The Angeles National Forest in Southern California recently conducted a four-week Firefighter Academy. The 100 trainees were hired under a fairly recently granted authority of direct hiring for GS-5 Senior Firefighters. This hiring process was approved in order to help mitigate recent challenges in recruiting firefighters. Most of the Academy participants previously had multiple years of experience in wildland fire working for the US Forest Service or other agencies in California or across the country.
Another method for placing personnel into Senior Firefighter positions that has been used for years is the Wildland Firefighter Apprenticeship Program, a 3,000 hour on-the-job learning program, which includes a two month-long residential firefighting academy at the Wildland Fire Training Center in McClellan, California.
The direct hire process and the Academy help make it more feasible to achieve the agency’s goal of increasing the number of firefighters in permanent positions to 80 percent, with only 20 percent in seasonal positions. Many of the seasonals who were limited to working only 1,039 hours a year, not counting overtime, will now be in “permanent seasonal” 18 and 8 jobs, with guaranteed employment and full benefits for 18 of the 24 pay periods each year.
A person with knowledge of the program who was not authorized to speak on behalf of the Forest Service told Wildfire Today that the goals of the Academy were to level the playing field, to cover the curriculum the trainees would have had if they had gone through the Apprenticeship program, and to ensure that they all had at least an intermediate level of training along with exposure to multiple aspects of the fire management program.
There were many logistical issues that had to be accomplished before the four-weeks of training began. Those were handled by a Battalion Chief with Engine Captains and Hotshot Captains from throughout the Angeles National Forest. One of the most time-consuming projects was to provide uniforms for each of the 100 trainees upon their arrival. That required collecting clothing size data from everyone, then ordering, receiving, and finally sorting and issuing the garments at the beginning of the training.
The courses completed in the Academy included:
- L280 – Followership to Leadership
- S131 – Firefighter Type 1
- S219 – Firing Operations
- S260 – Interagency Incident Business Management
- S270 – Basic Air Operations
- S290 – Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior
- Applied Skills Wildland Firemanship
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- Incident Size-ups
- Sand Table and Simtable Fire simulations
- Helicopter Target Descriptions
- Avenza Setup and Use
- A219 Prerequisites
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- A100 – Basic Aviation
- A110 – Aviation Transportation of Hazardous Materials
- A117 – Fixed Wing Hand Signals
- A200 – Mishap Review
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- Physical Training Test (1.5mi run, Pushups, Situps, & Pullups)
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- CRM – Crew Resource Management (7 Skills)
- Work Capacity Test Arduous Level
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Sounds like “Buc Nasty” is a little BUTT HURT.
“If the dead horse won’t get up again, try putting a uniform on it and giving it training, that will make the dead horse perform.”
-U.S. Forest Service
I give them credit. There’s a number of challenges in the system, some on the plate of leaders in highest levels of government to solve, some at the agencies national leadership level and some at the regional leadership level. And all the while there are fundamental responsibilities we all have to train, equip, prepare and lead the young men and women that do this work, to the best of our ability.
When leaders at the real time risk level are engaged and focused on this responsibility, even when it requires the discipline and professionalism to not let what they can’t do stop them from doing what they can do, it should be applauded.
At this point in the game, Congress and agency leaders may or may not do their part of what needs to be done, but those responsible for bringing these young firefighters home at the end of the day can’t sit around and bi$&h about someone above them not doing their part at the expense of preparing these firefighters to the best of their ability.
The lack of pay and other issues beyond local control should not stop these fire leaders from adhering to their own values and ethos that clearly includes professionalism.
Does a uniform matter? – if professionalism matters as a core value, then yes. Because retention is a problem, do these local leaders stop hiring and training to build safe and effective modules? Because national leadership fails to do its job, are local leaders relieved of their responsibilities to do theirs?
That’s a lot to unpack. Regardless of the challenges, both in and out of your sphere of influence, when you get to the point when you stop striving to meet your own values, you should move on, regardless of what level of the organization you sit. You and those you lead will be better for it.
So 100 trainees * 320 hours is 32,000 hours plus all the trainers time with recruits and planning so say 50,000 hours of time for this academy.
Best of luck hanging on to them, but that’s a huge investment to give away to Cal Fire.
Investment loss is a huge expense for the USFS and DOI, and they hardly acknowledge it.
And an EMT is 200-hours of training, so pretty skilled after 320 hours I’d say.
If two of the courses they are taking during this “academy” are S-131 and S-290, how were they hired as GS-5 senior firefighters? You have to have S-290 done and be a qualified FFT1 (ie taken S-131) to meet IFPM/FPM standards. Were they actually hired as GS-5’s and the Angeles somehow got permission to ignore standards, or are they actually the GS 3/4’s that Region 5 hired as PSEs in bulk this spring, and the forest is playing fast and loose with the truth to put a better spin on their pay? The course load looks like a lot of stuff I would expect a senior firefighter to already have taken, and last I heard from friends in R5, the only 18/8 PSE’s were at the GS-3/4 level or apprentices, everyone else was a PFT.
The ANF academy was a mix of GS5’s, Apprentices and PSE employees. That is why there is S131 and S290. Not everyone at the academy took all the classes. They only took the classes they needed. Unfortunately this article was poorly written or to say the least the author was poorly informed. Since when has the Apprentice academy taught residential firefighting? The Apprentice academy has become a joke over the past 10 years to the point that this academy is needed to ensure our new permanent employees have a solid foundation(which was the original intent of the Apprenticeship). At least the Angeles is stepping up and trying to ensure their workforce has the proper training and new employee orientations. I can’t say that I have heard any other units in the region doing anything to catch up or provide for their new employees.
Engine Slug-
The US Forest Service describes the Apprentice academy like this:
By “residential”, I believe they mean the trainees are provided a residence, a place to stay, while they are at the training.
Gotcha! That makes sense
How brutal will this be? Four weeks of NWCG power points, ouch.
100 people hired as GS-5 permanent seasonals?! Insane that there was that many openings.
Also, this kills WFAP.
Additionally, very typical of the Forest Circus to be concerned about uniforms. Gotta look good in your rumpled uniform when the local news rolls by.
Does the USFS do pass and reviews like the US Army to invoke “morale and looking good?”
If these LMAs spent as much time MANAGING the forest rather than “lookin good” and spending money foolishly on uniforms like DoD
This is great, The ABC forest in so cal have always done fairly well with recruitment and training, retention is the real issue, if you want to protect your investment then pay them, it’s time. What happen to the big pay raise that was passed, what’s the hold up. Why is there no talk about that, did it go away, maybe someone should do a little investigative reporting…..hint hint…?
Cal Fire is looking for a few more good folks….well they are looking for a lot of folks……good pay and benefits.
https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/trjnqhz4/cfcngcrews_faq.pdf
Uniforms is what the Angeles is worried about for an in house basic training?
Pretty simple, new hire submits an uniform allowance request, supervisor approves, employee orders what the need. Easy.
How many vacant positions are on the forest let alone Region 5?
GS-5? Surely you jest.
And Cal Fire will be licking their chops to pay them the second the FS gives them all that training!!!
The same thing Cal Fire has been doing with the FS apprenticeship in McClellan for years. GS5…in SoCal. Hahahah!!! Please.
A good start.
18 and 8 positions are appropriate with full benefits. Hopefully, the firefighters of today are organized
enough to consider pulling together contract crews during their “off period” to tackle the fuel treatment projects that are coming to the NFs per monies so allocated by Congress.
OR, they can work for Cal Fire, have real full
time jobs, make 2x the money and never have to stack sticks or do fuels work. Hmmmm…