Wildfire Today

Rehbergs on suit against fire department: “It’s not about the money”

Bill GabbertOctober 22, 2011August 25, 2019UncategorizedRehberg4 Comments

There has been a new development in the lawsuit that U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg is bringing against the Billings Montana Fire Department. Rehberg and his wife have been attempting to obtain money from the fire department to compensate them for a 2008 fire that burned some undeveloped land that they own. In the lawsuit that was filed July 2, 2010, he accused the fire department of not having firefighters on the fire long enough, which allowed the fire to flare up again and burn additional acres.

The Billings Gazette is reporting that Rehberg and his wife have offered to settle the lawsuit “without monetary compensation” if the city will adopt “specific wildland firefighting standards” that may prevent future property loss or damage, according to a letter provided to The Billings Gazette by Jan Rehberg. Ms. Rehberg was quoted as saying:

It’s not about the money. It’s about recognizing wildland fires can cause significant damage, and that’s why we’re interested in making sure it doesn’t happen again.

In a written response to the seven-page letter that Rehberg’s attorney sent to Michele Braukmann, the city’s attorney, in which the settlement offer with the demands was made, Braukmann wrote in part:

..Suffice it to say, I will not waste my client and the taxpayer’s resources by responding to the letter’s many inaccurate, self-serving, and unsubstantiated assertions. I likewise will not respond in kind to the public comments you made in last week’s Billings Gazette article, in essence calling me a “liar”. I do not now, nor will I ever in my practice, litigate by name-calling or making disparaging comments about or to opposing parties and attorneys.

The trial for the lawsuit is scheduled for December 3, 2012, one month after the election in which Denny Rehberg is a candidate for the Senatorial seat occupied by Jon Tester. Representative Rehberg is giving up his seat to challenge Tester. A pending trial against the fire department might adversely affect Rehberg’s chances in the election.

Fire-management-policy-by-lawsuit is never a pleasant thought.

Other articles on Wildfire Today about Rehberg’s lawsuit.

45-degree images in Google Maps

Bill GabbertOctober 21, 2011Uncategorized

Google Maps has recently introduced 45° images for some areas. As far as I know they have only been provided for some large cities, but it would be interesting if they expanded the program to include, OK, I’ll say it, everywhere… the entire land mass of the Earth. That’s not asking for too much, is it?

The 45° images provide an oblique view, rather than a straight overhead perspective, and enable more of a 3-dimensional effect. They are especially effective in cities that have tall structures, such as Graz, Austria.

Many of you will recognize the facility in the image below, well known to many wildland firefighters. Click on it to see a larger version. HERE is a link to the location on Google Maps.

Report released for fatality on CR 337 fire in Texas

Bill GabbertOctober 21, 2011June 22, 2017Uncategorizedfatality, lodd23 Comments

The Serious Accident Investigation Factual Report has been released for the July 7, 2011 fatality on the CR 337 fire in Texas. Caleb Hamm, a crewmember on the Bonneville Interagency Hotshot Crew, collapsed and died from hyperthemia, which is uncontrolled heating of the body’s core temperature. Hamm went into full cardiac arrest 31 minutes after he collapsed and arrived at the hospital 37 minutes after the full arrest.

Here are the findings from the report:

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FINDINGS

Findings are the conclusion of the investigation team based on the facts, weight of evidence, professional knowledge, and judgment. Findings are grouped by category: human, material, and environmental.

Finding 01: Environmental Factor

While working on the fire incident, Hamm lost consciousness and subsequently died. Signs and symptoms indicative of severe heat illness were not observed by co-workers or verbally communicated by Hamm. Autopsy report states the cause of death as hyperthermia.

Findings below did not directly impact the cause or outcome of this accident; however, they are significant enough to potentially result in improvements in the specified program areas.

Finding 02: Human Factor

Hamm was not severely dehydrated and his electrolytes were within the normal range.

Finding 03: Human Factor

The designated Division A “point of contact” (POC) did not have direct communication with accident scene personnel.

Finding 04: Human Factor

Cell phones were used to coordinate medical response per Incident Action Plan, resulting in others not being able to monitor critical communications.

Finding 05: Human Factor

The Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates for key locations were not identified in the Incident Medical Plan (ICS-206) on the Incident Action Plan (IAP) for the CR 337 fire.

Finding 06: Human Factor

The IAPs for the CR 337 fire for July 6 through July 8, 2011, and IAP Safety Analysis (ICS-215A) did not contain specific reference to extreme temperatures or hydration nor was it included in the IAP Safety Message.

Finding 07: Material Factor

Bonneville IHC was well prepared for a medical emergency with EMTs, backboard, trauma kit, and oxygen.

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UPDATE May 19, 2012

The Centers for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) has released their report on the fatality.
Thanks go out to Dick

Taxpayer funded research should be available to taxpayers

Bill GabbertOctober 21, 2011January 18, 2012Uncategorizedopen access, research

Much of the research that is conducted on wildland fire and other topics is funded by taxpayers, but the results of the research are not always available to the public. It is common for government agencies to publish their findings in scientific journals under a copyright. In order to read the paper you have to pay substantial fees to either subscribe to the publication or buy access to a single article.

Government funded research should be published immediately on the internet and made available at no charge to everyone. In the present system, government agencies sometimes pay thousands of dollars in page charges for a paper to be published in a journal, then the journal collects substantial access fees from taxpayers who want access to the information. This makes no sense, when the government agency could publish the information on the web at no cost while making it available to everyone at no cost.

We have written about this previously, HERE and HERE.

