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South Canyon - Reflections and Leadership Perspectives

	Chapter 1: *Spatial Orientation and Fire Overview* (7:01) A Brief orientation and overview of the terrain at South Canyon. This animation includes a description by Mike da Luz and a chronology of important dates and times.

	Chapter 2: *A Walk up South Canyon* (21:45) Mike da Luz shares his personal story about July 6, 1994 and what that day meant to him. This presentation was first given in October of 1994 to the fall fire staff meeting in the Pacific Northwest Region shortly after Mike’s second trip up Storm King Mountain. It has been given scores of times to hundreds of people over the past 12 years. This videotaping captured Mike’s presentation with his original slides that he shared and every effort was made to stay true to his program.

	Chapter 3: *Epilogue - Return to South Canyon* (12:46) Mike da Luz returns to South Canyon 13 years after his first trip up the mountain. It’s a story of lives lost and lives saved; lives touched and certainly lives changed. Mike reflected on what has changed and what has stayed the same. It’s a reminder of the issues of objectives and responsibility; policy, and a return to hallowed ground. We will always have tragic outcomes, but it’s not inevitable. The consequences of actions and decisions are critical and South Canyon offers us lessons learned and time to reflect and hopefully to never forget. Mike’s return is not just the story of those who died, but also those who survived and to ask each of us what would you do? Mike shares what he’s learned and what he’s gained over time.

	Chapter 4: *Leadership* (39:04) Mike da Luz looks at some of the components of leadership and ties it to his 30 plus years of fire management both in line and staff positions with the U.S. Forest Service. He discusses leadership and management and how that relates to exposure, stress, multiple priorities and the shift in fire related skill mixes and staffing. His program talks about leadership and fire and some of the process, political and social changes that are changing the way fire is fought. Mike stresses that it has to be safety first, every fire, every time.

For more information about this program or to order more copies: Renee Beams Redmond Air Center 1740 SE Ochoco Way Redmond, OR 97756 (541) 504-7200 rbeams@fs.fed.us Special Thanks to: Mike da Luz, Al Garr, Renee Beams, Diane VanCurler, Dave Steinke, Patty Asteinza, and Judy Dersch for their efforts on this project.

Feature Video

“Remembering Eva”

What YOU Can Learn from Firefighter Eva Schicke’s Death on the Tuolumne Fire

They understand their initial attack assignment. No one raises any concerns. They think scraping this 180-foot section of indirect, downhill scratchline will be simple and quick. Minutes later, a young firefighter is dead. To honor Eva Schicke’s sacrifice on the Tuolumne Fire, we need to learn everything that we can from this fire and its suppression tactics.

The 'Firefighter: Remember This' Series All of these "Firefighter: Remember This" productions (below) can be clicked-on and viewed directly from this Web site as streaming .wmv video files suitable for a Low Speed Connection (256 KB/s). They can also be downloaded: right-mouse click on the video link and select "Save Target As" on your computer.
	CLOSE CALL - What YOU Can Learn From the Ahorn Fire Shelter Deployment (15 minutes. 48 MB.) A look at the “close call” firefighter shelter deployment that occurred on the Ahorn Fire—focusing on key lessons and effective practices to be learned from this incident.
	Surviving a Rotating Vertical Plume - What Can YOU Learn From THEIR Experience? Lessons Learned from the Indians Fire Entrapment (14 minutes. 43 MB.) During a wildfire burnout operation in extremely dry fuels, firefighters suddenly observe a massive rotating vertical plume. Unfortunately, the crews who watch it swirl across this ridgeline don’t see the plume as an imminent threat to adjoining forces. These people will not underestimate the potential power of a rotating vertical plume ever again.
	WHAT went WRONG? Lessons From the Woodview Fire Burnover (20 minutes. 40 MB.) This video examines a near miss that occurred when inadequate planning and communication put an initial attack crew in the middle of a crowning fire without a viable escape route.
	Why Were They Entrapped? Lessons Learned from the "Near Miss" Madison Arm Fire Entrapment (12 minutes. 60 MB.) How did two engine crews become entrapped on the Madison Arm Fire? This is "a Story of Survival Inside the Transition From Initial to Extended Attack."
	How Did They Survive? Lessons Learned from the "Near Miss" St. Sebastian Prescribed Fire Burnover (12 minutes. 38 MB.) When this 280-acre prescribed fire is planned for and implemented on Florida’s St. Sebastian Preserve State Park, they have no real way of knowing that thunderstorms more than 100 miles away will suddenly trigger a powerful 30 to 50 mph wind shift on their active fire.
	Why Did He Die? Lessons from the Devil's Den Fatality Fire (12 minutes. 28 MB.) This is the story of the 2006 Devil’s Den Incident fatality experience — that focuses on the key lessons to be learned from this fireline tragedy.

