developing realistic tactical objectives
and plans is both an art and a science
for new and inexperienced incident
commanders this can be a formidable task
one that is littered with pitfalls
recognizing those pitfalls and avoiding
them is a step in the right direction to
becoming a successful safe and effective
IC we will hear from the experienced IC
about how he develops his plans and
objectives and we will join an IC as
they work through the problems commonly
found on any fire Todd Jenkins has been
a smokejumper for 16 years and is
currently the Training Manager for the
Great Basin smokejumpers in Boise Idaho
he will be discussing the many
considerations that an IC needs to take
into account during planning who's in
charge of the fire that I'm going to am
I the person's gonna be in charge or
what is my role going to be what other
resources are responding what
information do I know about the fire
right now what size is it what what's
the train that's it's burning in what
are the fuel types is burning in what
are the weather conditions currently and
expected and what's expected of me from
the land manager there's certain pieces
of information that land manager is
going to need most critically they're
going to learn want to know what the
weather conditions are on site what the
terrain is at the fire location and out
in front of fire in the direction which
you think the fire is going to grow they
want to know what resources you have on
hand and what resources you think you're
going to need to contain the fire choose
on whatever size and land managers
looking for and it's very critical that
as incident commander you paint a good
picture for that duty officer because
they they can't see what's going on in
front of you and the better you are at
verbalizing that to them the better
decision they're going to be able to
make on how they want to proceed with
that fire if the land manager is giving
you competing
objectives you need to be very clear and
concise with the land manager that you
do not understand the objectives they're
unclear to you and they need to be
spelled out more clearly if their
competing objectives then I think you
need to work on painting that better
picture for the land manager so that
that land manager fully understands what
you're dealing with and that you aren't
gonna be able to accomplish two
competing objectives on that fire okay
so I'm the IC I'll meet the two engines
dispatch is already sent to the fire
which is supposedly at 1/4 anchor and
burning in grass sage and timber I have
some water around in ponds and streams
so I might have a dip spot handy there's
a cold front coming through this
afternoon and the flat the fire is in
gets into steep terrain quick I'll give
the duty officer a better sighs up when
I get there the GAC is at PL 4 and we're
at national PL 3 so crew and aviation
resources are tight that's something to
consider as far as ordering more
resources and the lead time to the fire
duty officer Tracy this is the hot gates
I see on command the fire is actively
burning in grass age and timber it's now
about an acre spread potential is high
once it gets into the steep section of
the timber winds are 5 to 8 out of the
West our H is at 21% there's a horse
corral and a small stable 1/4 mile away
to the south that might be threatened if
there's a wind shift the fires on the
forest next to the wilderness area which
is farther upslope in the timber access
is by two-track I drove in on how would
you like me to proceed now that Ric has
his objectives from the duty officer he
can begin to set up his objectives and
plan for the fire here are some ideas
about resilience the time wedge
alternative plans and resource ordering
that can enhance resilience and plan
development the time wedge concept I
mean yeah it's fairly I guess intuitive
I guess you would say when you're at the
fat end of the wedge when you have a lot
of time to develop that plan that's a
comfortable situation once you get down
to that sharp point of the wedge where
things critical decisions need to be
made
then hopefully you spent a significant
amount of time if they sat into the
wedge to develop those ideas and
concepts and that you had those
contingency plans in place when you
first arrived on scene you painted that
picture to the land manager they have a
good understanding of what's going on
out there they've given you the
objectives for the fire you're using
that uh looped which is observe orient
decide and act and now you're met using
that same little loop to develop your
primary plan and your contingency plan
if you're married to your plan it means
you don't have alternatives that that
that is that that is what has to happen
and there's nothing else that you can
fall back on we plan on always getting
the things that we asked for and the
weather stays as predicted and you get a
void falling into that into that trap
make sure that you're basing your
actions on on the probability that some
things aren't going to go as you did
plan and that you have a back-up plan
for that getting feedback from from your
buddies or other people on the fire
definitely should be an SOP hopefully
that is the time that you're allowing
for those dissenting voices to come out
that you have people that you trust on
on your fire or resources that are there
that that are giving you good feedback
when you're able to batch your resource
orders together that means that you have
a good robust plan and you've thought
things through and you're not you're not
piecemealing things if you find yourself
piecemealing orders to dispatch or or to
the land manager I think you should look
back and say okay what is my plan and
why wasn't I able to consider that
earlier building a personal pre-order is
a very valuable concept you know that if
you are being ordered as a type three IC
and you're going to be going to a desert
fire you should have a tickler by a
tickler list in mind saying well how
much food am I going to need for the
resources that I'm planning on ordering
how much water am I going to need you
know keep all those things the back your
mind is you get more experienced as an
IC you start to have those ticklers in
your mind
I'll run through all my contingencies
now why the slow pace of the decision