There are at least two initiatives working to make taxpayer funded research available to the public. One is the Alliance for Taxpayer Access. The other is a new online pledge, called Research Without Walls, where those who assist in the peer review process for conferences or journals pledge to only do so only if the accepted publications are made available to the public for free via the internet. The web domain “Research Without Walls” was first registered on October 10, 2011 and as of today, October 21, has 89 signatories. It will be interesting to see how much interest it generates.

Firefighter line of duty death in Spain

Bill GabbertOctober 20, 2011October 20, 2011Uncategorizedfatality, lodd

Spain Review.net is reporting that a firefighter was entrapped on a wildland fire and killed on October 19:

A firefighter lost his life today while working to put out one of the many forest fires still raging in the north of Spain. The dead man was a member of the Castilla y León fire brigade and died after being surrounded by flames in a blaze in Molinaferrera (León).

Sixteen fires are still active in the province of Ourense, two of them razing huge areas – up to 1,800 hectares in Manzaneda and 1,000 in Lobios – as temperatures drop slightly, but still remain high for this time of year.

Our sincere condolences go out to the firefighter’s family and co-workers.

A Top 10 List: Reasons why you can’t do that

Bill GabbertOctober 20, 2011June 18, 2022UncategorizedRick Gale6 Comments

In 1994 when I was working for the National Park Service I wrote an article for Ranger: The Journal of the Association of National Park Rangers, entitled The Top 10 List: Reasons Why You Can’t Do That. It was noticed by Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt who *quoted several parts of it in an article he later wrote for Viewpoint, a newsletter that was distributed to all employees in the Department of Interior.

Here is the original article that I wrote for Ranger magazine:

The Top 10 List: Reasons Why You Can’t Do That

Bill Gabbert

Have you ever approached co-workers about an idea and they responded with one of these reasons?

Of course you have. What did you do? Attempt to persuade them, argue, go to their supervisor, look for another more helpful person, or did you give up on your idea?

I am convinced that a huge amount of productivity is lost, expecially in the federal government, to people unwilling to take initiative. Unfortunately, in some work situations there are forces that discourage or even punish workers who occasionally would like to try something different.

Let’s take the Top Ten Reasons one at a time:

We have never done it that way. People usually will not express it this way. I have known people who automatically said no to almost every suggestion, no matter how trivial. Saying yes meant they had to make a decision. If their policy was to say no to everything, that meant they didn’t have to make decisions. They took the lazy and safe way out.
NPS-99, (the Manual) says we can’t. If you look hard enough, you can find 13.4 reasons in National Park Service Manuals to not do everything. Those who are scared to make decisions can sometimes find solace in rules that someone else wrote. Now don’t get me wrong! I am not advocating the overthrow of the government by violating the Rules! Besides, we all know that if we violate the Rules it goes into our Permanent Record; the one they started on us in preschool. We need to — no, we have to — follow the regulations, but we should not go to them in search of reasons not to get something done.
I might get in trouble, and,
My supervisor won’t let me make a decision like that. Maybe this person has a supervisor who is not secure enough to delegate authority. If you allow your people to use their abilities, you may be astounded by what they can do. A person shouldn’t be crucified for making an occasional honest mistake. At times it may be appropriate to follow the old axiom: “It is is easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission.”
I don’t have time. Usually this is an excuse. However, if you are one of those people (like me) who want instant gratification, you may have to settle for a later completion date. But if someone constantly “doesn’t have time”, something needs to be fixed — the workload, the position description, the person’s work habits, their skills, or their attitude. If it is all of the above, they are in deep E. Coli.
We tried it 87 years ago and it didn’t work. Will this be a slightly different approach? Have conditions changed that will result in it working now? When it was tried earlier, was it done correctly? Who evaluated the results? Maybe it actually did work but someone was too resistant to change to accept the new idea.
We don’t have the money. Recently someone with a “can’t-do” attitude tried to torpedo an idea by producing a cost estimate 10 times more than the actual cost. Remember, sometimes you have to spend money to save money. Investing in a new idea may increase productivity.
The public won’t like it. The public’s perception of what we do shouldn’t be downplayed, but neither should it be used as an excuse. We should do the right thing even if it is a tough choice. Will the public oppose it because they don’t understand the issue? Is a press release or public meeting appropriate? Davy Crockett said, “Be sure you are right, then go ahead”. Taking the easy way out is not always the best stewardship of our public lands. Just be prepared with your ducks lined up.
I don’t know how. So find out! Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you don’t, you won’t learn nearly as much as the person who does. Search for the person who knows. Make telephone calls, network. Keep records of people who can be used as resources. Use the trial-and-error method if it is appropriate. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The person who sits at a desk all day and pretends to be busy won’t make mistakes, but he won’t get much done either.
You will need to fill out a form first. Just think what would happen if everybody in the agency identified only one form that could be eliminated.

When Rick Gale’s All-Hazard Incident Management Team was given the delegation of authority to take over the recovery after Hurricane Andrew hit the three south Florida parks, Gale told the superintendents of the parks something like this:

The people on this team have a can-do attitude. That’s one of the reasons they were chosen. If you present them with a problem, they will find a way to solve it. If they don’t, let me know.

That philosophy is the only one that works in a situation like a hurricane. But do we have to wait for an emergency to adopt a “can-do” attitude? We can do it every day, every hour.

Who would you rather work with — someone who says “We can’t do that,” or the person who says, “That is an unusual challenge. Let’s figure out how to get it done!”

Many obstacles are holograms — you can walk right through them. Ask yourself these questions:

Am I proactive or reactive?
Am I a stepping stone or a stumbling block?
Am I part of the solution or a part of the problem?

*Secretary Babbitt failed to provide attribution for the quotes, simply saying “Earlier this year a professional journal detailed a top ten list of “Why You Can’t Do That”, before he inserted the quotes into his article.

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