Prescribed Fire's Useful Lessons

Seven fire management officers shared some of their cumulative experiences and lessons learned from their several decades of combined experience managing prescribed burns.

These fire management officers have served as burn bosses and fire-use managers. They all agreed that they had learned some of their most valuable lessons from colleagues and mentors early in their fire careers. In addition, all said they had “lost” at least one prescribed burn during the past 20 years. Their discussion included whether they had learned more from escaped burns or from their successes. Most agreed that, while they learn from every burn, they remember lessons learned from escaped fires more vividly. They shared the following lessons learned. To view the full report go to www.wildfirelessons.net/ICTs.htm.

Public education and information plays a vital role in prescribed burning and wildland fire use. This role continues to grow and become more critical as more of the general public is exposed to these management tools. Fire managers must therefore address public education and information, in part, because as prescribed burns and fire use events continue to increase in complexity, the public understanding must also evolve. The stakes are high because the public has not yet accepted prescribed burns or fire use events of extended duration. Consequently, fire managers must incorporate public education and information measures during prescribed fire and wildland fire use planning, and execute a positive public relations plan during implementation.

Some agencies have hired dedicated staff specialists to handle the public tasks associated with prescribed burn or fire use events. Units operating in an interagency environment have found a fire education specialist or information officer position to be invaluable. However, many fire organizations increasingly find that their public efforts fall, not to an information officer, burn boss or fire manager, but to the unit FMO. The FMOs believe there is a need to analyze the complexity of the information function for a given project and staff accordingly for successful implementation.

When multiple burns are being planned, executed, or monitored, an FMO with experience as a Type 1 Burn Boss can be invaluable. The FMO must coordinate smoke management, plan for contingencies, and provide various notifications to individuals and agencies. All these tasks consume a significant amount of time. One FMO serving as a Type 1 Burn Boss learned this lesson, at the cost of a significant escaped burn. During burning operations spanning multiple operational periods, the FMO must make certain that someone is assigned to tracking these components on their behalf and advise them of situational changes in a timely manner.

As agencies increasingly employ wildland fire use as a tool, FMOs find that they also face the challenge of managing multiple, simultaneous fire-use events. Cited as an example during 2003, a National Park and two adjacent National Forests had six fire-use events burning at the same time. The three FMOs involved constantly found themselves on a steep learning curve coordinating their operations. However, it was felt that the complexity of the situation provided an excellent experience, which they can now share with others and draw from for themselves in the future.

For example, during these events one FMO brought in a Fire Use Management Team that prepared and implemented the third stage of Wildland Fire Implementation Plans for two of the fires on the forest. The FMOs agreed that ordering an FUMT to manage a wildland fire use event, particularly during Preparedness Levels 4 and 5, offers the fire manager and agency administrator many benefits due to the level of expertise. However, just as when a unit hosts a Type 1 or Type 2 Incident Management Team, the unit FMO will still find him- or herself coordinating the many responsibilities necessary to ensure the success of an FUMT and unit partnership. Keeping the agency administrator informed represents just one of many vital tasks for the FMO. Even if a unit does not order an FUMT to manage its wildland fire-use event, the unit must document the event history and should note the lessons learned, with the goal of sharing that new knowledge through the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center.

These experienced FMOs have found that the support of their neighboring agencies is essential to success. In addition, they believe that the agency administrator tends to have an increased level of confidence knowing that nearby cooperators are involved and prepared to assist. Additionally, good documentation provided by the FMO that illustrates the unit's fire history can reinforce the agency administrator's confidence by enabling them to see how management goals and objectives are accomplished through wildland fire use.

One of the FMOs is both a burn boss and a fire behavior analyst. He suggested that the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center could provide a valuable service disseminating lessons learned on how fuels react under various prescribed burning conditions. This burn boss believes that there should be no real surprises in how fuels react. However, fire personnel find it difficult to maintain strong knowledge of potential fire behavior in the numerous fuel types in which they might work. Consequently, the more burn bosses are able to share their experiences, the better prepared both burn bosses and fire personnel will be about fire behavior.

The FMOs discussed whether agencies should classify all multi-day prescribed burns as “complex.” Too often, burn bosses will ignite within prescription, only to find themselves trying to hold a unit that two or three days later goes out of prescription, with a lot of fire on the ground.

Conditions associated with the current extended western drought and resulting extreme fire behavior conditions have complicated planning for both prescribed fire and wildland fire use. One unit has chosen to assign a Type 1 burn boss to mentor a Type 2 burn boss, even when prescribed burn projects are not classified as complex.

The FMOs agreed on the critical need to monitor their staff and maintain situational awareness during prescribed burns and fire-use events. They continually observe how people are interacting and pay particular attention for any signs of “target fixation.” They also remind themselves to step back and keep their own perspective on the big picture. This is the main reason why burn bosses can't have the drip torch in their hand.

While attention to human factors has permeated the fire suppression community, people's perceptions and attitudes are still evolving in prescribed fire. Consequently, fire management personnel must ask themselves whether they're maintaining the same quality of situational awareness in prescribed fire as they do during a fire suppression event. Do people cut corners and de-emphasize situational awareness because prescribed fires are planned events or because the agencies do not consider prescribed fires as hazardous duty? To elevate situational awareness on prescribed burns, several FMOs agreed that burn bosses must prepare, brief and distribute a daily incident action plan. The plan must include objectives, an organization chart, and a communication plan.

• Management of public information represents an important function when planning and implementing prescribed fire projects and wildland fire-use events. Analyzing the complexity of the information function for a given project and staffing the function accordingly is critical to success.
• Ordering an FUMT to manage multiple wildland fire-use events, particularly during Preparedness Levels 4 and 5, offers the program manager and agency administrator many benefits.
• The FMO can reinforce the agency administrator's level of confidence via the use of good documentation illustrating the unit's fire history. This approach enables the agency administrator to see how management goals and objectives can be achieved through the wildland fire-use process.
• Success requires that someone must be dedicated to coordinating and monitoring the numerous tasks that must be given attention when multiple burns are being planned and executed. An FMO experienced as a Type 1 burn boss proves invaluable.
• The involvement and support of neighboring agencies is essential to successful management of prescribed burns and fire-use events.
• Conduct daily end-of-shift after-action reviews during multi-day prescribed burns or fire use events. During these extended operations, the AAR process provides an effective tool to enable discussion and agreement on what the organization needs to sustain and what it needs to improve in the next operational period. AARs also help ensure that significant operational details do not slip through the cracks.

The Learning Curve is a collection of after-incident reports and Scratchline quarterly newsletter articles by the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center, an interagency program supported by the Federal Fire and Aviation Leadership Council. Visit the center or subscribe to Scratchline at www.wildfirelessons.net.