On May 12 our Fire Staff took this essential skill and exercised it. Three of our seasonal employees were blind folded (willingly), driven to different parts of the park and given a cell phone number to call. That cell phone number went to the team that was to rind them.
Of the 3 firefighters "lost" in the woods, one could talk back and forth with his "rescuers" on the
Communication is an essential part of wildland firefighting and leadership. But sometimes we have barriers to communications. Distance, technology, lack of common background and language can all be barriers to good clear communications.
So how does finding "lost" Seasonal Firefighters tie into Leadership Development? To find that answer we look at the Fire Leadership Values. This is from the instruction sheet that was put together for the event:
Duty
- Be proficient in your job, both technically& as a leader. (finders should know park boundaries, trails, roads)
- Make sound & timely decisions. (need to make decisions in order to find the firefighter, and first)
- Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, accomplished. (with as much communications as are allotted, the hidden and the finders are going to need to be listening to each other and make sure decisions are understood)
- Develop your subordinates for the future. (Create an arena of attention. Attention to roads, boundaries, trails, directional landmarks – to assist in wildfire response)
Respect
- Build the team. (The team will be invested in finding their firefighter first, to get the prize).
- Employ your subordinates in accordance with their capabilities. (We will find out where we may have communication weaknesses. We may also find out who needs assistance/instruction with directional guidance).
Integrity
- Know yourself & seek improvement. (If team leads are at a loss, they will need to seek assistance from the other team members to find their firefighter. Firefighters will learn how familiar they are with the park response locations, and what areas they need to become more familiar with. They will also learn how their skills at directing others to their location are and where they might improve).
An Evaluation of the exercise brought out these comments:
1.
Participants noted that it was good to work side by
side with someone they do not work with on a daily basis.
2.
A new idea came to a participant; to put on a
future training of orienteering, mixing it with geocaching; specifically for
the seasonal employees, but for the entire fire crew as a refresher.
3.
A comment was made that it was almost more of a technology
training than a communication training. Some people do not text much, have old
flip phones and some live by texting.
4.
Other means of communications had to be thought of by
the folks that were limited in their communications. Honking the vehicle horns was thought of,
getting out on the ground, and splitting up the team to cover more ground were
all used.
It was found to be a
good training by the participants. The hidden were fairly familiar with their
surroundings, but we need to focus more attention to orientation to the park
and wildfire response areas. The ‘finders’ were all very familiar with the fire
response areas and it made for quick training. The prize assisted in motivating
the teams and adding a sense of urgency.