- [Instructor] Now, let's go back and take a more
in-depth look at the facilitator's role.
The facilitator must prepare by becoming familiar
with the scenario and the training objective.
You must also set up the table and props.
The facilitator is responsible for running the scenario
with a specific training objective in mind.
The facilitator should introduce the table rules.
- Good afternoon, guys.
I'm Julian, as you guys know.
I'll be facilitating the sand table this afternoon.
We can go ahead and get started.
I'm gonna start off with some of the table rules.
We're gonna go ahead and use these radios as props.
Go ahead and take one, pass it on,
make sure everybody has a radio.
So, remember the simulation, any communication
that you guys have with each other if you're not
face-to-face, make sure that you're communicating
over the radio like you would on an incident.
If you're face-to-face, if you're on the line together,
or you happen to be in a staging area,
or something like that, go ahead and communicate together,
just like you normally would.
I am the facilitator, so I'm gonna
go ahead and move the pieces.
Nobody put their hands in there and move the pieces for me.
Know that if I move a piece, and you see that,
that's something that you're seeing
on the sand table that you want to take a cue from.
So, if I move the wind, as an example, this is a good
indicator of what the conditions on the ground are.
If you see me move a resource,
that's where they are at that time.
So, don't wait for me to brief you on something's changed.
You're seeing it change, so take those cues.
And as you guys make decisions,
I'll move the pieces on the table for you.
- [Instructor] Be sure to describe the table setup
and piece representations.
- The table is set up.
I know you guys have done these before,
but I'm gonna give you scale first.
I've got the long side of the table here.
It is two miles long.
About a mile long on the short end here.
I've got indicators of north, south, east and west.
So, the top of the table is north.
I've got different colors of yarn to represent
different things laid out on the table, as well.
I've used black yarn here to represent
a good, paved two-lane highway,
I've got brown yarn here that represents a dozer line,
and I've got toys here to represent
different pieces of equipment.
So, they represent what they are in real life,
like that engine here represents BLM type-four engine,
crew halls for type-one crew halls
- [Instructor] Always paint a picture,
that is, tell the story for your role players.
- I'm gonna go ahead and start
painting a picture for you guys.
All right, so you're in northern New Mexico.
You are a division supervisor
assigned to Division Bravo on the Zia Fire.
And I do have some things written up here,
so you guys have that for your reference.
It's June 17th.
The weather, you see right there, is predicted for the day.
92 degrees is the high.
South winds, five to 10 in the morning,
and then switching to the southwest.
This is an emerging type-two incident,
but the type two team has not taken over yet.
So, you're still working for an IC3 organization.
Their intent is for you to take over Division Bravo
and continue a burnout and basically
tie up this corner of the fire that's still active.
Resources assigned to you.
You have a type-four engine, it's a BLM engine,
and your designator is engine two.
- [Instructor] Allow time for questions.
- You guys have any other questions?
- Do we know if there's an existing Division Bravo?
- You don't know that yet.
- 0700, fire behaviors, what's the fire behavior doing?
- It's just backing into the wind and backing down slow.
- Okay.
- Previous day's fire behavior?
- They had a big fire event.
They had winds come up and the fire went about
a thousand acres in an operational period.
- Okay.
- [Instructor] Always assign rolls last,
and leave the hot seat at a decision point.
- You arrive on the line, and you need to
get as much information as you can and brief your resources.
- I understand. - That's good.
- Crew Two.
(pieces rattling)
You're up on the line doing this burnout.
Dozer One.
- Dozer One.
- You're up on the hill.
- Okay.
- Engine Two, you're the BLM engine down here,
with division. - Okay, all right.
- And Division Bravo.
- All right.
- Have fun with that, welcome to the show.
- I'm ready.
- So, you show up on the line, and you see crew carriers
with the hotshot crew gathering up on the back.
The BLM engine sitting here at the bottom of the handline,
and you can see the burnout coming down the hill.
- [Instructor] Game on.
- Crew Two, Division Bravo.
- Division Bravo, Crew Two, go ahead.
- Hey, good morning.
I'm gonna be your division out here today.
Just trying to find out, I've got another shot crew
here with me, I've also got an engine.
What kind of needs do you have up there?
- Yeah, we've been burning all night.
I would say that they should bring
some torches and fuel, mostly.
That's about what we're gonna need
to tie off this section of the line here.
- [Instructor] Here are some specific techniques
that facilitators can utilize.
A time tag can be used to compress time,
to show results of decisions made by role players,
or to create new decision points in the scenario.
- Okay, time tag.
The BLM engine did go ahead and scout this area,
scouted the houses and saw that they're old.
They're just old shacks, nobody lives in them.
But they went ahead and move the engine
back in here, and they're basically
sitting there doing structure protection.
The hotshot crew is moving up the hill.
It's now 1000 hours, and the wind is picking up,
and it's also kind of switching to southwest,
still mostly south, but switching to southwest.
You still do not have the forest service engine.
- Okay.
Are we still waiting on a fuel for the dozer?
- Did you order fuel for the dozer?
- I haven't ordered it.
- Okay, game on.
- Okay.
Zia Fire Command, Division Bravo.
- [Instructor] Sometimes, a pre-planned input
is best delivered to a role player using a handwritten note.
A tactical timeout can be used to clarify an issue,
answer questions, or switch role players.
- Okay, tactical timeout.
I'm gonna do a couple things here.
Go ahead and update the scenario.
The hotshot crew, type-one crew, Crew One,
went ahead and sent a dozer boss up to this dozer.
Fire's continuing to pro progress down slope.
Still no communication with the forest service engine.
The BLM engine went ahead and moved back
and is pumping the hose to support
the hotshot crews burning out down the line, here.
Division Bravo, why don't you switch with Travis now?
Yeah, you.
So, it's noon.
Your southwest winds are solid southwest winds now,
and they are 20 miles an hour.
- [Instructor] As the facilitator, you need to stay on top
of moving the pieces on the table.
- Understand, could you go ahead
and head down the highway to the east,
and you'll see where we're gaggled up down here.
There's a BLM type-four parked,
and you can tie in with me there.
- That's affirmative, we'll hit that way.
- [Travis] Thanks, Engine Two, Division Bravo.
- [Man] Division Bravo, Engine Two, go ahead.
- [Travis] Hey, can we get some hose packs
starting to hump up the hill towards Crew One?
- [Instructor] Often, a Murphy's Law input is used
to provide additional decision making opportunities.
These unexpected events should be realistic,
and facilitators should have several of them
in mind or pre-scripted in order to raise
the tempo of the game, if necessary.