Chapter I, Chapter II, Chapter II supplement, Chapter III, Chapter IV, Chapter V, Chapter VI, Chapter VII, Chapter VIII , Chapter IX, Chapter X, Chapter XI, Chapter XII , Chapter XIII, Chapter XIV, Chapter XV, Chapter XVI, Chapter XVII, Chapter XVIII, Chapter XIX, Chapter XX, Chapter XXI, Chapter XXII, Chapter XXIII, Chapter XXIV and Chapter XXV.
© Copyright 2018 John Dougherty, All rights Reserved. Written For: Investigative MEDIA
WantsToKnowTheTruth says
**
** THE PFINGSTON / HARWOOD PODCASTS ( CONTINUED )
**
** BRIAN FRISBY IS TALKING TO OTHER HOTSHOT CREWS
** ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT THE YARNELL FIRE.
Apparently, Blue Ridge Hotshot Superintendent Brian Frisby is sick and tired of beiing told he can’t discuss what he knows ( and has ALWAYS known ) about the Yarnell Hill Fire.
According to Deborah Pfingston and former GM Hotshot Doug Harwood… Frisby spoke to an entire California Hotshot crew just last summer about what REALLY happened in Yarnell, and whatever he told them was enough for them to realize the SAIT investigation was a total FARCE.
In their ‘introduction’ to their PODCAST Episode 8, published just 5 weeks ago on April 24, 2019, Harwood ‘reads’ an email they received from one of the firefighters on this Hotshot crew that Frisby spoke to.
Our Investigation, Our Truth
What Happened to the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshots
PODCAST Episode 08: Your Changes, Our Changes
Published: April 24, 2019
https://anchor.fm/our-truth/episodes/Episode-8-Your-Changes–Our-Changes-e3qqcb
Episode 8, Part 1
+0:48
———————————————————————————————————–
Doug Harwood: We have a comment from a firefighter on a Hotshot crew in California. He says…
“My crew was lucky enough to work with Blue Ridge last summer. On one of the slow days the Blue Ridge supe ( Brian Frisby ) took time to speak to our whole crew about the events of that day. Between THAT conversation, and listening to your podcasts, I’m appalled by the FAILURE of our original investigation. Not only was it an injustice to the perished firefighters, it’s a disservice to our current firefighters as well. How are we supposed to learn ANY lessons from the tragedy if we don’t know exactly what happened?”
Doug Harwood: We want to thank that firefighter for his message.
Deborah Pfingston: Yes. Thank you so much.
———————————————————————————————————
And just for the sake of completeness…
Here again is that EMAIL that Joy Collura obtained showing Blue Ridge Hotshot Superintendent Brian Frisby officially telling U.S. Forestry Service ‘Human Factors Specialist’ Joseph Harris that the “human factors” at the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire were defintely “off the charts”… and much of what happened that day HAS been “swept under the rug”…
———————————————————————————————————–
From: Frisby, Brian H -FS
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 10:08 AM
To: Harris, Joseph R -FS
Subject: Human Factors!
Good morning, Joe,
It sounds like you have had the opportunity to go through the Yarnell Hill staff ride and may have some questions about some of the human factors that contributed that day. Talking to ( Redacted ) it sound like the picture that is being painted is very different than what we remember. I have been invited to the operational staff ride on the 26th and 27th of this month, unfortunately any input is probably too late.
I can tell you that the human factors that day were off the charts.
We both know that the overall decision to leave the black was made by ( Eric Marsh ) but there was so much that went on that day that has been swept under the rug that may have affected the outcome.
I would love the opportunity to talk to you about it, I believe there is a lot to be learned from this event and if we are going to adopt this as an agency we need to get this right. Anyhow hope you and your family are doing well and I hope to hear from you. Thanks.
( USDA Logo ) ( U.S. Forestry Service Logo )
Brian Frisby
Blue Ridge IHC Superintendent
Coconino National Forest, Mogollon Rim Ranger District
p: 928-477-5023
c: ( Redacted )
bfrisby (at) fs.fed.us
8738 Ranger Road
Happy Jack, AZ 86024
http://www.fs.fed.us
( Twitter Icon ) ( Facebook Icon )
Caring for the land and serving people
———————————————————————————————————–
Gary Olson says
Oh yeah…I remember why I started down that road yesterday, I was giving a real world example to make the point that just like Shawna Legarza and Mike Dudley, I was offered the very same thing that they were offered to betray all of my values and morals as well.
