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Issue 25 • 2009
Wildland Fire
Lessons Learned Center
A Lessons Learned Newsletter Published Quarterly
A lesson is truly learned when we modify our behavior to reflect what we now know.
Liaison Officer Lessons Learned
The LLC staff recently interviewed seven Liaison Officers and Liaison Officer Trainees from around the United States regarding their notable successes, difficult challenges, effective safety practices, and training recommen dations for Liaison Officers. Special thanks are extended to these Liaison Officers and trainees for sharing their significant lessons and practices with the wildland fire community.
In This Issue Notable Successes...............................1 Difficult Challenges............................. 4 Effective Practices ............................... 5 Training Recommendations................ 6 Liaison Officer Role............................. 8
How to Contact Us: pnasiatka@fs.fed.us dchristenson@fs.fed.us bmacdowell@fs.fed.us (520) 799-8760 or 8761 fax: (520) 799-8785
Notable Successes Learning in ActionOne of the most notable successes for one Liaison Officer (LOFR) and his Inci-dent Management Team (IMT) occurred during the 2006 Brins Fire in Sedona, Arizona. The Sedona area experiences extremely low fire frequency. Conse-quently, local government officials, stakeholders and the public were not thinking about fire, nor did they have much fire knowledge. During the incident, fire of-ficials evacuated both the Mayor and the Town Manager from their homes. Both attended morning briefings every day and the LOFR as well as other members of the IMT assumed that they understood fire terminology, overall tactics and operational objectives. However, a few days into the fire, the LOFR sat next to the Mayor, Town Manager, Fire Chief and members of the Town Council, and as the briefing came to an end, he realized that they appeared confused and that they had questions. Continued on page 2
w w w. w i l d f i r e l e s s o n s . n e t
The LOFR explained the Incident Action Plan to them, de-scribed what it entailed, and how the IMT used it and why. He also familiarized these local officials with the Incident Response Pocket Guide and its use in wildland fire operations. For three to four mornings in a row, the LOFR met with these officials, helping build a communication bridge to the local community and helping the Mayor and her staff to understand what the IMT was doing to assist the community of Sedona. At the end of the incident, the Mayor presented the Incident Commander and the IMT with a key to the city. This was only the second time a key had ever been presented in the history of the city.
Liaison Officers on All Hazard Assignments
In 2004 one Liaison Officer for a National Park Service IMT re-sponded to assist the Gulf Islands National Seashore after Hur-ricane Ivan hit the Pensacola, Florida area. The NPS mission involved helping to stabilize and restore the Seashore’s opera-tions and the lives of its employees. The Liaison Officer worked closely with surrounding Type 1 and Type 2 IMTs conducting FEMA support operations. Because the NPS team was operat-ing under different authorities and funding than the neighboring IMTs, the relationship was one of cooperating agencies, rather than adjacent resources. However, by coordinating with them, the LOFR capitalized on expediting reassignments for soon-to-be-released resources, enabling the NPS IMT to efficiently fill critical resource needs and reduce costs. Positive Relationship DividendsThe Alamo Fire of April 2008 ignited on the US/Mexico border west of Nogales, Arizona. Wildland firefighters from Sonora, Mexico successfully interfaced with the Type 2 IMT and worked as a division of the incident. Strong cross border rapport ex-
Sedona Residents Observing Brins Fire Courtesy of David Sunfellow, Sunfellow Photography
isted throughout the incident because Sonora, Mexico incident command personnel and the Type 2 IMT established personal contact. This included briefing of Sonoran incident command personnel in the Type 2 IMT fire camp and providing a recon flight of the fire. Toward the end of the fire, the IMT invited the Mexican firefighters into the U.S. for an awards ceremony. The Mexican firefighters received plaques and gifts for their efforts at working in close cooperation with their US counterparts. These positive interactions pay dividends in other emergency responses outside of wildland fire. Following the Alamo Fire, a flood occurred in the Nogales Wash during July 2008, causing significant damage on both sides of the border. Members of the same Type 2 team played central roles in this incident, and the relationships they had previously developed during the Ala-mo Fire contributed to the success of this flood response effort.The resulting cross border relationships continue to develop.
