Exective Summary
There are many characterizations of wildland firefighters and their work culture. These characterizations vary across all levels of organizations, jurisdictions and types of jobs. As closely held as these perceptions are, as confident as each of us is with our own perceptions – it begs the question of what a systematic look at firefighters and their culture, from within and without, would reveal.
This report summarizes the results of Phase II of a four phase study to examine the Federal wildland firefighting community and to improve firefighter safety. The first phase described the strengths and problem areas of the current organizational culture, and considered leadership and accountability issues, human factors, and external influences that affect firefighter safety in the five federal agencies most directly involved in wildland firefighting. These include: the Department of Agriculture Forest Service, and the Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Fish and Wildlife Service. Phase II defined the desired organizational culture of the future that will enhance safety. Phase III will identify the implementation steps needed to move from the current culture to the desired culture of the future, and Phase IV will evaluate, assist in, and monitor the change.
The focus in Phase I was on systematically interviewing and surveying over 1000 federal (and some state) wildland firefighters to get their perceptions of the underlying issues of firefighter safety, and the organizational culture in which they operate. All ranks from basic firefighter to agency administrator were included. Senior experts on wildland firefighting were interviewed and the literature reviewed. The study considered all factors that wildland firefighters said were important to safety.
The Phase I report summarized the current organizational culture, leadership, human factors and external factors that affect safety. It identified the strengths of the current system with respect to safety, and a wide array of issues that need attention –about 250 issues falling into 24 general categories.
The results of Phase I were used in Phase II to define a set of goals for guiding the five agencies – a vision of the future organizational culture, leadership, human factors and external environment that would improve safety.
[for the complete report, click on the pdf link]