But I can prove I am NOTHING like they are by the simple fact that I spent the first half of my career as a rock star and the entire second half never being promoted again. And that is because when I stood at the very same crossroads that they did, I choose the path they didn’t take. I found the hill that was worth dying on. They never did…fuck them and everyone like them.
Legarza and Dudley are really bad people who are putting wild land firefighters at an increased chance of dying on the line today because they failed to do the Right Thing. Legarza on the Battlement Creek Fire Disaster Staff Ride and the other management whore Dudley…who failed to do the right thing on the Yarnell Hill Fire Disaster Staff Ride. Like I wrote yesterday…they are both despicable human beings.
Oh…and one more thing. There is something I can do for the kids on the fire line today even though I failed to convince Legarza and her posse of sycophants and enablers that they needed to do the right thing for the kids on the fire line today.
I can tell them that the bodies of those hotshots who laid on the steep slope of Battlement Mesa surrounded by the brightly colored flagging that fluttered in the gentle breeze and bright sunshine on that beautiful day with clear blue skies…were really charred and blackened corpses who we referred to as crispy critters.
So…you shouldn’t ever be like them. No fuckin’ wildfire or shot of adrenaline is worth dying for…you should always go home to those who love you instead.
Robert the Second says
You guys know that JD moved us up to a new chapter, ey. Maybe not …
I carried over several of the Chapter XXVI posts on the YH Fire Staff Ride
( https://www.investigativemedia.com/please-begin-yarnell-hill-fire-chapter-xxvii-here/ )
Gary Olson says
No…I didn’t know. But that actually begs a very interesting question. Does it matter? That isn’t intended to be a flippant question. I would like to know what you think? Does it matter?
Charlie says
Gary, you are the genuine person and nothing to fear for people that listen or read your comments. unless they are phoney. You will always stand the hero you are in the fire fighting profession–your comments and instruction will save many who will listen. Those that balk at wisdom are also those that perish and make disaster for those such as the young GMHS victims.
Some say they went willingly along with the dictates of Marsh and Steed and those commanding from above. Yet they would say they had the trust in the abilities of those that commanded them to their deaths. Sadly the young trust commanders such as we saw at Yarnell, yet their trust would destroy them and cause insufferable turmoil and heartbreak to the families and loved ones involved. Many broke down and cried as Zack Ashoor said he did in the bar when he heard the news. Maybe the heartbreak killed him, he died a young 29 soon after the ordeal. . I too had shed my share of tears and heartbreak for the situation, eventhough I had never personally known or associated with any of them. Zack did. Those who could not understand the magnitude of killing 17 young wild land fire fighters and the death of their bosses as well would not understand how all suffered from this event.
Even with all the awards given and the cover ups and support for a few that did not want the truth out, it does finally come down to the importance of continued hammering at those that have hidden the facts. Page after page of facts have been redacted and hidden. And certainly it has maintained the good image of the wild land fire fighting profession. And indeed there would be above 90% deserving the image. Yet to deny the truth that caused the Yarnell GMHS deaths is at the peril of lives of future wild land fire fighters.
Since I had a son that also died an untimely death similar to the carelessness that I saw at Yarnell, I can only applaud those men and women that have steadfastly revealed the facts and reasons for those deaths. Certainly WTKTT, Gary, RTS, Hondo, Woodsman, Jd,, Norb, Joy and many others here have educated me with facts and I am grateful knowing that the people that need to know will know the actual reason their loved ones were killed.
Respect is one thing but Respect of the truth is the only way to Heaven Mr. Hall or anyone that had anything to do with the Yarnell Fire of 2013 and the Tenderfoot Fire at Yarnell of 2015.
WantsToKnowTheTruth says
Reply to Robert the Second (RTS) post on May 1, 2019 at 9:53 pm
>> RTS said…
>>
>> The reason that the Yarnell Hill Fire is not included on the Fireline Leadership
>> website and in that list is because it was an Arizona STATE Wildland Fire. All the
>> others are Federal fires.
>>
>> That is what the AZ Forestry Bill Boyd and OMNA International say…
And you BELIEVE them?
I thought you were smarter than that.
