The IAWF has been closely following the developments of the federal charges against Ellreese Daniels, the crew boss and Incident Commander at the Thirtymile fire near Winthrop, Washington in 2001. Four firefighters on the fire became entrapped, were overrun by the fire, and died. The U.S. Attorney in Spokane, Washington charged Daniels with four felony charges for manslaughter and seven charges of making a false statement to investigators. We conducted a survey of firefighters to get a sense of the impact the charges would have on firefighters.

Here is an excerpt from Wildfire Today summing up developments in a court proceeding today:

At the federal district court today in Spokane, Washington, Ellreese Daniels plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of making false statements to investigators. The federal prosecutors dropped the four federal felony charges of involuntary manslaughter related to the deaths of the four firefighters on the Thirtymile fire near Winthrop, Washington in 2001.

In addition to the four involuntary manslaughter charges, Daniels had been charged with seven counts of making false statements to investigators, a federal misdemeanor.

Daniels could have faced as much as six years in prison for each of the four manslaughter charges. Now he faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine for each of the two remaining misdemeanors, although the standard range is much less.

Sentencing was set for July 23. Yesterday in an email, Daniels’ attorney, Tina Hunt, said she expected there to be a “contested sentencing hearing”.
[...]
The International Association of Wildland Fire documented with their survey the fact that many firefighters were very concerned about the harmful effects these charges would have on the fire community. In the survey, 36% said they would make themselves less available for fire assignments because of the charges that were filed against Daniels.

One of our members hopes to put together a fire prevention commercial, a video advertisement, on the subject of wildland fire prevention. She is looking for photographs:

“…of tourism type locations on fire with the dirty faces of firefighters resting, working, etc. Pictures that tell a story when you look at them – pictures that capture emotion. Such as fires in the Redwood forests of California, wheat fields, East Coast of the US, Everglades, Canada, Greece, Portugal, Australia, Germany, etc.”

If you have photos such as those, click on “contact” on the top of this page. Send us an email and we will put you in touch with the person seeking the photographs.

The International Association of Wildland Fire is accepting nominations for its Wildland Fire Safety Award to be presented at IAWF’s “The Fires of ’88: Yellowstone and Beyond” conference in Jackson, Wyoming, September 22-27, 2008.

The IAWF Wildland Fire Safety Award is given to someone in the international wildland firefighting community who has made a significant contribution to wildland firefighter safety, either directly on the fireline; or indirectly through management, cultural changes, or through wildland fire research. Their contribution is frequently beyond their normal everyday job expectations - sometimes at the potential risk to their own career, and their example can encourage others to act in a similar manner.

To nominate an individual, please send an essay (no more than 800 words) on why the nominated person should receive the award, a list of three or more individuals (with contact information) who may be contacted to affirm the importance of the nominated individual’s contributions.

Please email nominations to Chuck Bushey at the address below by August 1, 2008.

The Award was inaugurated in 1997 at the IAWF’s first Wildland Fire Safety Summit held in Rossland, British Columbia. Since that time it has been awarded to seven individuals.

Chuck Bushey, President

International Association of Wildland Fire

president@iawfonline.org

By popular demand, the deadline for the submission of papers and posters has been extended to the end of the day on April 22. Click here for more information about to submit abstracts. The submissions may include any subject as it relates to wildland fire challenges, and should not be limited to the 1988 fires.

The IAWF sends our condolences to the families and co-workers of the three firefighters who died on two separate fires yesterday in Colorado.

Fire Chief Terry DeVore and firefighter John Schwartz, Jr. of the Olney Springs Volunteer Fire Department were killed on a fire near Ordway, CO. They were in their engine in heavy smoke and crossed a bridge which collapsed.

Gert Marais, of Fort Benton, Montana, was killed when his Single Engine Air Tanker crashed while fighting a wildland fire near Fort Carson, CO.

We have reformatted our news items into a format which should be more convenient for our visitors. Now we can display excerpts from each news item on our home page, rather than just a headline. Leave a comment on one of the posts and let us know what you think of the new format. We still have some cosmetic tweaks to make…it is a work in progress.

April 22 is the deadline for: (1) oral paper abstract submission (2) poster abstract submission and (3) special sessions for “The ‘88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond” conference. The Program Committee will review all abstracts and determine which will be accepted as well as the schedule of presentations. Authors of accepted papers and/or posters will be notified by e-mail no later than May 30, 2008. The ‘88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond is being held in Jackson, Wyoming on September 22-27, 2008. This momentous conference commemorates the 20th anniversary of the 1988 fires in Yellowstone and the northern Rocky Mountain area.

The event is presented by the International Association of Wildland Fire in association with the National Park Service 9th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with the support of a consortium of partners. The conference will offer a host of opportunities to celebrate and learn lessons from past and present fire management practices and scientific research which serve as a foundation for the future of fire management. Discussions, presentations, and special sessions will focus on the following themes:

• Fire behavior, weather and fuels, including crown fire modeling, long range fire behavior, weather forecasting, fuels, and fuels management.
• Fire ecology, including wildlife, water, aquatic systems, landscape ecology and fire history.
• Fire management and policy, including fire suppression, operations, safety, and planning.
• Global trends: carbon, invasive species, climate change.
• Cultural and social perceptions of fire and the human interaction.

The content of submissions may include any subject as it relates to wildland fire challenges, and should not be limited to the 1988 fires.

More information, including the call for papers and a draft of the program can be found on the conference web site. The website has recently been updated and registration for the conference is now OPEN! Be sure to join us in Jackson, Wyoming September 22-27, 2008.

(originally posted April 8, 2008)

Today we introduced a more efficient and user friendly Wildland Fire Event Calendar. The calendar has always been one of the most visited pages on our web site, so we take it seriously and keep it updated.