Being Well Respected is KeyDuring the Columbia Shuttle Recovery in February 2003, the host agency requested from the Texas Forest Service the “right” person to act as Liaison Officer to the IMT. The implied meaning of this request meant a well respected and well known person in the community that could get things done, especially with the ability to obtain permission for search crews to access private land when sensitive issues were involved. These issues included searching through large cemeteries, poultry opera-tions, and areas where personnel needed to open gates and cross fences. In every case, the Liaison Officer, who involved landowners he knew and trusted, paved the way for the search teams to act safely and gain acceptance. “A LOFR must not be a loafer” means the right person in the position is the key for success.
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Overcoming Hurdles Through Communication
Following Hurricane Katrina, one IMT reported to Camp Shelby in Mississippi to establish a support base approximately 50 miles north of Gulfport. Upon arrival, the team learned that the Base Commander could provide only minimal assistance, as he had to prepare troops to go to the Iraq war. The Base Commander could assist in locating land near or on the base to use for special rescue relief camps, and make motor pool parking lots available for staging trucks and supplies.
The IC advised the Base Commander that the IMT would work to prevent any interference to his primary mission. IMT members housed on the base until the team established an ICP at Baron Point south of the base. FEMA requested assistance from the IMT to deploy truckloads of water and ice throughout the region, meaning the team needed to manage the activity of the truck drivers and support them with fuel and food. The Liaison Officers met with a Major assigned from Camp Shelby each day and attended meetings with personnel from the local city and county Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for the purpose of updating and sharing information with city, district and volunteer fire departments.
Two major problems arose during the assignment. First, the IMT had trouble locating a place to take black and gray water from the camps. Fortunately, the LOFRs had established good lines of communication with the surrounding communities, and the issue was resolved. The team contacted one of the local volunteer fire chiefs and he assisted in finding a location to dump the water.
The IMT also faced radio communication issues. First the IMT was advised that they were required to hold a license to use a portable radio cache in the state of Mississippi. Again, the daily communication with the local and state officials through the EOC paid off, and the team obtained the required license. When the IMT needed a radio repeater location, the LOFRs went back to the volunteer fire chief, who also managed the water district. Though the team had been advised earlier that they could place nothing on the town’s water tower, the IMT felt this tall tower would fill the need well. The LOFRs asked and, thanks to good rapport with the fire chief, within four hours had the radio repeater placed on the tower. According to the LOFRs, when the IMT completed its tour and was relieved, they were asked how they did it, and the IC stated “good Liaison Officers.”
Photo courtesy of David Sunfellow Sunfellow Photography
Bringing Cooperators and the Public TogetherFor one Liaison Officer, one memorable success occurred during the 2008 lightning fires in Butte County, California. Lightning ignited more than 1000 fires and the complex of fires had been burning for well over five weeks. The firefighters, cooperators and the public were exhausted. Fire officials had completed emergency logging to remove hazardous fuels in several areas, and the public was frus-trated by problems with the fuel loads left on the ground around repaired power lines. The Liaison Officer brought cooperators and the public together in daily cooperators meetings, as well as in town meetings within the community. Bringing the utility company together with the public, and the company doing the fuel reduction, was a huge success and a benefit to the community.33
Difficult Challenges
Behind the Power CurveOne Liaison Officer feels that transition with another IMT, when the outgoing Liaison Officer has only been doing part of the job, leavesthe incoming LOFR behind the power curve. Because the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) standards require no training or other requirements for qualification as a LOFR, some individuals filling the position lack sufficient preparation to do the entire job. For example, because some of the current LOFRs come from law enforcement backgrounds, they think that the Liaison Officer only needs to interact with law enforcement agencies and personnel. The position actually encompasses much more, including interaction with elected officials, the American Red Cross, and all local government emergency agencies and organizations. The LOFR will struggle to catch up when they must make key contacts if another IMT has been on-scene without establishing these contacts. When this hap-pens, if much time has passed, the representatives from the organizations who have not yet been