Leading & Learning - Spring 2009

Leading & Learning Newsletter of the Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program Volume 1, Issue 1

2008 Paul Gleason Lead by Example Award Winners

Wildland Fire Values and Principles

Six individuals from the wildland fire service were chosen to receive the 2008 national Paul Gleason Lead by Example Award. The recipients were selected for demonstrating valued leadership traits during or in support of wildland fire operations.

Duty

♦

Be proficient in your job, both technically and as a leader.

♦

Make sound and timely decision.

♦

Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised and accomplished.

♦

Develop your subordinates for the future.

♦

Know your subordinates and look out for their well-being.

♦

Keep your subordinates informed.

♦ ♦

Build the team.

Respect

Employ your subordinates in accordance with their capabilities.

The annual award was created to honor Paul Gleason, a wildland firefighter whose career spanned several decades before he succumbed to cancer in 2003. Gleason is best known for developing the LCES (Lookout, Communication, Escape Routes, Safety Zones) concept that became the foundation of wildland firefighter safety. Throughout his career, Gleason led and mentored firefighters, studied and taught wildland fire, and worked to improve firefighter safety. The award highlights Gleason’s influence on and contribution to wildland fire management, while honoring those who demonstrate the spirit of leadership for which he was known. The award is sponsored by the Wildland Fire Leadership Development Committee under the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, an interagency, intergovernmental group that works to improve policy, standards, and safety in wildland and prescribed fire management. The Paul Gleason Lead by Example Award is based on three categories: motivation and vision, mentoring and teamwork, or initiative and innovation. Individuals and groups from federal, state, local and tribal agencies are eligible for the award. The 2008 award winners are: ♦

James Barnier, Wisconsin Division of Forestry Initiative and Innovation

♦

Rich Dolphin, USFS Motivation and Vision

♦

JP Harris, LA County Fire Department Mentoring and Teamwork

♦

Gary Hawkins, USFS Mentoring and Teamwork

♦

Cyndie Hogg, BLM Mentoring and Teamwork

♦

Bequi Livingston, USFS Motivation and Vision

Integrity

♦

Know yourself and seek improvement.

♦

Seek responsibility and accept responsibility for your actions.

♦

Set the example

Inside this issue: Leaders We Would 2 Like to Meet— Paul Gleason Leadership Challenge #2

Spring 2009

2

Leadership Toolbox 3 Leadership Challenges #3 & 4

3

Call for Success

4

Leadership is Action 4

Visit http://www.fireleadership.gov/toolbox/documents/gleason_award_past_recipients.html to find out more about these and past award winners.

Leadership Challenge #1: Nominate someone you believe is worthy of the Paul Gleason Lead by Example Award by December 31, 2009. Provide thorough responses regarding the nominee’s accomplishments. http://www.fireleadership.gov/toolbox/documents/gleason_award_info.html

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Leading & Learning

Leaders We Would Like to Meet—Paul Gleason Paul Gleason's career as a firefighter spanned parts of five decades, starting as an 18 year-old crew member on a Southern California hotshot crew and culminating as a college professor of wildland fire science.

Paul Gleason at the East drainage of Storm King Mountain

If you choose to lead others you will have a legacy. But that legacy will be determined by those that follow you. ~ Paul Gleason ~

Paul grew up in Southern California, the son of a traveling evangelist preacher. He became an accomplished rock climber in his teens and continued to climb through his entire life. In 1964 he got his first job as a firefighter on the Angeles National Forest. He continued to work there on the Dalton Hotshot Crew through 1970, with the exception of a one-year stint in the U.S. Army. From 1971 to 1973 he went to college and earned a degree in Mathematics. During this time he also traveled and climbed extensively. He returned to work as a firefighter in 1974 as the Assistant Foreman for a 20-person Regional Reinforcement Crew on the Okanogan National Forest. Then in 1977 he took the job as the Assistant Superintendent of the Zig Zag Hotshot Crew on the Mount Hood National Forest, moving up to Superintendent in 1979. He remained in that role until 1992. He then transferred to the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest as a District Fire Management Officer and eventually became the Forest Fire Ecologist. His next move was to another fire agency in 1999 as the Deputy Fire Management Officer for the Rocky Mountain Region of the National Park Service. Mandatory retirement at age 55 took Paul away from the federal fire service in 2001 and into academia. For the next two years Paul was adjunct professor for the Wildland Fire Science program at Colorado State University. He remained in this role until he lost his battle with cancer in 2003. During his career Paul Gleason was front and center on three significant fires of the modern era—the Loop Fire in 1966, the Dude Fire in 1990, and the Cerro Grande Fire in 2000. His role on these three touchstone fires gave rise to his passion for firefighter safety and the "student of fire" philosophy that he crusaded for. He was a leader of firefighters and he was a leader for the wildland fire service. Paul's contributions are far reaching. He teamed up with D. Douglas Dent and pioneered the professional tree falling program for wildland firefighters. He developed the LCES concept that has become the modern foundation of firefighter safety. He was very involved in the development of fire behavior training…with a focus on taking the scientific aspects of extreme fire behavior and making them understandable concepts for every firefighter. He reached outside the fire service and collaborated with experts, such as Dr. Karl Weick, who were doing research in the realm of decision making and high reliability organizations. In the final tally, as always, Paul was a role model "student of fire." To the very end of his life he was engaged in teaching and learning about fire. The opportunity to ask Paul these questions about leadership came the day before he died and at his insistence. Read the complete interview with Paul at http://www.fireleadership.gov/toolbox/interviews/ leaders_PaulGleason.html.