The new version loads pages much more quickly and has a more logical layout. It looks a little different, but we expect our visitors will appreciate its advantages. It is a Google-based calendar, but we add all of the events. If you already have your own Google calendar, you can easily add an event to your calendar from ours. Click on the Contact button if you want to request that one of your events be added to our calendar

The IAWF is one of the partners in the Aerial Firefighting Conference which will be held October 21-22, 2008 in Athens, Greece. Numerous vendors and users of wildland fire aircraft are already committed to participating.

This is the first aerial firefighting conference in many years and should be very worthwhile for those involved in managing or using wildland fire aircraft. It will address both the global issues and aerial technologies and techniques necessary to attack both low-populated forest and agricultural wildfires and the highly-populated urban and high-rise environments. This conference will bring together the worlds experts and focus on aerial firefighting technologies and operations, including the cooperation and collaboration experiences and lessons learned in ground-to-air firefighting management.

(originally posted September, 2007)

We recently completely redesigned our web site. We started from scratch and built the site again from the ground up. We hope that it is more user friendly and appealing to our members and others who visit. We know that it will be more compatible with a broader range of web browsers. It now has a search function that should help you find what you need on the site. If you have comments or ideas about the redesign, click on the “Contact” tab on the home page in the top-right corner.

(originally posted April 24, 2007)

The International Association of Wildland Fire has issued a Position Paper on Climate Change. It is also on our Documents and Reports page.

(originally posted in December, 2007)

The Extended Abstracts from the Human Dimensions of Wildland Fire conference are now available. Click HERE to download the 2.8 MB pdf file.

(originally posted March, 2007)

The International Association of Wildland Fire is pleased to present its 2nd annual Ember Award to Dr. James K. Brown. The purpose of the Ember Award is to recognize sustained excellence in wildland fire research and to encourage innovation, exploration, application, and dissemination of important research results. The name “Ember Award” reflects the fact that research and science often move slowly, and their benefits or impacts may not be apparent for years. The award recognizes sustained and excellent research contributions to wildland fire science, innovative solutions to important wildland fire challenges, and effective and appropriate communication of wildland fire science and research results.

Jim received his bachelors degree from the University of Minnesota in 1960, his masters from Yale University in 1961, and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1968, all in Forestry. From 1961 to 1965 he did research on field measurements of fuel properties and fire-danger rating systems while with the U.S. Forest Service Lake States Forest Experiment Station in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1965, he transferred to the Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, Montana where he conducted research on the physical properties, inventory and prediction of fuels. From 1979 through 1995 he was leader of a prescribed fire and fire effects research unit of 25 employees.

His research was focused on fuel consumption, fuel hazard appraisal, fire ecology of western forests, and development of computer information systems for fuel prediction and application of prescribed fire. He has authored over 100 technical journal articles and reports. In 1992 he received the Forest Services Superior Science Award for his research on fuels and contributions to fire management. During Jims distinguished Forest Service career, his seminal research in fire effects, fuels, and fire behavior set the standard for many in the field.

At the start of his career, fire effects science was in its infancy. Jim had the foresight to observe that fire effects are intimately linked to fire behavior so he dedicated much of his career to ensuring that the two fields of behavior and effects were closely integrated in all of his studies. Many of his findings are integrated into the complex fire behavior and effects computer models used today. A careful scholar, a thoughtful ecologist, and an advocate for wise use of scientific information, Jim exemplifies the qualities honored by this award.

Photo, left to right: Chuck Bushey (IAWF President), Dr. James K. Brown, Elizabeth Reinhardt.

(originally posted in March, 2007)

During the 2nd Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference in Destin, Florida, March 23-27, 2007, the attendees contributed to a raffle and raised $1,088 for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation (WFF). The IAWF Board of Directors voted to match this and sent a total of $2,176 to the WFF.

We also owe our thanks to the companies that contributed items to be raffled. They are:

• ESRI
• Kestrel (Nielsen-Kellerman Co.)
• Forestry Suppliers
• Madd Dog Foam Nozzles
• Speedtech Instruments
• Lab Safety Equipment

The IAWF held similar fund raising events for the WFF at 8th Wildland Fire Safety Summit in Missoula, Montana, in 2005, and also at the 1st Fire Behavior and Fuels conference in 2006 in Portland, Oregon.

The IAWF believes in the mission of the WFF, which is to “honor past, present, and future members of the wildland firefighting family”. The WFF also provides emergency support services to the families of injured and fallen firefighters. For more information about the WFF, visit their web site at Wildland Firefighter Foundation.

(originally posted February 20, 2007)

The results of a survey the International Association of Wildland Fire initiated about the Thirtymile fire are now available on our DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS PAGE in the News Releases section.

The Thirtymile fire, started by an escaped campfire near Winthrop, Washington, claimed the lives of four U.S. Forest Service firefighters on July 10, 2001. On January 30, 2007 the U.S. Attorney in Spokane, Washington, charged the Incident Commander of the fire with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and seven counts of making false statements.

The IAWF, a non-profit, professional association representing members of the global wildland fire community, initiated the survey of wildland firefighters after hearing speculation that some firefighters were no longer going to serve in certain key management positions on wildland fires due to the new threat of going to prison for making mistakes on fires. The objective was to collect data to determine the scope of the issue, and provide objective information to the wildland fire agencies.
Wildland firefighters were invited by email as well as postings on wildland fire forums to take the survey which could only be taken once from each computer.

The survey was taken by 3,362 people. This large number indicates how important this issue is to wildland firefighters. The IAWF hopes that this data about the effects of the criminal charges will assist the wildland fire agencies and policy makers to formulate a strategy for mitigating the adverse impacts that the survey identified.