In Praise of Abroad Perspective
In late March, the head of the National Park Service faced a contentious Congressional hearing. It seems the NPS was shutting down facilities on some national parks, but it still had several million dollars in its foreign-travel budget. The director responded directly to Congress by ending all foreign travel by NPS — immediately.
Sounds like the right thing to do, getting those bloated federal bureaucrats to stop wasting money on foreign junkets and stay home and tend to the taxpayers' business. But wait, might there actually be some benefit to having government employees travel abroad?
Before I retired as Fire & Aviation Leader for the Missoula Technology & Development Center, I was fortunate enough to be one of those bloated federal bureaucrats who took several trips abroad on the government payroll and at taxpayer expense. I went to Siberia with the United Nations and made several trips to Australia to work with their fire managers and equipment specialists, as well as to attend meeting of the International Standards Organization that was working on specs for wildland firefighter PPE. So my perspective on foreign travel for government employees might be slightly biased.
Speaking for an organization that starts its name with the word “International,” there are tremendous benefits in traveling to foreign lands to gain — and share — information, experience and expertise. The worldwide wildland-fire community has so much in common, whether we look at Spain, Portugal, South Africa, New Zealand, China, Australia, Siberia, Canada or the United States. The taxpayers of all nations are well-served when their wildland fire folks share.
Need a common-sense example where this pays off in the real world? The massive fires in the western states during the summers of 2000 and 2003 depleted some critical resources in land and air operations. Because of the long-standing exchange programs between the Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders, it was possible to bring numerous foreigners to fill essential roles in battling our wildfires in Montana, Idaho and elsewhere.
I like to believe that the time I spent working with the Natural Resources and Environment and Country Fire Authority folks in Victoria, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service folks in Sydney, and the Tasmanian fire folks around Hobart played some small part in getting them to come to our assistance. IAWF board members Rick Gale, who was with the National Park Service Fire Program before his retirement, and Bret Butler at the Missoula Fire Science Lab also had excellent relationships with the Aussies that helped pave the way for their coming to the United States.
During the Christmas 2003 bushfires in Australia, U.S. firefighters reciprocated by traveling “Down Unda” to help the Aussies with their major fire incidents.
The border between Canada and the United States has always been porous when it comes to suppressing wildfires. Thirtymile was discovered and reported by a Canadian birddog aircraft and is an excellent example of the long-term benefits brought about by foreign travel and cooperation.
On another note, on July 6, we will observe the 10th anniversary of the South Canyon Fire that killed 14 firefighters outside of Glenwood Springs, Colo. Like the 1998 Linton Fire in Australia that killed five and the 1999 Huelva Fire in Spain that killed four, South Canyon has been a landmark event in the history of U.S. wildfires.
I was intimately involved in the investigation of the South Canyon Fire, and what I saw on Storm King Mountain left an indelible mark in my brain and on my soul that never will be gone.
On this July 6, I urge you to consider what happened on that day, ponder your own mortality on the fireline and the effect of your death or injury on those you love and who love you, and renew your absolute commitment to safety on every fire.
International Association of Wildland Fire
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Fairfax, Va. 22033
phone: 785-423-1818
fax: 785-542-3511
e-mail:
iawf@iawfonline.org
Send them to: Wildfire Magazine
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Attn: Lisa Allegretti
e-mail:
lallegretti@primediabusiness.com
