Tuesday, May 30, 2017

We Cannot Stand Alone: Human-caused Fires Call for Human Collaboration


by Jay Stalnacker

Fire management has changed substantially from the days when I was seasonally employed as a smoke jumper. Back then, a lightning storm would move across the open wilderness of the Idaho panhandle dropping flashes of nature’s magic. Sometimes, hundreds of fires would be started from these storms.

Monday, May 29, 2017

IGNITE: Remembering Our Fallen on Memorial Day


In memory of many, in honor of all. Thank You Happy Memorial Day [Photo credit: Nicole Oke] (roses on the markers of fallen wildland firefighters)

In memory of many, in honor of all. Thank You
Happy Memorial Day


[Photo credit: Nicole Oke]

Thursday, May 25, 2017

IGNITE: Bring Your Best

Bring your best every day. (Wildland fire engine with sunset in background)

Bring your best every day.

[Photo credit: Alex Galt, USFWS]

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Scott Anderson Honored for Lead by Example Award for Motivation and Vision

Josh Haney congratulating Scott Anderson on his Lead by Example Award

Scott Anderson
BLM Training Specialist (NWCG)
National Interagency Fire Center
Honored for Motivation and Vision

Scott Anderson has been selected as one of the recipients for the 2016 Paul Gleason Lead by Example award. Three individuals and two groups from across the wildland fire service have been chosen to receive this national award.

Monday, May 22, 2017

IGNITE: The True Spirit of Conversation

The true spirit of conversation consists in building on another person's observation, not overturning it. - Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton
The true spirit of conversation consists in building on another person's observation, not overturning it. - Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton

[Photo credit: Cedar Fire (2016)]

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Diego Mendiola Receives Lead by Example Award for Mentoring and Teamwork



Diego Mendiola holding his Paul Gleason Lead by Example Award for mentoring and teamwork
Diego Mendiola
Hotshot Superintendent
Zigzag Ranger District, USFS
Honored for Mentoring and Teamwork
Diego Mendiola has been selected as one of the recipients for the 2016 Paul Gleason Lead by Example award. Three individuals and two groups from across the wildland fire service have been chosen to receive this national award.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

IGNITE: Ripple Effects of Leadership

A leader's accomplishments are measured in lifetimes. Our character, decisions, and actions create powerful ripple effects that continue to influence people and organizations long after we are gone. - Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, p. 67 [lightning strike in the desert at dusk]
A leader's accomplishments are measured in lifetimes. Our character, decisions, and actions create powerful ripple effects that continue to influence people and organizations long after we are gone. - Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, p. 67
Share through your spheres of influence.

[Photo credit: Seedskadee and Cokeville Meadows Nation Wildlife Refuge/Tom Koerner]

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Cottrell and Myers Earn Lead by Example Award for Mentoring and Teamwork

Dan Cottrell, Smokejumper Foreman
Debbie Myers, Program Support Assistant
Aerial Fire Depot, Region 1, US Forest Service
Honored for Mentoring and Teamwork

Edmund Ward (who brought Deb and Dan into the Smokejumper program), Bill Miller, Tory Kendrick (Acting Missoula Smokejumper Base Manager receiving the award on behalf of Dan Cottrell, who is on fire assignment in the Southeast), Deb Myers (Currently working with the Anaconda Job Corps program) and Paul Chamberlin (previous Gleason Award recipient from the Northern Rockies)
Dan Cottrell and Debbie Myers have been selected as one of the recipients for the 2016 Paul Gleason Lead by Example award. Three individuals and two groups from across the wildland fire service have been chosen to receive this national award.

Monday, May 8, 2017

IGNITE: Synergy!

Teamwork requires that everyone's efforts flow in a single direction. - Pat Riley [Wildland firefighters moving a stump; two on each side trying to roll it.]
Teamwork requires that everyone's efforts flow in a single direction. - Pat Riley

Share through your sphere of influence.

[Photo credit: Kari Greer/USFS]

Thursday, May 4, 2017

IGNITE: Leadership is Learning

Leadership is not an expertise. Leadership is a constant education. - Simon Sinek (wildfire in California desert)

Leadership is not an expertise. 
Leadership is a constant education. - Simon Sinek

[Photo credit: Captain Bryan Hoverman, San Bernadino County FD]

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

South Puget Sound Wildland Team Earns Lead by Example Award for Initiative and Innovation

Left to right: Hilary Franz, Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands; Matt Caldwell; Terry Jewell; Kevin Dohnam, previous LBE recipient; Sean Kibbe; Don Melton, SPS Fire District Manager; Bryan Scholz, past LBE recipient; Charley Burns; Brian Looper; Mark Stanford, NWCG Leadership Subcommittee
Left to right: Hilary Franz, Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands; Matt Caldwell; Terry Jewell; Kevin Dohnam, previous LBE recipient; Sean Kibbe; Don Melton, SPS Fire District Manager; Bryan Scholz, past LBE recipient; Charley Burns; Brian Looper; Mark Stanford, NWCG Leadership Subcommittee
South Puget Sound Wildland Team
Washington Department of Natural Resources
South Puget Sound Region
Honored for Initiative and Innovation

The South Puget Sound Wildland Team has been selected as one of the recipients for the 2016 Paul Gleason Lead by Example award. Three individuals and two groups from across the wildland fire service have been chosen to receive this national award.

Monday, May 1, 2017

IGNITE: Doing the Right Things

Efficiency is doing things right effectiveness is doing the right things. - Peter Drucker (thunderstorm with lightning)
Efficiency is doing things right effectiveness is doing the right things. - Peter Drucker
[Photo source: Jupiter Images]