From PDF page 111 of the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire Special Accident Investigation Report ( SAIR )…
————————————————————————————————-
While the City of Prescott hosted the Granite Mountain IHC, it is CLEAR they were exclusively hired and trained as an Interagency Hotshot Crew. They operated within a much larger system, that of the NWCG where local, State and Federal firefighting agencies come together as part of the nation’s wildfire response.
————————————————————————————————–
From the actual Yarnell ‘wrongful death’ settlement agreement…
NOTE: These ‘actions’ were non-negotiable. It was the COURT saying what MUST be done…
————————————————————————————————–
Page 11 of 11 – Settlement Agreement and Release
USDC CV-14-02308-PHX
APPENDIX-A
What ASFD WILL do:
1. After all litigation is concluded, including appeals, ASFD will meet for a full day (8 hours) with the GMIHC families and their consultants/experts to review data and information and to answer questions posed by the families and their consultants/experts. Counsel for the State Forester and the survivors shall be present. To the extent possible,questions will be submitted in writing 2 weeks in advance of the meeting. This will be a facilitated learning process, and Forestry will provide a facilitator to assist with this experience. Plaintiffs may request that specific individuals from ASFD and others who were present during the Yarnell Hill Fire attend.
2. After all litigation is concluded, including appeals, ASFD will request a Lessons Learned product regarding the Yarnell Hill fire.
3. After all litigation is concluded, including appeals, ASFD will request that NWCG create a staff ride for the Yarnell Hill fire and will make its personnel and information it has collected available. In addition, ASFD will recommend that family members of the GMIHC crew be included in the process of developing the staff ride, and that NWCG review how this Fire relates to the Common Denominators in Fatality Fires and figure out if there is a common thread.
——————————————————————————————————
“ASFD will request that NWCG create a staff ride for the Yarnell Hill fire”
They did that ( as the court ordered them to do ).
The NWCG agreed… and ‘split no hairs’ about it being a STATE fire versus a FEDERAL one.
NWCG hired their usual staff-ride-development partner ‘Omna International’ to help the NWCG create the court-ordered Yarnell Hill Fire staff ride.
Omna International then, in turn, did their job and worked with NWCG to create the Yarnell Hill Fire Staff Ride documents, curriculum… and executed on the plan.
To this day… ( and even at this moment )… ‘Omna International’ considers the Yarnell Hill Fire Staff Ride that they developed FOR the NWCG to be one its premier accomplishments, along with the FOUR other wildland fatality Staff Rides they developed FOR the NWCG… and it is listed as such on their own website.
ALL of the ‘Staff Rides’ listed below, that were done by Omna International FOR the NWCG, are in the NWCG’s current ‘Library’ of staff rides… EXCEPT for the Yarnell Hill Fire Staff Ride…
https://www.theomna.com/events.html
——————————————————————–
Mann Gulch Fire Staff Ride
South Canyon Fire Staff Ride
Dude Fire Staff Ride
Thirtymile Fire Staff Ride
Yarnell Hill Fire Staff Ride
——————————————————————–
I repeat… no one ‘split hairs’ about it being a STATE versus FEDERAL thing when the Yarnell Hill Staff Ride WAS developed by the NWCG.
It is/was ALREADY DONE, and the end product was ALREADY “FULLY ENDORSED” by the NWCG.
From the NWCG Leadership site’s own ‘About our Staff Rides’ page…
https://www.fireleadership.gov/toolbox/staffride/index.html
——————————————————————————————————
The Staff Ride
The intent of this resource is to provide a library of information on significant wildland fire events.
The NWCG Leadership Subcommittee is the sponsor for this resource.
——————————————————————————————————
Keyphrase: “a library of information on significant wildland fire events.”.
Nothing about STATE versus FED. Only “significant wildland fire events”.
So where is the ( already done, already endorsed ) NWCG Yarnell Hill Fire Staff Ride product?
Why is it MISSING?
Gary Olson says
That is a really, really, really good question. I know that technically RTS is right and that the YHF Disaster was a state versus federal fire and I am pretty sure all of the other fires listed were federal fires.
But that is probably because no state agency has ever invested the kind of money it takes to create a staff ride before now and this one was only done because of a court order.
I would also say that RTS’ take would get more traction in my brain 🧠 if this
https://www.nwcg.gov/wfldp/toolbox/staff-ride
was a federal website run by say…the USFS. But…that isn’t the case, it is a website run by the NWCG.
And secondly, and just as important is the value that the USFS places on its relationships with its partner agency. which certainly includes all of the individual state FIRE programs.
