In the beginning before the position task book
system, little consistency existed nationally. And so, in 1994, the national
wild fire coordinating group proclaimed. Let there be Task Books. And the Position Task
Book system was born.
The position task book itself, is made up of a series of competencies. Which are made
up of tasks, that are specific actions a trainee must take. Within each task are bullet point
items. They are provided as examples of actions related to the task. Not as a check list to
be followed.
The evaluation record, documents when and where tasks were completed, and the evaluators
recommendations.
The intent of the task book system is really the cornerstone of our performance based system.
Its kind of where an individual puts together the entire package of the skill sets that
they need to do to perform the job as a qualified person on their own. It�s also kind of a
playbook for the trainer or evaluator, on how to mentor and train the individual.
A trainee should expect from their trainer a couple things, one is obviously know the
job. Be well versed and competent within the position itself. Be able to manage not only
the incident itself, but also have the ability to also be a good trainer and good mentor.
The other expectation is, sitting down with the trainee. Is this their first assignment
as a trainee? And maybe a shadowing type operation should occur at that moment. Or are they at
the tail end of their operation where it�s maybe more relevant to allow them to be a
full operator. Allow them to fail a little bit. And allow to see how their, the consequences
of their actions. What if that crew breaks a leg while doing a saw operation. How are
you getting him out of here? What is the protocols? Are you in charge of that or is someone else
going to be in charge of that? Who are you going to communicate that to? You know, even
logistically, what if the helicopter shuts down because of smoke and three days later
you�re out of food within your spike camp? How are you going to mitigate that and what
are you going to do? These are those questions that, I think, a good evaluator is going to
constantly give you.
I think it is really important to do honest and meaningful evaluations. Everybody has
something to learn and improve upon. If you don't give a honest evaluation and send the
person down the road with, �Hey, you did a good job, you just need
one more assignment.� And that is not necessarily true. Or they
have a huge gap of maybe their ability to communicate, their ability to put it all together,
whatever aspect. If you are not honest with them up front there you are just sending them
down the road to someone else. One example I have had is an individual who
wanted to be a division supervisor. Very passionate, wanted to become that qualification. Always
wanted to be that position. But seemed to lack the ability to put all the pieces of
the pie together. At the end of the assignment, even during the assignment, sat down, started
explaining some of the holes that I felt that they were missing. So that we could work on
it for the remainder of the training assignment. By the end of the day I wrote down some specific
things that he needed to work on. That gives them something to take back to their supervisors
saying. �I need to work on this.�
They can sign up for classes or get some of that training additionally when they get back
to their home unit.
I think it is really important to understand what it means, when you as an evaluator, signs
off a recommendation for certification. You believe that this individual has the ability
to put the complete package together. Combine all the tasks into a holistic approach. And
be able to perform the job on their own. In other words be able to fly solo. Are they
going to be your rock star performer you are going to put out on the most complex incident
or have them do the most important aspect within your district. Say a newly signed off
type three IC running your urban interface fires?
No, but are they going to be able to provide a good background and be able to provide some
good command and control and knowing that there is still some learning curve that happens
with experience. That is what you are signing them off for.
It�s ultimately going to be the home supervisor and the home certifying official to take not
only that task book, but the skill set that individual has individually and make that
final ink to paper saying,
"Yes, this individual is qualified
to operate within
this position."