contacted will wonder why they are being contacted at this point. Distributing Accurate InformationOne Liaison Officer was assigned to an incident on the Los Padres National Forest in California, after working on another nearby wild-fire. Due to the proximity of the two fires, the IMT co-located the Incident Command Post (ICP) and base camp. A LOFR attached to the ICP dealt with issues as they arose, and met with military and fire officials from the Army’s Fort Hunter Liggett. Another Liaison Officer met with local landowners on the inland side of the fire, while additional LOFRs and public information officers assigned to the Big Sur Coast, made contact with all businesses, residents, landowners, the California Highway Patrol, county sheriff’s, county and state park rangers, CalTrans and the Big Sur Volunteer Fire Department. The Big Sur Coast area, which had been previously impacted by wildfires, did not have good relationships between fire agencies and the residents, landowners and business owners. The IC assigned two Liaison Officers and two Public Information Officers to the coast 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to make local contact and establish community meetings. Issues requiring attention included; closing Highway 1, for any reason other than firefighter or public safety, to avoid impacts on local businesses; keeping local business owners and homeowners informed; and making contact with the local Congressional office and special interest groups such as the Hermitage Center, the Jade Fair and other special events. The LOFRs found routine communication avenues, such as radio and television, ineffective for getting their message out. After locating a person with great citizen band radio (CB) communication throughout the communities along the coast, the IMT developed a posi-tive relationship with this individual and she delivered the fire information update each morning, or during the day if necessary. Local citizens listened to her and this practice proved effective. The LOFRs also maintained a steady working relationship with the California Highway Patrol, CalTrans, California State Parks and local county park officials. A LOFR met with them every morning after the IMT briefing and continued making contact with the locals. High Level Communication ProcessesEvacuations present a high risk to emergency responders. When responders are making their way into a fire as citizens evacuate, theresulting confusion can lead to collisions, traffic jams and fire entrapments if all responding agencies and utility companies fail to work together. One Liaison Officer feels that one can succeed only if they pull the responding resources together, and this LOFR has placed firefighter supervisors together with law enforcement supervisors to enable them to oversee operations involving evacuation or rescue. He stresses the need for a high level communication process.Liaison Officers succeed best when able to communicate face-to-face, allowing the LOFR to employ body language, tone of voice and language in their communications. This communication needs to be supported by legal authority from the agency and the IC. To suc-ceed, the LOFR must know the Incident Commander’s objectives and goals, and must gain that understanding through open discus-sion with the IC whenever they meet and via phone throughout the day.
The need for this high level communication process is important, where people have opportunity to assess the unspoken body lan-guage of agency representatives. By anticipating potential issues and dealing with them quickly the LOFR can prove instrumental in creating a lasting impression and success. The LOFR should assure that they are communicating with agency representatives who have decision-making authority for their agency and can commit to pay for operations. A Liaison Officer makes or breaks their effec-tiveness by how well they show respect for the different workforce disciplines. Rarely do emergency operations succeed without this respect. This success lies in protecting the responders and the public, while bringing a calming effect to the incident. Making Commitments and Keeping PromisesMaking sure all communication loops are closed remains a continuing challenge on some incidents. While Liaison Officers are in the business of making commitments and promises, they also must make sure they follow through. Do not leave the incident without closing partnership and cooperator issues. Maintain a close communication link with the IC particularly when the LOFR is speaking for them. If issues remain unresolved DO NOT leave an incident without letting the assisting and cooperating agencies know that these issues exist or that commitments may not have been met. Be honest, be punctual, and know your business, as well as your IMT’s business. Political and Bureaucratic IssuesOne Liaison Officer notes that some of the challenges a LOFR faces include political and bureaucratic processes. Given the frustrationsof politics and bureaucracy, it is important to remain positive and focused on the task at hand. There are many ways to accomplish the needs of the incident. Taking the high road is a must. The roadblocks will come, so back up and take a breath and communicate withthe command staff of the IMT about alternate solutions.
