Crew Cohesion

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Crew Cohesion

• Cohesion and Fire Crewsa Long Standing Concern
• Experts Who Have Studied Why People
• Died Fighting Wildfires Have Long Noted a
  Connection Between Fire Crew Cohesion And
  Fatalities. Lets Look at This Connection In the
  Context of Three Firefighting Tragedies.

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Part - Crew Cohesion at the Mann Gulch, South
Canyon,and Thirtymile Fires

• Intra-crew cohesion is the cohesion within a
  single crew fighting a fire.
• Inter-crew cohesion refers to cohesion between
  different crews fighting the same fire as well as
  their cohesion with fire managers.

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Part I Crew Cohesion at the Mann Gulch, South
Canyon Thirtymile Fires

• Crews did not know each other very well and
  where loosely coupled.
• On the South Canyon fire the three crews working
  the fire did not have good inter-crew cohesion.
• On the 30 Mile fire the two district crews that
  made up the one crew did have good intra-crew
  cohesion.

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Intracrew Cohesion

• