As Ryan Maye Hardy reported on July 7, the wildland fire season is off to a slow start across the United States. This is due in part to a wet spring in some areas, but Peter Dybing contributed the following article that looks at some of the other factors that affect the number of acres burned.
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Wildfire Success, 2014, A Season NOT For The Record Books
Successful governmental organizations are able to manifest the ability to lay a firm foundation utilizing the sticks and stones that have been thrown at them by the public and internal after action reviews.
To date, the 2014 fire season stands as an example of the Fire communities’ ability to re-master approaches to wild land fires to save lives, money, organizational resources and limit the profound effects that fire has on local communities.
These results have come as a direct result of cultural and policy shifts that include:
First, a new focus on a robust response to fires while they are small, second the wide spread establishment of Type 3 Incident Management Teams and finally the development of strong ties with local Fire Departments.
National discussion about the tremendous cost of large fires has led to new approaches in initial attack. In the past, small fires received small responses, not so this year. By simply following the “Wild Cad”(Dispatch activity tracking) system it is obvious that dispatchers across the country have embraced an ethic of “overwhelming force” in response to small fires. While this new approach may lead to small fires costing nearly $10,000, there is immeasurable savings in risk to human life, long term fiscal cost and community resources should these fires have beeen allowed to grow.
There is an excellent article on the subject titled “The cost of saving money on wildfire suppression” at the Wildfire Today site.
Dispatchers across the country deserve the gratitude of firefighters for embracing organizational change that saves lives, homes and natural resources.
The second factor that has a causal relationship with fires remaining smaller is effective Type 3 Incident Management Teams. Land managers have recognized the need to move away from the approach of “thrown together” Type 3 teams and towards support for standing Type 3 organizations. These teams have working relationships, links with area stakeholders, regular training and established protocols for incident response.
In short, local Type 3 teams have the advantages of nationally available IMT’s with less cost to the local unit and the ability to access these advantages rapidly. These changes have come as a result of a number of factors. First, the national focus on funding for Type 3 IMT’s, second, the willingness of local managers to embrace spending substantial resources on developing additional response capabilities and finally the willingness of experienced fire resources to engage as members of these smaller local teams.
There is an excellent review of Type 3 teams and their ability to be successful at the Lessons Learned Center titled “Initial Impressions Report — Type 3 Incident Management Organizations”.
Finally, related to the emergence of established local teams, is the increased emphasis on relationships with local fire organizations. Local fire departments have, with the assistance national land management organizations, developed a talented, well-trained and effective force of Wild Land Firefighters. Gone are the days when structural fire departments were insular and not interested or able to respond to wild fires.
Much of the credit for keeping small fires small can be directly traced to the working relationships forged over the last decade between federal, state and local agencies. Wild land firefighters have developed a profound respect for our brothers and sisters in local fire departments and they deserve a large measure of respect for their efforts and professionalism.
As of the beginning of July 2014, fewer acres have burned than any other fire season since 2004. We should take the opportunity to review the reasons for this success and be willing to take pause and congratulate the Dispatchers, Fire Managers and Local Fire Departments that have, through their willingness to embrace new information, made a meaningful difference in our ability to circumvent the destruction that large fires cause.
Large-scale change is difficult. As Firefighters we should be proud to be part of agencies that are willing to confront organizational resistance and evolve effective approaches in service to our citizens.
This year, instead of celebrating our collective ability to respond to large fires, lets celebrate the reduction in the need for us to do so!
Now that’s a real success!
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Peter Dybing, lives in Durango Colorado and became a Firefighter in 1985. He is currently the Logistics Section Chief on an Interagency Incident Management Team in the Southern Area.
It can seem perverse to wish for fires, but when fighting fires is your job it’s natural to want to do it. Just like as an EMT I want to go out on calls, rather than sit around watching TV at the station. That doesn’t mean I want to people to get crippled or die, even if that sometimes is the end result. As for the money angle, if cash was what I was after I wouldn’t be working for the Forest Service! The truly hard part about a slow season, especially for someone trying to move up into the ranks of permanent staff, is there just aren’t any opportunities to work on taskbooks and get needed certifications.
Let’s keep our eyes on the target, folks: protection of natural resources from unwanted fires.
YES!
As firefighters and Land Managers we need to be more responsible with our language on a public blog. The public looks up to us and see us for more then what we really are. To them fewer fires is a good thing, seeing THEIR hero’s out of harm’s way is a blessing. Complaining about how much overtime we didn’t make or “this season sucks!” because Mother Nature had another plan this year confuses the public on why we’re out there. This is especially true after we all just mourned the one year anniversary of that horrible day. I enjoy reading the back and forth banter in these blogs and have never joined in but I felt this needed to be said, we are land managers first and firefighters second we do what’s best for the resource not our selves. I understand the pains of being a seasonal, some of the best days of my life but I always tried to plan on and managed my money for a short slow season the rest was bonus. I’m not telling others how to live but it worked for me. Good luck this summer it’s only July and we got a ways to go.
Thank You Lathe,
Well said
Interesting discussion so far. WUI is a huge issue perhaps best solved by insurance companies refusing to insure homes in the WUI. One note, I am a little concerned by the anti government statements I see above. Wildfire science is lead by our government. Besides science, the Lessons Learned center has saved the lives of many firefighters. My experience over the years is that I have been exposed to outstanding leadership and individuals of unquestionable integrity on the IMT’s.
Please of you want to discuss fire science, national policy etc. that is fine, but questioning the intent or abilities of the stake holders is just not helpful.
Are lifeguards doing a better job saving lives if no-one is swimming? If it was a year of a normal numbers of starts and the acreages burned were reduced, then I could see the back slapping. But it seems a bit disingenuous given the circumstances this year so far.
Tyson, I do agree the most of your comment. Ma Nature is the one in control and yes, most fire are going to burn based on ITS rules, NOT ours. As for WUI, Allowing the Government to control this issue would be nothing more than disastrous. Now, making homeowners responsible and educating them on the hazards associated with a WUI would be much more effective. Yes, Its a slow year so far. I have only had one resource order thus far and they canceled me while in-route. It is frustrating. But, The season is no where close to being over yet!
Number of Fires is only at 70% of the 10-year average. It’s just a slow season. Nothing less, nothing more.
Point is, the fire industry is a joke. Mother nature has been starting and putting her own fires out for millions of years. 99% of these full suppression fires would not have got any bigger if a firefighter never even showed up. And if it did, more often then not it needed to burn. To clean up heavy vegetation areas and start areas back over fresh. Fire is a very good thing and extremely neccessary. Problem now is government has pumpedso many billions of dollars into this that we can never go back. And the media leads to blind public to believe every single tree fire needs suppressed. Yes some fires do need suppression tactics but when a fire really wants to burn, the millions of dollars the gov is pumping into it really goes to nothing. The fire goes out when it runs out of fuel or humidity increases. What government ought to do is stop allowing homeowners to build where they do. Let mother nature cleanse herself as she has always done.
Well said
@Cory, As to your first point, yes. Given fuels, that will burn sooner or later, it needs to be recognized that we are still relatively under-fired. And, woefully inadequate on defensible space and similar issues.
As to your second point, if you really want good money from seasonal employment, tending bar in Aspen during the summer high season or some such might be a better ticket. No guarantees there either, though. The really good money is rumored to be had by fishing guides. 🙂
Cory Ryan,
Thanks for the comment. As to the first part of your statement, yes I believe our national approach to fire has evolved to a sustainable framework.
As to the second part of your comment, I will take a pass. I have been an AD firefighter for more than 20 years. Each year when I sigh up again I know the deal. The Forest Service has invested much in my training and I have no complaints.
If this is true, are we not repeating the mistakes of our past, by going to full suppression and limiting fire on our ecosystem, only increasing the likely hood of mass fuel loading and a time bomb for disaster? And secondly I going to step our from behind the rock and say what ever other federal seasonal 1039 or perm is saying around camp, base, and within in the fire community: this season sucks! Why because our base wages do not afford a livable amount without overtime and hazard pay to supplement our incomes.
Cory – sorry for the so-far slow fire season, but seasonal employment is called that for a reason: it’s not supposed to offer a year-round liveable wage, just meet short term needs of a weather-dependent natural resources agency. Kind of like working on a Wilderness trail crew in Wyoming or Montana. Besides, as Natural Resources folks, we should be hoping that unwanted wildfire doesn’t visit our Lands and cause lots of damage just so that a few folks can get OT and H-pay. I did the “summer firefighter” job for 5 years while going to school, but knew that it would not turn into a year-round job giving my family & I a liveable wage without some other skills to back up my seasonal experience – like a natural resources degree.
always good to read a post full of condescention and sanctimony. And then cap it off by pontificating how squared away you are. Nice. I’m not sure how you get off telling someone else how they should think or feel, maybe it’s because you have a college degree.
Firefighters fight fire and get paid more when they do. It’s not a morality play. By the way, wishing for fires does not increase their frequency of occurrence, acres burned, or property damage, anymore than smarmy comments on blogs increase the enrollment in Natural Resource programs. And you are dead wrong about the “summer firefighter” job not turning into a full time job and a decent living. It did for me and many, many of my firefighting brothers and sisters.
Peter brings up some good points, but I believe that several of them need some further discussion. First, regarding the “new” aproach on Initial attack: from the 1930s until 1977, overwheming force was the norm. We had the “Division of Fire Control” and pounded every new start under the “10 acre/10 AM” policy. The results of these suppression efforts on the fire ecology of the land are wel documented by Steve Pyne and others. The Policy change in 1977 to “Confine-Contain-Control” was an attempt to make a course correction, and had mixed results over the next 3 decades. During that period, we’ve also seen a dramatic increase of homes in the WUI that require a different suppression strategy than is applicable in the generic wildlands.Add the effects of global warming/climate change, and it’s again time for a course correction.
With all due respect to Dispatchers, they are not acting alone in sending resources to an emerging fire incident. Throughout the winter months, fire managers and Agency Line Officers have been preparing and approving Dispatch Action Plans that specify the resources to be dispatched to certain areas, given the resource management objectives and the fire danger ratings. Again, the same activities we’ve been doing for 70+ years.
I fully agree with Peter’s assessment on the value of the Type 3 teams: local, quick responding and effective in the early stages of an escape – great innovation.
But on the issue of local working relationships, it’s been my experience that it is highly successful in some locations, but has a long way to go in others! ICS has been around nationally since the mid-80s but is still not uniformly used at the IA and extedended IA stage of wildfires. And the recent flap in Colorado between the Sheriff and fire folks shows we still have work to do.
Let’s hope that in October 2014 we’re able to look back favorably on the fire season, with out any of the dark clouds like 1994 and 2013 on the books.
Thanks for the feedback Emmett,
As you point out the issues are complex. I agree with you that Fire Officers and Land Managers are leading the effort to adjust dispatch priorities. My point about dispatchers is that they have overcome habits and long standing institutional norms to embrace these changes. In any organization the greatest challenge is not to develop new approaches but to achieve “buy in” from all those involved.
Peter Dybing
Good article and true! But, I believe Mother Nature will have the final say on this season. A lightning show with numerous starts will continue to overwhelm any system in a matter of hours. Another point, by suppressing EVERYTHING (no choice of course for life & property) hasn’t that put us into this critical fuels stand point.
Good question Bob,
In watching dispatches this year I have observed units arrive at fires, determine a “Natural start” asses the values at risk and proceed to manage fires for multiple objectives. Suppressing all fires is not the point I am making. I believe the focus is sending additional resources early to deal with the realities on the ground.
Thanks for the comment
Peter