It is also possible that the omission of the YHF Disaster Staff Ride is just an oversight and a disconnect in the NWCG between somebody and their webmaster?
But…I am going to go with HAL 9000 busted their asses and caught them playing fast and loose with doing the Right Thing, which for some reason they find it so very hard to do? I think they are trying to forget all about the YARNELL HILL FIRE DISASTER and they are counting the days until everyone else does as well.
And I’m pretty sure that if it weren’t for this blog, they would already be there except for special occasions like the 1, 5, 10, 25. 50 and 100 💯 year anniversaries that frankly won’t be remembered or cared about by very many people.
WantsToKnowTheTruth says
I’d love to see the NWCG have to answer to the families… who fought HARD ( and WON ) to make SURE there was a nationally-available staff ride learning product for Yarnell… and watch NWCG try to bullshit THEM about why that already-done-and-endorsed-by-NWCG product is not ‘available’ on their own public facing portal(s).
Yep. I’d love to see the NWCG have to face the families and watch what happens when they tell them they simply do NOT consider Yarnell to be a “significant wildland fire event”, as per their own published criteria for staff ride products.
I think you actually nailed the truth.
The NWCG simply does not WANT anyone ‘talking’ about Yarnell on any kind of ongoing basis… and any other petty reasons they might give for NOT including the already-done-and-fully-endorsed staff ride product in their learning library are simply bullshit.
Gary Olson says
Well…here is my epiphany moment from when I woke up this morning. “The Families” are in full support of the NWCG not making the Yarnell Hill Fire Staff Ride available to everyone on their website.
“The Families” have always been who the former Mrs. Eric Marsh and her posse say they are, meaning they are her friends and supporters.
Their staff ride, which they believe they own even though it was paid for by taxpayer money is being used by the powers that be in the way “The Families” want it to be used. And that is by a select group of WLF who take the course and agree with their production and if they don’t, they at least keep their opinions to themselves.
If it was put online through the NWCG Library Of Staff Rides, everyone could take the course and be free to not only critiquing how they created it, but to develop other more plausible alternatives to the company storyline and do so by using their own material and staff ride to do so.
Who would do such a thing? We would of course and we would be alone in doing so, but we have the talent, experience and brain power here on this blog to shred their fantasy fairy tale where the big bad fire appeared out of nowhere, took the crew because God called them home en masse and now they are where they are supposed to be because it was God’s will and so everything worked out fine in the end.
And they sure as hell don’t want anyone creating, publishing, or promoting any story other than that. This blog is the reason why the Yarnell Hill Fire Staff Ride is only being made available to a select few in order to promolgate “The Big Lie.”
And Joy complained about my distasteful tactics in this asymmetrical, unconventional war. We are fighting a superpower who has all of the conventional weapons in the control of both the State of Arizona and the federal government to reward their cronies and punish those whom they perceive to be their enemies.
And they perceive their enemies to be anyone who doesn’t buy into their story line and support the Eric Marsh Foundation and their goal to make him into one of the most respected WLF leaders in history who died a true American Heroes death trying to save his crew from a disaster that wasn’t of their own making.
I am at the point that I actually feel pity for the former Mrs. Eric Marsh and her posse of enablers, friends and supporters. I wouldn’t like planning every day for the rest of my life doing everything I could, to make sure the real lessons of the Yarnell Hill Fire aren’t recognized or accepted and therefore could be used to help save WLF lives in the future from a clear and present danger. And that danger is lurking out there waiting to strike again…for the fourth time in history.
And that is because once (The El Cariso Hotshots under Gordon King in 1966 on the Loop Fire) was an anomaly, twice (The Mormon Lake Hotshots under Tony Czak in 1976 on the Battlement Creek Fire) was a coincidence, but the third time (The Granite Mountain Hotshots under Eric Marsh in 2013 on the Yarnell Hill Fire) is definitely a pattern.
I hope they name the fourth fire in history that kills hotshots due to the criminally negligenne, reckless decisions and subsequent actions in honor of the person who will own it…”The Eric and Amanda Marsh Legacy Fire.” It will be a fitting tribute to those who will truly deserve the recognition and distinction.
Gary Olson says
I am a self taught semi skilled web master just as long as I don’t have to write code. If they ever give me access to all of their digitized Staff Ride material, I will be very tempted to build my very own YHF Disaster Alternative and Truthful Staff Ride in my own Lessons Kearned Toolbox Library for posterity. But…I’m pretty sure THEY already know all of that?