Lessons Learned Managing Naturally-Ignited Fire Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow This video--downloadable (below) by individual chapter--tells the comprehensive story about this country's naturally-ignited fire program. The program highlights the many "lessons learned" over the years that helped this program evolve to where it is today. In addition, this video explores the current emerging issues that surround the naturally-ignited fire program--and what it will face in the future. Along the way, this video also describes and clarifies the naturally-ignited fire program's tools, techniques, and terminology.
Chapter 1: Introduction	Chapter 2: In The Beginning - Lessons Learned Prior to 1871
Chapter 3: A Culture of "Fire Control" - Lessons Learned 1872 to 1967	Chapter 4: The Challenge of the "Experimental Years" - Lessons Learned 1968 to 1977
Chapter 5: The "Reevaluation Years" - Lessons Learned 1978 to 1989	Chapter 6: A Decade of Crucial Learning - Lessons Learned 1989 to 1999
Chapter 7: Confronting the New Millennium - Lessons Learned 2000 to Present	Chapter 8: The Future - Where do our Lessons From the Past Take us Tomorrow?
Managing Naturally-Ignited Fire Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1 MB Doc) This paper--along with its companion video program--tells the comprehensive story of this country's history with naturally-ignited fire.

Lessons from the Whitmire Research Burn (Posted 08/20/09)
Researchers evaluating the impacts of cool- and warm-season burning treatments on watersheds in the oak savannas of southwestern New Mexico joined firefighters from the Douglas Ranger District of the Coronado National Forest on the Whitmire research burn to gather the first post-burn data of the study. For scientific findings about the Cascabel Watersheds study see Dr. Gerald Gottfried's presentation, What we have Learned from the Cascabel Watersheds. Fire managers may also want to see the Escape Prescribed Fire Review for the Frye Mesa and Whitmire Rx Burns, completed by Coronado National Forest in 2008.

Dave Bunnell Tells the Story of the Gates Park Fire. (11 Minutes)

This fire is also addressed in the HRO Story: Creating Resilience on a Fire Assignment A third HRO Story from LLC Staff Writer Jonetta T. Holt: "Managers who lead crews and teams into high risk environments want to believe the group they are leading is skilled, capable, strong… resilient, even. Do we know what we mean when we are talking about having resilience or behaving resiliently?"

Standing Accountable - Lessons Learned from Cerro Grande. (32 Minutes)
Paul Gleason's insights on Type 3 IC decision making and other lessons learned from the Cerro Grande Prescribed fire escape. Presented to a S-490 Advanced Wildland Fire Behavior Calculation class in Fort Collins, Colorado on January 23, 2001.

A Tale of Two Homes

Produced by the Home Depot Foundation and The Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, Inc. - FLASH ( www.flash.org ) - A short video demonstrating how being Firewise saved a southern California home from the 2007 Witch Creek Fire.

Mike Friend - One Firefighter's Account of Thinking Ahead - and Surviving.

Thinking Ahead Video Part 1 (14 minutes)

Thinking Ahead Video Part 2 (9 minutes)

This video is a first person account of a fire shelter deployment on the 2005 I-90 Tarkio Fire that focuses on human factors. .

Little Venus Fire Shelter Deployment

Video Part 1 (13 minutes)

Video Part 2 (14 minutes)

This video reviews the 2006 Venus Fire Shelter Deployment — focusing on communication and situational awareness.

Santiago Fire Shelter Deployment (3 minutes)

This video shows a Hand Crew Shelter Deployment on the 2007 Santiago Fire.

Video courtesy of the LA Times.

Island Fork Fire (4 minutes)

Video - This video provides several lessons from a 1999 fatality fire that involved flashy fuels.

Special thanks to John Caffin, Southern Area, for taking on this project with Noodlehead Studios.

Additional Resources:

The Dude Fire Staff Ride is a 30 minute DVD and may be previewed and ordered here.

South Canyon - Reflections and Leadership Perspectives

Feature Video