Leadership Challenge #2: Interview an exemplary wildland fire leader and submit to [email protected] for consideration. Interview formats and questions to ask can be found at http://www.fireleadership.gov/toolbox/documents/leaders_meet.html.

Volume 1, Issue 1

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Leadership Toolbox The Leadership Toolbox is changing with many components undergoing revision over the next year. Students of fire are encouraged to visit the toolbox on a regular basis to download the most current version of guides and references. Local Staff Ride Archive

Leadership Challenge Contributions: ♦

Rocky Mountain Geographic Area— Alabaugh Canyon Fire Local Staff Ride

♦

Klamath Hotshots— Gettysburg lesson plan for Leadership in Cinema

A new component has been added to the toolbox called the Local Staff Ride Archive. The intent of this resource is to provide a place for field units to archive existing staff ride packages for incidents of local interest and offer access to instructors desiring to conduct future staff rides. It can also assist individuals who want to develop staff rides at the local level by providing examples of similar efforts. Local staff rides provide a great venue for conducting annual wildland fire refreshers and enhancing the delivery of formal NWCG courses. L-280 Field Leadership Assessment Course (FLAC) The purpose of this tool is to provide support to facilitators in the planning, development, and execution of the Field Leadership Assessment Course (FLAC) portion of L-280. FLACs are intended to provide an opportunity for the students to practice the leadership, communication, and teamwork concepts covered in the curriculum. A well-planned FLAC is essential for a successful course. Leadership in Cinema Recent additions to the Leadership in Cinema library include Gettysburg, K-19, and Courage Under Fire. New features have been added to the Courage Under Fire lesson plan called Fireline Leadership Challenges. “Leaders are readers.” Are you taking the time to develop your leadership skills through reading? Fireline Leadership Challenge #1 engages the wildland fire Professional Reading Program. Publications found within Wildland Fire Book on Books have been selected that relate to leadership lessons found within Courage Under Fire. Also included are numerous short articles that deal with courage and leadership. Fireline Leadership Challenge #2 is a real-life case study titled “US Airways Flight 1549— Competent Courage.” The case study focuses on the recent aircraft incident where Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III safely landed his US Airways jet on the Hudson River with no loss of life and few injuries.

http://www.fireleadership.gov/toolbox/ Leadership Challenge #3: Contribute your local staff ride to [email protected] for consideration in the Local Staff Ride Archive. Leadership Challenge #4: We need your help to expand the Leadership in Cinema lesson plan library. Even if you have rough drafts, the Leadership in Cinema staff can formalize your information into an acceptable format. If you have questions that you’ve developed to add to an existing lesson plan, submit them to [email protected] for consideration, as well.

“People may read the statement of organizational values every day and may carry their values cards in the wallet at all times. But what they remember are the stories and examples of how those values were put into action.” ~Major Chip Daniels ~ Leadership Lessons from West Point

NWCG LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE AGENCY REPRESENTATIVES Jim Cook USFS (208) 387-5204 [email protected] Brian Fennessy Local Agencies (619) 980-9894 [email protected] Ted Mason BLM (208) 387-5334 [email protected] Mark Stanford State Agencies (979) 458-6507 [email protected] Chris Wilcox USFWS (575) 835-1828 [email protected] Vacancies BIA NPS

Call for Success Students of Fire: Do you know someone who has exhibited leadership skills worthy of attention? Leading & Learning is a place to highlight wildland fire leadership successes. Submit your success story for consideration to [email protected]. Be sure to title the e-mail “Fireline Leadership Successes” and provide as much information as possible regarding why your leader should be considered. Exceptional leaders should be nominated for the Paul Gleason Lead by Example Award.

Leadership is Action (L-580) Development of a senior level leadership course is underway. Leadership is Action, also referred to as L-580, is being designed to provide a venue to address a variety of challenges and current issues that IMTs and Area Commands face. The focus will be on the leadership in the context of emergency management situations encountered by personnel in the wildland fire service. Leadership is Action is intended to enable managers to participate in continuing education opportunities such as staff rides and leadership conferences. The first offerings of Leadership is Action (L-580) will begin in spring 2009.

We’re on the web: www.fireleadership.gov

Retired Lt. Colonel Eric Carlson leading NWCG Leadership Committee Members on the Gettysburg Staff Ride—April 2008

For more information regarding Leadership is Action, contact Deborah Corner, NAFRI course coordinator at (520) 799-8752 or [email protected]

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