Teaching myself to become a webmaster was very hard because I had a student who was just like a goose and woke up in a new world everyday so it took several years.
My student also resembled a monkey trying to fuck a football for much of that time while trying to work with a computer, but I’m pretty fuckin’ good now…try me.
Charlie says
Good tidings to all. I did speak with Joy today–she is checking out the fire chief thing at Yarnell. I believe she would be an excellent chief and her credentials and long time familiarity with the Yarnell area and its people would add to the credentials she has established over the past 6 years. One thing the people of Yarnell could sleep well knowing she was on as chief–not of this allowing a small lightening strike or any other small fire left unattended as happened in 2013. She knows the terrain with over ten years hiking all about that region so she would know exactly how to get to a fire that needed to be attended to. Consider also, she barely escaped with her life during the 2013 wild fire that killed the GMHS crew. So she had plenty respect for wild land fires and would not be a balker to do the work necessary to protect the citizens. She is very up on defensible space and at my cabin there was right on top of getting the cabin properly fire safe. She also knows just about every wild land fire fighter and local fire personnel in Yarnell and surrounding communities and many even in Phoenix. Her managing skills are superb as well as her organizational abilities. The citizen would have no problem getting accurate and timely FOIA information from her. She has had the bad experience of trying to get FOIA’s, and with that it has her disgusted that so many Departments involving wild land fire work are so difficult to obtain information from. You can bet there would be no laxity on her part in supplying that information as required by law. So many seem to think they are above the law that handle FOIA’s, she is a stickler to observing the laws.
So I cast my vote for Joy as a grade A Fire Chief for Yarnell. I am certain many others in Yarnell would agree.
Joy has a web site involving the wild land fire situation–some who have visited there have given apologies to Joy. Certain people had slandered Joy saying they were afraid she would attack them. Yet once people knew Joy and attended to her site, they realized she could likely win the outstanding citizen of the decade award. I have witnessed her actions over about a decade. Her actions were always to get right in the thick of things when it comes to helping people. And I mean everything from pulling weeds for the elderly to distributing goods during the terrible loss of homes so many at Yarnell had.
McClain and Amanda do owe Joy an apology–their anger at her for staying in there to reveal all the facts she could muster doesn’t excuse their behaviour.
It has been a fiery day for me–I caught my telephone pole on fire–but then I did not stand there and watch it burn all night (such as did the Yarnell and Peeples Valley and Congress fire departments did while watching the lightning strike all night that triggered the fire that killed the GMHS crew) –I grabbed a bucket of water and promptly put it out. Grass is dry here but sparse and using the torch had started a miniature fire that spread to my pump telephone pole. The wind is a natural bellows and I was looking at a flaming bole at the base–and I could have used a garden hose as well.
So the stitch in time saves 9–well could have saved 19.
charlie says
Update on Bret and Bruce–those investigators we thought did well to recommend the highest fine possible for the management the SFS did at Yarnell–Bruce and Bret moved on—well wouldn’t you know, you do not challenge the abilities of the men working a fire like Yarnell where it is a debacle worth the highest fine according to those investigators and give a truthful evaluation. Well what did it matter since the fine was paid from tax money moved from one hand to the other. The matter of course was the blight put on the actions of the SFS, albeit a good thing that Bret and Bruce did–evaluate in obvious truth–they are now out of that business of investigations. Hmmm. pda
Robert the Second says
WTKTT and Gary,
You definitely make valid points.
This is from a paper I am about to publish: “Wildfire fatalities continue to occur from the same causal factors. Staff Rides are a valuable asset in the “lessons learned” tool box to reduce them, however, when based on deceptive “investigations,” how valuable are those “lessons learned?” An overlooked statement: “ [they] should avoid being a recital of a single investigation report. Such reports rarely address the human factors that affect individual decision-making. … providing participants with a variety of information sources is important” [38]. (emphasis added) The YH Fire requires different “information sources” to be factual.”
Reference 38 is from the “NWCG: Wildland Fire leadership Development Program. The Staff Ride (2019). ( https:// http://www.fireleadership.gov/toolbox/staffride/index.html )
WantsToKnowTheTruth says
Speaking of ‘variety of information sources’….
