Goodbye to a longtime friend, colleague

Chuck Bushey

On Feb. 27 we in the United Sates lost a bright, burning ember from our wildland firefighting/fire use community. Paul Gleason succumbed to cancer after a brief but determined fight.

Many of us last saw Gleason at the 2001 IAWF Wildland Fire Safety Summit held in Missoula, Mont. Even though at the time he was getting around on crutches after a recent mountain climbing accident, Gleason was right in the thick of the many discussions concerning firefighter safety, especially those involving the four fatalities at the July 2001 Thirtymile Fire in Washington.

In 1998 it was the IAWF's pleasure to present Gleason with our organization's Wildland Fire Safety Award during that year's summit for his continuing work in the promotion of fireline safety. Gleason's accomplishments were well-known, but equally special was his humility. During the 2001 summit, Gleason and fellow previous winner Al Beaver were able to present that year's award to Dick Rothermel. Gleason was ecstatic that Dick Rothermel the award for his lifetime contribution to our understanding of fire behavior. In his own humble manner Gleason never considered himself in the same “big” league as other award recipients, always downplaying his contributions to fireline safety as “common sense.”

Gleason started his career on the fireline in June 1964 with the Angeles National Forest in Southern California. With his desire to acquire knowledge and experience, along with his love of the outdoors and adrenaline-pumping natural phenomena — wildland fire just being one — Gleason gradually worked himself into a fire management position he absolutely loved, superintendent of the Zig Zag Interagency Hot Shot Crew. This was a passion — with Paul you couldn't call it a job — he held from June 1979 through April 1991, a phenomenal 12 fire seasons during which time he was regarded universally in the business with high respect.

This itself would have been a wildland fire career to be proud of, but for Gleason's never-ending search for insight and knowledge, including being on the dean's list while obtaining a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1984 from Colorado State University, it was only a stepping stone. During this period, Gleason had what could only be called an epiphany, which would come to haunt and guide his life and career.

On June 26, 1990, Gleason and his Hot Shot crew arrived on a fire near Payson, Ariz., which would later be known as the infamous Dude Fire. That morning the Zig Zags joined several Hot Shots and other fire crews already working to complete a fireline protecting a forested subdivision of homes called Bonita Creek. Everyone's job that morning was to widen and improve a single-blade dozer line off a fire control road, then burn it out before the main fire reached the area. Walker Canyon ran between the Bonita Creek subdivision and the fire, which at the time was backing down slope. The strategy was to improve the fireline and burn it out before the fire crossed the canyon and ran upslope unchecked into the area of housing.

The crews, including the Alpine Interagency Hot Shots, Perryville Type II and the Navajo Scout Type II, had spent that morning and afternoon spread out along the fireline getting prepared for the burnout operation that the Hot Shots had been steadily moving down line. Weather during the afternoon had been hot and dry with light up-canyon and upslope winds. Late in the afternoon the winds dramatically increased, some estimated at more than 50mph, and changed direction to sweep the flaming front down toward the crews.

As the Alpine crew scrambled for preplanned escape routes toward the subdivision, Gleason and Paul Linse, superintendent of the Flathead IHC, came down line to gain firsthand knowledge of what was going on. They learned that while the Alpine crew was safe, the other crews farther down line had not been heard from. Radio communications at this point were in shambles with all channels jammed. All three IHC superintendents continued to move back down the line to check on the status of the other crews in lower Walkmore Canyon.

The three hadn't gone much more than a hundred feet when they encountered a burned firefighter staggering out of the smoke. As medical personnel were called for, Gleason circled back around the fire to check on the other crews. Within about an hour Gleason was radioing that he had located six fatalities from the Perryville Type II prison crew, and had ascertained that the rest of the Perryville and Navajo Scout crews had reached safety, with some injured.

It was that stark moment when Gleason first saw the injured firefighter who would be forever etched into his memory. He had been involved with other wildland fire fatalities, notably the 1966 Loop Fire on the Angeles where a crew of 12 was killed, but the Dude Fire incident affected Gleason deeply. He became driven to find a simpler way of understanding and communicating safety guidelines for the people on the fireline. He knew that the many guidelines and “watch-out” situations developed from earlier tragedies were indispensable for wildland firefighters to evaluate the potential for life-threatening situations and the development of potentially extreme fire behavior. Gleason took it upon himself to promote the concept of LCES as an easily ingrained way of fireline personnel being personal reasonable and aware of their own safety situation.

Gleason would later take a job as Zone Fire Management Officer on the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests in Colorado. Gleason's talents shortly moved him into overlapping positions as manager for the hazardous fuels program and fire ecologist. In June 1999 Gleason left the Forest Service to work on a special project for the National Park Service as a wildland fire management specialist. Gleason officially left his federal career behind in January 2001 and joined the faculty of Colorado State University to teach courses in wildland fire management and fire behavior, spreading his fervor for wildland fire ecology, fire use and suppression to a new generation. He continued to make frequent presentations at various training sessions and workshops on wildland fire behavior, and operational decision-making. He also served as the steering chairperson for the national interagency course Applied Fire Effects, a required course for the certification of all mid- and upper-level managers who use fire as a land management tool.

During this time of change and between mountain climbing trips, Gleason also made the leap from longtime federal employee to private sector consultant where he planned to continue helping to make advances in the modern role for wildland fire and western North American forest health. In short Gleason was busy enjoying life.

Gleason was always someone who was willing at the drop of a hat to debate diverse topics such as Sun Tzu The Art of War and its relationship to agency wildland firefighting practices, or the growing conflict between the role of landscape fire regimes and the expansion of the wildland-urban interface. We will miss Paul and his knowledge, enthusiasm and infectious grin; I will miss Paul for just being himself.

Until we meet again around the campfire.
— Chuck Bushey, IAWF Treasurer
and FireNet Moderator and
President, Montana Prescribed Fire Services Inc.

After retirement from a lifetime of commitment to wildland fire in federal agencies, Gleason continued his contributions as faculty at Colorado State University, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. The Paul Gleason Wildland Fire Scholarship Fund has been established at Colorado State University to support an undergraduate student pursuing studies in wildland fire science.

You may contribute to the fund by sending a tax-deductible donation made out to the Paul Gleason Wildland Fire Scholarship Fund to:
CSU Foundation
P.O. Box 1870
Fort Collins, Colo. 80522

Lifetime Achievement Award for spending a federal service career dedicated to wildland fire management, 2001.

Wildland Fire Safety Award presented by International Association of Wildland Fire at the Second International Wildland Fire Safety Summit, 1998.

Regional Forester Award for On-the-Ground Excellence for completing regional fuels strategy, overseeing land management planning issues, developing innovative fire management direction for the region, and assisting other forests around the country with fire planning, 1998.

Certificate of Merit presented for extraordinary effort in integrating fire into the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland Draft Forest Plan and EIS, 1996.

Sustained Superior Performance for managing fire and fuels programs on the Redleather and Estes Poudre Ranger Districts, November 1993.

Superior Service — Heroic Action for lifesaving actions during the 1990 Dude Fire, 1991.

Certificate of Appreciation for outstanding leadership and support to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group in course development and revision, 1989.

Certificate of Appreciation for superior efforts with Women in Fire Management: A Strategic Vision workshop, 1988.

Sustained Superior Performance for or direction of Zig Zag IHC through a very trying and hazardous 1987 fire season, 1988.