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Effective Practices
Collecting Intelligence Prior to an AssignmentOne Liaison Officer immediately accesses the Internet and learns as much background information he can about the com-munity once he knows the name and the location of the inci-dent to which they are being dispatched. He finds out who the elected officials are, their background, what they look like, and the political persuasions of the county and the state. Many websites include detailed biographies on elected officials that sometimes contain where they are originally from and their per-sonal interests. The LOFR prints out the information they find and studies it while enroute to the incident. He also reviews the information with the IC and Deputy IC, so they also understand the background of the community. This Internet research even helps when the IMT first meets with local officials, because they often can spot individuals from their photographs on the Inter-net. Furthermore, he often finds county and local community emergency operations plans, or Community Wildfire Protection Plans, on the Internet prior to leaving for the incident.
Photo Courtesy of Pruett Small’s Type 2 IMT
Building Relationships QuicklyInter-personal skills represent one of the most important skills a Liaison Officer can have. When an effective LOFR arrives in a place where they do not know anyone, they must work to quickly build relationships. A LOFR should think about whether they know people in the area if they have been there before, or talk to others who may have created local contacts. Exist-ing contacts can create an open door into the community for the LOFR. The LOFR should always look people directly in the eye when talking to them, and try to remember names. These communication practices give the person the LOFR is talking to a level of respect and they will note that small fact. In the business world, executives might go out and play a game of golf to build the relationship. LOFRs have no time for a round of golf but try to build the relationship by making contact and listening. People relate to another person and will talk to them when theyknow the other person takes a personal interest in them their priorities and their values. A rancher may or may not care how many trees are burning, but the pasture land may be the most important thing to him. If the IMT misses or misunderstands this thinking, the IMT’s priorities may damage the relationship
between the team and the rancher. Understanding the priori-ties of landowners requires that someone take the time to get to know people. In doing this, the LOFR must develop trust with people, and that may include talking to them about uncomfort-able subjects, such as a difficult decision the IMT must make regarding evacuations, or even the fact that you might not be able to save their pasture. It helps for the Liaison Officer to have some knowledge offire behavior. The LOFR should keep tight with operations personnel so that they know what they are doing and can ex-plain it to others. A LOFR must have the ability to talk to every-one from the rancher to the politician because more and more of the wildland fires are crossing multi-jurisdictional authorities. Stay ahead of the issues to keep ranchers and community members comfortable. Let them know about damages and the plans to fix them before they have a chance to come to you with problems. The LOFR position requires an extroverted person. The LOFRmust be willing and able to approach people they do not know, introduce themselves, learn where they fit into the community, and talk about their concerns. In short, Liaison Officers must put themselves out there. They can take lessons learned from their fire experiences back to their home unit to further develop habits and their LOFR skill set. Using a Multi-Disciplinary ApproachA Liaison Officer needs a global, multi-disciplinary perspectiveof the emergency response world. Expertise in the type of inci-dent whether fire, flood, or hurricane proves important, as does an understanding of the big picture. The consequences of the incident and the various disciplines needed to interface with the IMT are also an integral component.Every emergency responder tends to look at an incident througha set of binoculars unique to their particular discipline. Police, fire, emergency medical services, health, environmental, ag-ricultural, mass care; all bring their unique view of the world.One Liaison Officer has marveled at the multidisciplinary re-sponse to a large scale emergency as he observed how the different disciplines brought a narrow view of the incident and failed to recognize the importance of cooperation and interac-tion to achieve the highest quality outcome. Consequently, a big picture perspective proves critically important for the Liai-son Officer. The emergency management discipline requires big picture thinking. If the community benefits from a proactive local emer-gency manager who does their job, they will represent a cen-tral participant in any emergency response. One experienced LOFR observed that some Arizona counties respond to emer-gencies extremely well. Others stay at arms length from the incident and fail to achieve the emergency manager’s mission.This arm’s length approach may reflect a lack of emergency re-sponse background. While the emergency manager may pos-sess strong administrative skills, they may be less comfortable in the emergency response environment and consequently fail to become a player.The effective emergency manager serves as an invaluable ally to the Liaison Officer. If the LOFR is fortunate to be in a juris-diction with a proactive emergency manager, they must make the emergency manager one of their first contacts. They will become a central point of contact for any emergency response asset within a community.