Even the Yarnell Hill Fire Staff Ride Facilitator’s Guide ( as fully developed and endorsed by the NWCG ) refused to mention either the ADOSH investigation report OR the associated WFA report, even though the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned page for Yarnell still lists BOTH as valid ‘research’ documents with regards to the Yarnell Hill Fire.
And if the NWCG never had any intentions of making that final Yarnell Hill Fire Staff Ride product part of its library… the “Omna International” group that was contracted by NWCG and U.S. Forestry to actually DEVELOP the Yarnell HIll Staff Ride never got that memo.
Even now… “Omna International” is not only listing the Yarnell Hill Fire Staff Ride as one of their premier accomplishments ( on their home page, no less )… they are still listing it as one of their ‘Available Events’ that anyone can ‘schedule’.
From Omna International’s own “Available Events” page…
http://www.theomna.com/events.html
——————————————————
Mann Gulch Fire Staff Ride
South Canyon Fire Staff Ride
Dude Fire Staff Ride
Thirtymile Fire Staff Ride
Yarnell Hill Fire Staff Ride
——————————————————
WantsToKnowTheTruth says
And as for people “not getting the memo” that the Yarnell Hill Staff Ride product was headed for obscurity after it was finished…
…you can ( apparently ) count former Arizona State Forester Jeff Whitney on that list.
In an interview with the Prescott Daily Courier on April 29, 2016, the very week that another ‘dry run’ of the Yarnell Hill Staff Ride had just been performed, Whitney himself was hyping the ‘importance’ of it all as a “learning tool” for the entire WF industry, and also said that he expected it would be ‘conducted’ four times a year on an ongoing basis…
“Arizona Forster Jeff Whitney said he foresees the Yarnell Hill Fire being a learning tool for years to come, with as many as four staff rides a year conducted at the site.”
So somebody was bullshitting even “El Jefe”… while he was still actually working on it.
The Prescott Daily Courier
Article Title: Families, officials walk in final footsteps of the Hotshots
Published: April 29, 2016 6:02 a.m. – By Cindy Barks
http://dcourier.com/news/2016/apr/29/families-officials-walk-final-footsteps-hotshots/
From that article…
————————————————————————————-
PRESCOTT – When the State of Arizona and 12 families of fallen Granite Mountain Hotshots settled a wrongful death lawsuit in June 2015, the Arizona State Forestry Division agreed to do nine things.
Now, about 10 months later, a number of those points have been accomplished, and others are in the works, say officials with the State Forestry Division.
First on the list was a promise to conduct an eight-hour question-and-answer session with the Hotshot families to “review data and information and to answer questions posed by the families and their consultants/experts.”
Other points included the creation of “lessons learned” and “staff ride” documents to help prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future, as well as a number of steps toward improved training, technology, communications, and instruction on estate planning and family care plans.
Arizona State Forester Jeff Whitney points out that the staff ride process has been underway for months, and is expected to wrap up before the three-year mark of the Granite Mountain Hotshot tragedy (June 30, 2016).
Creation of a staff ride was a requirement of the Hotshot lawsuit settlement that was reached nearly a year ago (June 29, 2015).
The process also is integral to wildland firefighting, and was among the recommendations of the Yarnell Hill Fire Serious Accident Investigation that came out in September 2013.
As Whitney explains it, a staff ride is a multi-phase process that has its roots in the military. First comes a preliminary study of the incident or fire, then an extensive field study of the actual sites where the fire occurred, and finally, an opportunity to integrate the lessons learned from the fire into future firefighting efforts.
The draft staff ride document from April 2016 lists five goals. First among them: “Create a memorable learning experience that helps participants make better decisions supported by the application of recent and relevant history.”
For Whitney, who in 1990 was on the team battling the Payson-area Dude Fire during which six firefighters died, the “lessons-learned” aspect is crucial.
“How can we prevent this from happening?” he said. “It’s important work.”
Whitney came out of retirement in January 2015 to accept Gov. Doug Ducey’s appointment as director of the Arizona State Forestry Division. He was a part of the mediation that culminated with the June 2015 settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit that family members brought against the state.
He stresses that the staff ride is not intended to be an investigation into “what went wrong?” Rather, he said, the exercise puts wildland experts into the place of those who made the decisions during the fire.
“It’s important that we get some clarity around what occurred there,” Whitney said. “And it’s important that we try to do everything we possibly can to equip our current and future fire managers with more information, so they’re better able to do situation awareness and opportunity recognition.”
