Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Blog

[This article originally appeared as Travis Dotson’s “Ground Truths” column in the Winter 2014 Issue of Two More Chains.] By Travis Dotson Analyst, Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center OK, first off, let’s get one thing straight: “Ground Truths” is the world according to Travis Dotson. That’s all. Just like some incident reviews are the world ac...

By Alex Viktora Assistant Director, Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center [This article initially appeared as the “One of Our Own” feature in the 2022 Spring Issue of Two More Chains.] Dan Mallia knows a thing or two about learning in the wildland fire service. This man has served as the Superintendent of the Redding Interagency Hotshot Crew the past 13...

[This article originally appeared as the “One of Our Own” feature on Sara Brown in the Summer 2016 Issue of Two More Chains. Today, Sara is the Program Manager for the Rocky Mountain Research Station’s Fire, Fuels and Smoke Science Program.] By Alex Viktora and Paul Keller As a high school junior in a small town snuggled up in the west side of the central Oregon Cascades, Sara ...

[This article originally appeared as the “One of Our Own” feature on Jeremy Bailey in the Spring 2016 Issue of Two More Chains.] By Alex Viktora and Paul Keller Jeremy Bailey acknowledges that in past decades and generations of fire managers we have been very successful in sharing the responsibility of both prescribed fire and fire suppression. “But,” he emphasizes, “...

[This is Travis Dotson's “Ground Truths” column that appeared in the Spring 2013 Issue of Two More Chains.] By Travis Dotson When I was a first-year Type 2 crewmember, I looked up to anyone who had already been on a fire. They showed me what to pack and which MREs to avoid. When I first got on the hotshot crew, I watched the vets demonstrate how to “act like a hotshot.” When I r...

[This is Travis Dotson’s “Ground Truths” column that initially appeared in the Summer 2015 Issue of Two More Chains.] By Travis Dotson I’m a little guy. I also look a bit younger than I am (although the grey in my beard is starting to change that). So when I’m out on a fire and I stand through...

By Dave Williams When you think of the word “safety” what comes to mind? If you were to meet a member of an Amazonian tribe who has had no contact with the outside world, how would you explain your understanding of safety to them? Safety tends to be an extremely personal and sometimes emotional concept almost exclusively defined individually. Beliefs around what the word means and how processes and protocols influence outcomes vary widely. When we survive hazardous situations, do we know why? Is it our commitment to safety? Our pers...

[This article originally appeared in the Spring 2016 Issue of Two More Chains.] By Travis Dotson In the wildland fire service, we suffer from an “Illusion of Control”. This illusion is so pervasive it’s never even acknowledged, let alone discussed. The ever present assumption that complete control is possible puts us in a constant cognitive struggle to make ...

Looking for wildland fire discussion/learning topics for your crew or staff? You might want to check-out or revisit “The View from Here”. This Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center (LLC) publication, first posted in December 2018, provides 16 essays that share a common theme: How and why we in the wildland fire service must alter some of our most ingrained practices and perspectives. Most of these essays originally appeared in Two More Chains or were featured on the LLC’s Blog. From the “The View from Here” Int...

Have you experienced an event that changed your perspective—maybe a close call? Have you devised a new approach to a common task? Maybe you were part of a success that is worth highlighting. These scenarios often lead to personal lessons. We want you to share your hard-earned lessons with others so we can all learn and improve. If you have lessons related to wildland fire, here are some best practices on how to share them with the greater fire community: How to Write and Submit Rapid Lesson Sharing (RLS) Reports...