Border Assignment Preparation Bob Orrill, Liaison Officer with the Southeast Arizona Type 2 IMT, presented this slideshow at the 2009 Southwest IMTMeeting. If teams or individuals are sent to work on incidents along the US/Mexican border, the safety information in this slideshow is invaluable.B/stedroiF_r.sernssoet.noc/denum//iwtt:plesedlrfihthm
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Training Recommendations
Blending Background and TrainingA Liaison Officer with a background in law enforcement, wildland fire, or structural fire is very beneficial. Although no training is re-quired, one experienced LOFR recommends, at a minimum, a person filling the LOFR position should take S-130/190 Basic Wildland Firefighter, ICS 100/200 Introduction to the Incident Command System, L-180 Human Factors on the Fireline, and the Annual Fireline Safety Refresher. Also important is S-420 Command & General Staff, L-480 Incident Management Team Leadership, and hopefully someday the position will be included in S-520 Advanced Incident Management course. In addition to training, a Liaison Officer needs the right personality for the job. An individual can have all the qualifications, training, and fire background, but if they lack the personality for the job and anger a high powered official, they will struggle and undermine all the IMT’s efforts. Qualification Standards for LOFROne experienced Liaison Officer believes that NWCG must establish a qualification standard for the LOFR position. Currently, the NWCG requires no training or prerequisites for this position; anyone can step into it without some working knowledge of wildland fire, and this needs to change. The individual must have strong communication skills, since the job is all about building and maintaining relationships. Every IMT and LOFR must want to leave the unit or community as good, or better, than when they arrived. This is all about contact and service. One Liaison Officer was once a line officer in his regular job, and believes that this background helps him serve as an effective LOFR.Because he has walked in the line officer’s shoes, he knows how a line officer would like things to look when an IMT leaves an incident.He recommends taking the time to train and mentor new LOFRs. On his last IMT assignment, the LOFR trainee worked with local emergency officials at the emergency operations center to build a community protection plan. The LOFR counseled the trainee to avoid doing the local emergency officials’ work for them, but to assist them in building the plan.
Teaching the Liaison Officer CourseCalFire teaches S-402 Liason Officer to Division and Battalion Chiefs attending their Agency Representatives Course. They commit 40 hours of instruction, combined with scenarios on department administration and finance, agreements and contracts, laws and policies, operations abilities and expectations, ICS standards, and demobilization. The S-402 training course includes scenario based questions for small group discussion and problem solving, and actual incident issues provide the best scenarios.
