, and implemented, changes automatically help to keep the culture of safety in the forefront, such as the establishment of the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center. This small staff “actively promotes a learning culture to enhance and sustain safe and effective work practices in the wildland fire community” and in my opinion are doing a great job and have some fantastic ideas of what they would like to see accomplished. Their work is being discovered by safety professions in industries other than wildland fire.
Other report recommendations are still waiting as the wheels of change slowly revolve, but it is important to note that the Phase III report wasn't just filed away as so often happens. The report is still a dynamic document that is being referenced and evaluated in light of it now being 10 years later and our increased understanding of some of the issues. Talking with some of the report authors they were very gratified to know that their work is not just gathering dust on a shelf. Everyone in our fire community should also be pleased that work on the recommendations continues. Lives and livelihoods depend upon making our increasingly hostile working environment as safe as possible so everyone comes home.
One of the suggestions presented during the conference was that a “score card” be established to track accomplishments over time. I fully support this idea as a good manner of making sure that important recommendations not fall through the cracks. It would also be an easy way of helping our politicians and agency administrators see what important topics still need to be followed-up on.
Another recommendation stems from a significant shortfall in the original study of only interviewing federal firefighters. This was a result of the research funding requirements at the time, not an oversight by the authors. I believe we need to investigate safety issues faced by our state, local and private firefighters. I believe this population may have some very different issues than what was discovered in the original Phase III report. Over the last ten years these non-federal groups have seen major changes in their responsibilities and commitments in the areas of both initial and extended attack. IAWF is seeking a way in conjunction with TriData to include this audience, let's hope it came happen and that I'll have good news to present on this in the future.
International Assn. of Wildland Fire
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Birmingham, AL 35216
ph: 205-824-7614
iawf@iawfonline.org
To join the IAWF, visit www.iawfonline.org
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Attn: Kevin Daniels
kevindaniels@earthlink.net
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