Changes at the IAWF
This is my first “President's Desk,” so obviously the International Association of Wildland Fire has undergone a transition, one required by our bylaws on a regular basis. I view change as a good thing generally and believe that all public and private organizations should undergo one periodically to allow for fresh ideas and new personalities to emerge.
One of the difficulties of change is that some individuals who have dedicated so much time and effort to making everything work must step aside a bit to allow others to step forward. Those individuals often stay active behind the scenes, helping to fill important — though less visible — roles. I'm hoping for the same dedication from many of our retiring officers and board. I look forward to their continued expertise in our growing efforts around the globe.
Having said that, let me thank the outgoing executive committee members first for their past efforts: President Dick Mangan, Vice President Rick Gale, Secretary Paul Woodard and Treasurer Howard Dupuis. Woodard is stepping up as vice president and will be joined by Marc Titus as secretary and Elizabeth Reinhardt as treasurer on the executive committee.
Our board of directors does a lot of the heavy lifting for the organization; it's a working board, and all members are truly dedicated to making IAWF the best international organization representing the many facets of the wildland fire community. Members may step down for many reasons, sometimes personal, other times because of term limits. Retiring board members include Mangan and Dupuis, as well as Tony Blanks, United States; Keith Harrap, Australia; Don Saari, Canada; Domingos Xavier Viegas, Portugal; and Jim Tidwell, United States. I send a heartfelt thanks to you all.
The IAWF never has had a shortage of well-qualified people interested in volunteering for our board openings. The hard part for us has always been selecting the best people from a diversity of international fire backgrounds out of the many potential candidates. I must admit the list of candidates we had to select from this time around was quite impressive in numbers and diversity. It was a task to pick just a few individuals. Our new board members include: Dan Bailey, Janice Coen, Tim Dolan, Bill Somers and Ann Walker, United States; and Gary Morgan and Brett Shields, Australia. I look forward to working with these new people in moving IAWF into the future.
Much is planned for the IAWF in the upcoming year, and probably a lot that isn't planned as well. You may have noticed that the organization is starting to take public positions on wildland fire issues that we feel to be of importance globally, making sure that our opinions are heard. Recently we expressed our concern (see opposite) about a U.S. Forest Service crew leader who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter charges concerning the entrapment deaths of four crew members under his command during the Thirtymile Fire in 2001. We believe these charges to go far beyond the scope of the public law, which was designed to make sure fire fatalities (only within the Forest Service at that point in time) are thoroughly investigated. The recent charges have had a chilling effect on the very point the law was meant to enhance — investigations. Why should anyone in command position be willing to assist an investigation that might mean potential legal charges down the road? For that matter why should anyone step forward to assume those command positions in a business where the worst unintentional results sometimes happen in spite of our best efforts?
We feel that the public and our governmental representatives needed to learn more about these issues and how it may affect them in the future. We know that the international wildland fire community is watching this incident in case something similar happens in their backyards. We will continue to watch this situation closely, along with many other issues, to keep you informed.
Send them to:
Wildfire Magazine
330 N. Wabash Ave.
Suite 2300
Chicago, Ill. 60611
Attn: Lisa Allegretti
lisa.allegretti@penton.com