cycle allows it I'll also have some time
to put together some backup plans in
addition to the basic plan of point
protection and anchor flank and pinch my
trigger points for reassessment are
going to be changes in fire behavior and
if we are meeting the objectives or not
better run this by Eastwood and see what
she thinks before i briefed everybody
hey Eastwood
come over here I want to run something
by you okay so this is the plan what do
you think Thanks Eastwood
I appreciate your ideas on this I'll
make some changes better put that
resource order list together and make
sure it supports the plan for the next
four days and if I get it out now
it'll give dispatch time to get the
resources here when I need them I think
that it would be important to stress to
people that you're transmitting those
trigger points to that some trigger
points require immediate action and some
trigger points would require a
reassessment of what your actions are
there's probably a very few times when
you would reach a trigger point that
would require immediate action if you're
setting your trigger points at that
stringent of a level then maybe you
should consider trigger points earlier
in that assessment process so that you
could just reassess what was happening
once a trigger point was reached rather
than scrambling to accomplish an
immediate action because a trigger point
was reached but it is important that
people on your fire all resources on
your fire or your incident understand
what the trigger points are so they can
communicate them to you when that
trigger point has been reached if you
can't observe it directly our brief w1
on the objectives the plans the backup
plans transition plans and trigger
points now they know I expect them to
communicate to me if they see trigger
point events happening and I'll do the
same for them
better talk to dispatch and find out
where those resources I ordered are all
resources are subject to the effects of
friction and fog and this needs to be
taken into account when it happens so
you can adjust your plan accordingly
none of the resources have so many
factors affecting them as the aviation
community does and they deserve special
mention over the course of my career
I've often seen times when plans have
been hugely unsuccessful because the
bulk of the plan was based around a
critical aviation resource aviation is a
is a fickle thing so you may consider
that you're going to bring all your
people to your fire via helicopter and
then the next thing you know your
helicopter has a chip light it can't fly
for a day or two until they get the
mechanic out to fix it then what then
you better have a back-up plan and if
you don't you're not you're definitely
not going to be able to accomplish the
objectives set forward by the land
manager copy dispatch going to lose the
type three helicopter to 100 hour
inspection and the heavy air tankers are
now committed to another fire dispatch
I'd like to get a type 1 crew order and
a type 2 helicopter either standard or
restricted ordered as well now that the
type 1 crew is here I'll have them break
into squads and improve the point
protection on the nest site in the
corral then have them advance the hose
lay up the flanks while go indirect
lookout has the rain da wrap on as it
cellphone says the cold front may get
here in four hours I'll cross-check it
with the weather I'll put the word out
to everybody about the timing of the
front so they're ready to deal with it
I'll reassess how we're doing in a
couple hours before the front gets here
being aware of where you are and
accomplishing the benchmarks you have
set up and your plan is critical in
being able to judge how your plan is
proceeding and if you need to reassess
or change it your primary plan that you
have in place are you accomplishing it
on you are you getting the resources you
asked for are you building a line that
you had assumed you could build with the
resources you have
or are things falling behind are you is
your plant heavily reliant on something
that you don't have I think the best
thing to be aware of is just when you
start to see small failures in your plan
that that's when you really need to
start reassessing fire starting to pick
up and the squads are starting to see
spot fires outside the lines fuel and
terrain are really slowing them down
we're not gonna catch this before that
cold front gets here in an hour time to
go to plan B we'll pull back and burn
out around the point protection areas
and make them really bomber and they'll
be closer to the safety zone if it rips
when the front hits I'll let everybody
know understanding what your trigger
point is that will initiate a transition
to an alternate posture helps to make
that a timely decision especially if you
determine that hitting that trigger
point is inevitable if you're needing to
change plans determining why you need to
change plans our weather conditions
changing is it burning in a different
train that you never expected it to burn
into as your plan revolved around
getting resources that now you're not
able to get that could determine whether
or not you need to change your mode of
action and then also if the objectives
of the land manager have changed the
outflow of the cold front is really
starting to make this thing run a good
thing I went ahead and had everyone put
a foot in our safety zone for got here
looks like we'll be here for a while
I'll let dispatch in the duty officer
know what is going on and see what
direction the duty officer wants us to
take after the fire lays down okay
everybody the duty officer wants us to
keep the fire from crossing the to track
and for the time being we're going to
let it run in the wilderness area until
we get a more resources to handle it
let's start getting a plan together
while it runs and when it lays down we
could begin to engage it all right
everyone fires laying down and we have a
plan we are back in the game
a crisis can in some ways be considered
as an abrupt and brutal audit at a
moment's notice everything that was left
unprepared becomes a complex problem and
every weakness comes rushing to the
forefront the ability to deal with a
crisis situation is largely dependent on
the structures that have been developed
before chaos arrives