Today is a day to:
Remember the 19 and their Family and Friends
Learn
Move Forward Together
Today is a day to:
Remember the 19 and their Family and Friends
Learn
Move Forward Together
For those unable to attend the memorial for these brave firefighter’s, C-SPAN offers the video here:
https://www.c-span.org/search/?searchtype=All&query=Granite+mountain+hotshots
Hard to believe it’s been 8 years.
Remember those 19
This incident is why I am passionate about TAK.
I know they broke ROEs, we are human.
Perhaps technology can make for a better outcome or prevent us from making these decisions in the first place.
I’d read awhile John Maclean, author of Fire On the Mountain, The Thirtymile Fire, etc, was working on a book about Yarnell. I recently looked up his site and there was a contact form so I inquired about the reported book and to my somewhat star-struck surprise John responded to me….
“Matt,
I’m asked this question regularly and I regularly struggle to reply. An eight year partnership with another person on the Yarnell Hill story broke up earlier this year, despite our having done a great amount of very good work. I’m trying now to find a way to get at least some of that into the hands of people like you. That’s about all I can say at this point, but I hope to have more to say later on: no guarantee, however. It’s disappointing to me, as you can guess. I appreciate your remarks and your interest.
John N.”
My sentiments exactly. All the best to their loved ones on this difficult day.
When the truth hurts these are tough stories to tell. They made mistakes and broke age old ROEs. We dont have any new situations or fire orders because of this incident. Good people make mistakes. I make em, we all do. Some have harsher consequences then others. We owe it to GM and all the close calls and tragedies before them to train and learn from them.
Hard lessons are given from the most miniscule of mistakes, things that we’ve done a thousand times and everything went just fine turn to chaos when the environment around us or even nearby us changes even slightly and we don’t notice until it’s to late. The best tools we have are our brains, eyes, ears, and the experience of others, many of whom we only get the lessons learned.
Hard to believe that today marks a decade since 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were burned over and killed on the Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona. Although we have rules of engagement that are intended to prevent tragedies like this, human factors are always at play. Where can technology help? Creating “shared consciousness” - Where am I? Where is the fire? Where are my adjoining forces? The concept of a “digital safety officer” watching over us is completely achievable. Does technology replace critical thinking? Of course not, but it can aid us in understanding what is occurring around us and might prevent a course of action leading to disaster. If disaster does strike, it is there to increase the effectiveness of the rescue response. This incident is why I am a such an evangelist for the Team Awareness Kit. When our brains and training fail us technology can perhaps give an already bad situation a fighting chance.