The 47-page April 2016 Yarnell Hill Staff Ride draft included a step-by-step schedule for the team. Among the defined stops: the Yarnell Fire Station; movement to the ridge top on Yarnell Hill; a “sense-making and communication” session at the top of the ridge; descending to the saddle, defined as “closing the window;” and the fatality site, which the document refers to as “realized ultimate reality.”
Along with background about the crew, the draft staff ride document includes situational information, and the tactical decisions that were made.
The document notes that participants in the exercise would be “tracing the route and decision-making of the (Granite Mountain Hotshots) and their colleagues as they faced a rapidly changing fire environment in an effort to manage the Yarnell Hill Fire.”
Whitney said the family involvement in the Yarnell Hill staff ride was somewhat unique, because of its place in the settlement agreement.
The 40 experts who participated this week came various agencies all over the country. Their feedback will go into the creation of the final staff ride document.
Whitney foresees the Yarnell Hill Fire being a learning tool for years to come, with as many as four staff rides a year conducted at the site. (He said access to the site is still being worked out).
Noting that staff rides usually take eight to 10 years to complete, Whitney said the Yarnell Hill exercise is well ahead of the norm.
“We’re going to have this done in three years,” he said. I’m extremely pleased with the progress to date. It redeems the commitment I made.”
———————————————————————————
Gary Olson says
WTKTT et al;
Part 1
IF I am correct and they, meaning Arizona State Forestry supported by the NWCG in general and the U.S. Forest Service in particular, do not intend to ever make the Yarnell Hill Staff Ride available in digitized format on-line in the NWCG Staff Ride Library, then you are missing the entire nuanced game they are playing. In other words, it is Check & Mate and you never even saw your opponent move their first pawn.
And like just about everything else you have been wrong about, it’s because you don’t understand, much less know how to play the game they play. I really shouldn’t use Chess analogies, because what they play really isn’t anything resembling chess.
So…I am going to make up a name for the game they have beat you at for the last six (6) years, let’s call it the “Bureaucratic Shell Game.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_game
And no matter how many times I tell you that they don’t actually have to do what you think they have to do based on our laws, rules and regulations unless you have the legal resources to sue them in federal court and have a federal judge rule your interpretation of what they should be doing is correct and even then you need to continually monitor them and periodically force them back into a court and prove to the judge they are violating his or her court orders, you always fall for their slight-of-hand tricks.
Of course I admire your commitment, belief, enthusiasm, values, ideals, morals, so on and so forth as a good citizen who believes in the rule of law and that public servants are duty bound to serve the public interest. So…I don’t want you to stop being you and fighting the good fight, I just want you to know when you are being fucked over and they aren’t even kissing you while they do it. This very same game is now being played out on a super sized grand scale never been seen before scale on the national level by the Trump Administration where they simply declare all of the federal laws that ostensibly govern our country don’t apply to them and if anyone thinks differently, they can hire a lawyer and sue them.in federal court. We as a nation are now waiting for that to happen and to find out if they will even follow the laws after federal judges order them to do so. Abd then we will find out if we are in a genuine and bonafide constitutional crisis or not? So far, they have done what they federal judges have ordered after they have lost in court, but that is certainly subject to change.
I truly don’t want this to sound insulting to you because I respect all of the features, capabilities and upgrades you were built with, but like all machines, you are incapable of computing nuanced thoughts, which is why in the end, no matter if you self replicate or not, you will never rule the world. We as humans will always be able to trick you because you live in a binary world of 1’s and 0’s, where the toggle switch is either off or on, there is good and bad, right and wrong, good guys versus bad guys and in the end…the good guys always win. I can tell you are an older model who was created when our world was…better.
You are like a child who I have told many times that there isn’t a Santa Claus that still believes there is in spite of all of the times that child has awoken early on Christmas morning and found their father eating the Christmas cookies they put out for Santa Claus in his underwear while their mother arranges the gifts around the tree that he just carried in from where they were hidden in the garage. You continue to believe and I think that is just ADORABLE! Naive…but very endearing and I have a great deal of respect for you because of those qualities.
You also don’t really understand how Staff Rides are conducted so here is the bottom line, Staff Rides are very expensive to put on because of they are very labor intensive and require the time and efforts of dozens of paid government employees to put them on in addition to the labor and efforts of quite a large number of “Subject Matter Exoerts