Wise use of fire modules sets model example

The National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employ fire use modules. The primary task of these seven- to 10-person modules is to support fire use and prescribed burn activities nationwide. Let's focus on insights from two of the nine NPS crews, Buffalo National River and Great Smokey Mountains modules.

The Buffalo National River FUM participated in a variety of wildland fire use, prescribed fires, and suppression fires in 2002. Last June the module was integrated into a Type II interagency hand crew at the Rodeo/Chediski Complex in northeastern Arizona. The most notable success the hand crew experienced at the incident was the acceptance of firefighter safety commitment as paramount. All crews were ordered to stand down and were not given line assignments from overhead during extreme fire behavior.

Although crews were eager and available to work, assignments were restricted to stand down status in camp during periods of extreme, unknown or difficult-to-predict fire behavior. Suppression actions during these periods of extreme fire behavior were confined to air operations, plow and dozer operations, and urban-interface protection. Regardless of the size of any incident, if fire behavior is anticipated to pose no threat to life or property, (including cultural, historical, ecological and marketable resources) action by any line firefighting resource should be limited for both safety and economic reasons.

The Buffalo River FUM has been exposed to a variety of “safety cultures” while supporting incidents around the country. One common observation is that many areas are used to performing operations in a specialized local manner. Because local staff are already familiar with their own unit procedures, local briefings were inadequate for outside resources. The FUM leader overcame this challenge by first asking for additional clarification to resolve questions and then expressing any remaining safety concerns to line overhead.

Effective crew teamwork has been enhanced by FUM crew member exposure to a diversity of wildland fire experiences. Multi-region and interagency operations in many fuel types during prescribed fire, fire use and suppression all have contributed to effective team building. The Buffalo River FUM also works together from January through October. They learn how to interact with and acknowledge that each crew member has a different background and skill set. When the module integrates into a 20-person hand crew on a wildland fire assignment, they know how to blend in with the existing crew. It's important for all crew members and crews to swallow their pride and adopt a professional attitude. Friendly competition among crews is fine, but a crew should never have the attitude that it's better than another crew.

The Buffalo River FUM believes that the curriculum should incorporate more realistic situational awareness training to include “what if” situation drills and team problem-solving exercises. Many subject topics are currently too broad, vague and general in scope. They are conducted over too condensed a time period to satisfy a requirement. Requirements in classes and in task books should be met with a more “real-time situation” development emphasis. This kind of extended real-time training would instill the important real-world stress factor skills into the training, rather than the currently created artificial environment used mainly to meet position qualifications as quickly as possible.

On prescribed fires, more emphasis and discussion needs to be put on safety zones and escape routes when using complex ignition plans. These factors must be discussed at each briefing to ensure that all safety zones and escape routes will be maintained on the ground during the burn operations.

Buffalo River FUM has noted the need for common interagency guidelines for all fire use module practice. Now in the preliminary stages of development, these guidelines, once in place, will assist the field in understanding the purpose of the FUMs and the role they should have in the wildland fire environment.

Use of temporary staffing details for developmental purposes by the Great Smoky Mountains FUM has been another most notable success that others can institute. Because all fire qualifications for prescribed fire are based on wildland fire experience, these assignments are beneficial and can be crucial to both the detailed individual and FUM crew development. FUM crew members have completed task books during details on wildland fire assignments. The FUM also has detailed individuals into their program. This has permitted the participants to gain experience in different fuel types as well as the opportunity to work on their qualifications. In return, these participating individuals have brought their own experiences, insights and ideas, which has led to improvements in the FUM program.

Less experienced firefighters on the Great Smoky Mountains FUM have gained invaluable insight and experience by being partnered whenever possible with more senior crew members during prescribed burns and wildfire assignments. These less-experienced crew members also are targeted to receive training in areas where they need to improve their knowledge and practical skill level.

The Great Smoky Mountains FUM offered the following suggestions to improve the training curriculum:

1. Include the Eastern fuel models and information in all S-courses with an emphasis in S130/190 Basic Firefighter. The Eastern fuels are overlooked in most training courses. This omission lends false credence to the idea that these fuels are not to be considered a concern or threat to firefighter safety.

2. Require the S200 (Initial Attack Incident Command) Course for an Incident Commander Type 4 (ICT4). Within NPS regulations (310-1) the S200 course for an ICT4 is only recommended, not required training. This course should be made mandatory as it would facilitate ICT4 understanding of the requirements and responsibilities associated with this position. It's at the ICT4 level, more than any other ICS position, where poor decisions can reach line personnel with limited experience, and be implemented without additional supervisory oversight.

3. Create a specific standard for chainsaw qualifications, including a task book. Developing chainsaw operator standards for the fire community would create a standard for determining if an individual is properly qualified. It also would lead to an operator performance standard for those agencies currently without a chainsaw-specific training or qualification standard.

4. Develop a wildland fire — oriented vehicle operator defensive driving course. Development of a tailored defensive driving course would promote safety while educating firefighter vehicle operators on the hazards associated with operating various vehicle types under both routine and emergency conditions.

A portion of this training should deal with the extensive amount of time crews spend driving on unfamiliar roads and terrain, an often unrecognized safety issue within the wildland fire community. The Great Smoky Mountains FUM spends most of its time in travel status. To reach an assignment the crew travels by highway transportation to and from 14-day fire assignments within the NPS South-east Region. Even though the FUM is generally limited to travel within the Southeast, sometimes a two-day drive is required to adhere to work/rest requirements.

There are also many large, heavily populated cities along with most of the popular vacation spots in the region and their associated congested roads. Both a defensive driving course and a national driving standard should be formulated to address this operator issue.

The Learning Curve is a collection of recent lessons learned and best practices from the field, collected and summarized from after-incident reports by the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center, an interagency program supported by the Federal Fire and Aviation Leadership Council. The center works in cooperation with the Federal Fire and Aviation Safety Team, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group's Safety and Health Working Team and Training Working Team, and the National Association of State Foresters. Visit the center or subscribe to their newsletter Scratchline at www.wildfirelessons.net.