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Thread: After talking to a few folks who have already been on assignments this year, some things stand out about wildfire and COVID-19. 1/16
The wildland fire community has spent the last 50 years building & refining systems & processes to be as efficient as possible. Everything from how resources are allocated nationally to finance to containment tactics to where the night shift sleeps during the day. Everything. 2/
None of our systems were designed with a pandemic in mind. COVID-19 safety protocols add complexities and inefficiencies everywhere. How does the team build a common operating picture when some are working virtually or remotely? How do you feed firefighters or set up a camp? 3/
How do you read facial expressions through a mask--those familiar cultural short-cuts to communications when operating under the stress of compressed time? How does dispatch handle such a high volume of virtual and remote personnel? How do you backup your now critical tech? 4/
All of those questions create uncertainty and time sinks. You can no longer rely on your learned experience because everything is new. You have to think through things. There's no down time because now, COVID-19 demands you be on guard all your waking hours. 5/
Firefighters are taught to be mentally alert throughout their shift. They work in a complex, dynamic, and dangerous environment. It's tough physically and mentally. After the day's work is done, there is no refuge for relaxation with COVID-19. 6/
Mental fatigue adds to physical fatigue and both are cumulative. It's one reason late-in-the-year fires are so tough. Stress is cumulative too, and taking on the burden of fighting fire in a COVID-19 world is a big additional stressor. It's already creating Sept/Oct worries. 7/
All guidance says get help from state/county public health agencies, but what if they're a reflection of the elected officials who oversee them? Who's making the tough calls on COVID-19 issues? What does an interagency IMT do when agencies have conflicting guidance/messages? 8/
Will those decisions be left to the IMT? What kind of support will they have? Guidance is not a decision. If there is a gray area that the chain of execs don't want to address, the IMT will have to decide based on what's best for the health & well-being of the firefighters. 9/
The increased complexity means teams must consciously build in time to think through problems--to support decisions through sound reason & logic--even when immediate decisions are needed. You also must build in time to ensure your communications are clear & understood. 10/
It will be frustrating to many, but accuracy has to come before speed this year. In an emergency, carving out decision space carries a cost, but it's usually easier to fix a problem caused by delay than to clean up a mess created by a quickly-made bad decision. 11/
Maybe as folks get on their 3rd or 4th assignment, we'll see an increased familiarity with the COVID-19 challenges reflected in the speed of decision-making. I hope the end of the 2020 fire year will be smoother than the beginning. 12/
That said, we need massive and frequent preventative testing for wildland firefighters. If we limp along and only test those showing symptoms, there's a good chance we're setting ourselves up for an even more difficult fire year. /13
By only testing symptomatic firefighters, we're taking the measure of 2-3 weeks ago. That's a failure. We also have no idea what the current state of the workforce is at any time, which creates an uneasiness about plans and outlooks. /14
Among fire personnel, there is anxiety and uncertainty about testing when there should not be. Again, preventative testing should be everywhere and available to all incident personnel. /15
Finally, the Lessons Learned Center has a nice set of COVID-19 docs from recent incidents. This one by Jayson Coil is well worth a read as it addresses several issues, including the need for public health engagement & the confusion over guidance. 16/16 https://www.wildfirelessons.net/HigherLogic/System/DownloadDocumentFile.ashx?DocumentFileKey=e648be73-f670-09e3-0fb3-65edb994800f&forceDialog=0
