Recently, the International Association of Wildland Fire posted an online survey to gauge U.S. wildland firefighters' concerns over the manslaughter charges filed against a U.S. Forest Service employee following an entrapment incident. If I had any preconceived notions on the results, it was that the U.S. wildland fire community was following the legal case and had concerns for how it could potentially affect firefighters and their livelihoods, but that most would be taking a wait-and-see attitude.

I was amazed at how fast the survey was picked up and electronically passed around the world. The early and continued response exceeded our expectations. A total of 3,362 people completed the survey.

The response was startling lopsided, it seemed to me, for professionals who typically are fairly conservative and who view their jobs as a life calling: 36% of the respondents said they would make themselves less available for wildland fire assignments as a direct result of the charges filed against the Forest Service employee; 8% said they would retire or find another job within a year; and 23% said they would remove some of the positions for which they were qualified from their Incident Qualification Card. See page 6 for a summary or visit www.iawfonline.org/documents.shtml for the complete results.

Were these fire personnel just taking an opportunity to vent? Are they seriously considering making themselves less available to a job that they love and for which they willingly spend months away from their families? Only time will tell, but the comment section was especially revealing. Professional survey marketers will tell you that generally when you ask for written comments on a survey, you get very poor feedback. In this case, 42% of the respondents provided personal comments, some quite lengthy and detailed, indicating a strong concern with the present situation.

But is anybody listening? Within minutes of the press release being issued, the IAWF Web site started to receive greater-than-usual numbers of visitors and continued to climb for five straight hours before peaking and holding at an elevated rate. We also tracked where these visitors were coming from, and the most frequent combination of hits and downloads on that date was from Washington, D.C., a location with a small firefighter population but evidently a high level of interest. So someone was listening.

After the survey's release, the Forest Service issued a “talking points” document reiterating some of our expressed concerns: incorporating the concept of “privilege” into incident investigations; seeking legislative support for amending PL 104-208, Section 636, concerning liability insurance for fire supervisors; and working with congressional leaders to clarify the intent of PL 107-203 the law that started all of this. They mention that this work will take time to accomplish.

If I've learned anything over the years, it's that if the bureaucracy really wants something to happen it will push and make it happen. This case may prompt the most important U.S. wildland fire community personnel action since President Ronald Reagan offered early federal retirements in the 1980s, which decimated the experience levels of our federal wildland fire professionals — and this one's coming from the grassroots level. We will be watching to see the actual response within the fire community and the progress of change in Washington. If this isn't resolved, other types of emergency service response might eventually be affected. Other countries are closely watching this situation, too, especially those with which we have cooperative wildland firefighter exchanges.

Contact the IAWF

International Assn. of Wildland Fire
P.O. Box 261
Hot Springs, S.D. 57747-0261
ph: 605-890-2348
fax: 206-600-5113
iawf@iawfonline.org

To join the IAWF, visit www.iawfonline.org

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Attn: Lisa Allegretti
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