Educating About the Liaison RoleIn retirement, one Liaison Officer teaches a variety of incident command courses, primarily for state and municipal employees involved in all hazard response. Most of his students have limited exposure working with organized Type 1 or 2 Incident Management Teams, and many seem to think that the Liaison Officer maintains some tactical role on an incident. This raises the concern that these students may confuse the LOFR role with the Opera-tions Section Chief, thinking that the LOFR somehow maintains control of the agency-provided resources they represent. Others tend to confuse the roles of Agency Representative with that of LOFR, saying they often work on incidents as the “Liaison Officer” for their agency.This Liaison Officer believes it is important for in-dividuals being trained to understand important distinctions between roles.As more local Type 3 and state level Type 2 IMTs are formed nationwide, people will need to fully understand the distinctions between posi-tions. All emergency responders should establish a firm grasp of the fundamentals of the In-cident Command System as an anchor point. More emer-gency responders, who tradi-tionally do not get to work with established IMTs, should be given opportunities to shadow IMTs during actual emergen-cies and other events. New Liaison Officers will learn more in a single shadow assignment than they will in a classroom IC Briefing the Media setting. Photo courtesy of Great Basin Type 1 IMT 6
Integrated Emergency Management Course
According to one Liaison Officer, FEMA’s Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC) represents one of the best “big picture” training courses available for a Liaison Officer. The IEMC course typically consists of three days of classroom training and two days of exercise. The curriculum uses a global view of all disciplines in an emergency or disaster response, including the roles of everyone from front line responders, through traditional emergency managers at the local level, up to the federal level. Attendees at an IEMC course come from a specific community, and this represents an important feature of the training. Participants include political leaders such as the mayor, public works, health department, police chief, fire chief and other department heads, as well as front-line personnel. Given the challenges of joint US/Mexico emergency response, personnel from the states of Arizona and Sonora attended a uniqueopportunity in February 2009, when the first bi-national IEMC was held at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Approximately 70 people attended the course, many from Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora. IEMC provides the opportunity to work through exercises as a community, but away from the distractions of home. Ultimately, the participants interact with, and become immersed in, the training environment for five days. Since Emmitsburg is somewhat isolated and people reside in a dormitory setting, they have abundant opportunity to socialize, talk shop, and bond as a community-wide team during off hours. Given the success of the first bi-national IEMC, the EMI plans to conduct more of these courses for other communities along the US/Mexico border.To view information about the IEMC course go tohttp://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IEMC
Simulation Training Courtesy of Eric Steele NAFRI AV7
IC and LOFR Strategizing with IMT
Liaison Officer Role From the Great Basin IMT Handbook
Photo Courtesy of Dugger Hughes Type 1 IMT
IMTs have been filling this position due to the complex interagency nature of wildland fire suppression, the threats of wildland fire to the wildland urban interface, and the complex nature of all hazard assignments which are a complicated mixture of in-teragency relations including all federal, state, local, and volunteer agencies and groups. Wildland fires involving the wildland urban interface place the IMT and the IC in the position of needing to develop and maintain early communications with the extended public and cooperators being affected by the wildland fire. All hazard assignments can include FEMA, military, fed-eral and state EMS, local governments, contractors and other non-governmental organizations (NGO), who all need internal communications with the IMT. The LOFR can be critical in aiding the IMT in cost reduction efforts by making early contact with cooperators who can aid in the management of the incident either tactically or financially. The LOFR will report directly to the IC or the DPIC.
The role of the team LOFR is to: a.Proactively seek out involved and/or interested entities, organizations, various agency representatives and liaisons, military contacts, NGO’s and other groups who are immediately affected by the incident being managed or that may be affected by the incident at a future date. b.Ensure that assisting and cooperating agency and NGO needs are met, and these agencies and NGO’s are used in an effective manner. c.Foster good working relationships and communications with local agency administrators, NGO’s and their designated liaison officers. d.Provides that list to the IMT. Maintain a list of assisting and cooperating agencies, NGO’s and their representatives. e. Assist in setting up and coordinating interagency and other NGO contacts and meetings. f.incident operations to identify current or potential inter-organizational problems. Monitor g. Participate in planning meetings, providing current resource status, including limitations and capabilities of cooperatingagency, and NGO resources. h. Provide agencies and NGO specific demobilization information and requirements. i. Seek out any potential agency or NGO cooperators that may be able to offset the costs of the suppression activitiesthrough coop agreements. Ensure that these entities are introduced to the FSC for the development of these agreements. j. As a part of the National Response Plan (NRP) the Liaison Officer will act as the communication link between the IMT andThe Liaison Officer will also be the main communication linkany Joint Field Office (JFO) that may be established. betweenthe IMT and any State, County or Local Operations Centers that are established.
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