The IAWF is seeking nominations for its’ Board of Directors. Nominations will be accepted through October 20th 2008. Successful candidates will begin their 3-year terms on January 1, 2009. Individuals meeting the requirements listed below may self-nominate.

REQUIREMENTS AND INFORMATION

• Must be an “individual” member of the IAWF. Student and Corporate members are not eligible.
• The IAWF Board of Directors is a working Board. We are seeking individuals who are interested in serving the membership and will contribute the time, energy and expertise to serve on committees, participate in monthly conference calls lasting up to 2 hours and generally assist in furthering the mission of the Association.
• Must have the time available for the above.
• Since most of the Board’s activities are conducted electronically, the applicants will need to be very comfortable using email, using Microsoft Word, as well as opening and filing attachments to email.
• Attending an annual face-to-face Board of Directors meeting is very helpful, but not an absolute requirement. The annual board meeting, if held, is usually held at one of our conferences and requires about 8 hours of discussion and review.

By October 20, 2008, submit an application to the chair of the nominating committee. The Board of Directors will hold their election for the expiring positions during the week of November 19.

Email: nominations@iawfonline.org

Anyone interested in applying for one of the positions or nominating someone may email and request an application.

Plans for “The ‘88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond” conference are coming together.

The program committee has been very busy in the last two weeks evaluating the presentation abstracts that were submitted. They were very pleased with the quality of the abstracts and we are even more certain that the conference is going to be excellent!

The final details of the program are still being put together, but we just added some new events:

1. A Monday evening session organized by Joe Stutler, “We Were There: Stories from the Fires of ‘88″. Come hear from the Incident Commanders and Area Commanders who managed The ‘88 fires in the Greater Yellowstone Area. There are lessons to be learned from the stories of those who were there and played central roles in the management of the fires.
2. An evening session on firefighter and fire management liability that will draw on the ThirtyMile incident.
3. Special sessions on fire education, fire and the media, and fire in the mind and on the land (the latter organized by a group of environmentalists who have worked closely with fire managers).

More information about the conference, including registration, is HERE. An outline of the program is HERE.

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 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.

(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.

(originally posted in May, 2007)

In May, 2007, the International Association of Wildland Fire was one of the founding members of the Fire Management Actions Alliance (FMAA), an initiative of the United Nations” Food and Agriculture Organization presented at the 4th International Wildland Fire Conference in Seville, Spain. The purpose of the FMAA “is to stimulate improved fire management and reduce damage from fire worldwide”.

The Objectives are to:

• review and update the Fire Management Voluntary Guidelines;
• encourage stakeholders at all levels to adopt and use the Guidelines;
• review experiences from applying the Guidelines;
• strengthen international cooperation in fire management.

More information can be found at the FMAA web site.

Do you need some gift ideas for a firefighter in your life? Would you like to help support your IAWF at the same time? Here are some suggestions.

• How about a BOOK about wildland fire?
• Or a Kestrel weather instrument, compact binoculars, compass, LED headlamp, a small but powerful flashlight, or a GPS unit. (Go to our BOOK page and click on “Gifts for Firefighters”. (The books and gifts above are purchased through Amazon.com. The IAWF receives a small amount for each item. You pay nothing extra; it will be the same price as purchasing the item directly from their web site.)
• Or, something with the IAWF LOGO , such as a holiday ornament, mug, cap, hoodie sweatshirt, t-shirt, or golf shirt.
• Or, give an IAWF membership. We will send you an IAWF Membership Certificate with the giftee’’s name. To arrange this, call our office at 888-440-4293 (toll-free in North America) or 605-890-2348.

(originally posted March, 2006)

The International Association of Wildland Fire has prepared a list, by date of the year, of some of the more famous, or infamous, wildland fires around the world over the last 150 years. It is not intended to be a complete list of every fatality fire.

There are several purposes of doing the research and compiling this list by calendar date. It is hoped that individuals and organizations involved in fire, especially wildland fire, will mark these dates on a calendar, or refer to the IAWF’s Wildland Fire Event Calendar at www.iawfonline.org.

By having these wildland fires on a calendar, the lessons learned from even a 130 year old fire will be less likely to be forgotten. An unforgotten lesson learned may save the life of a current or future firefighter. The .pdf file of the list can be found here. The data has been gathered from many different sources, and the IAWF assumes no responsibility for its accuracy.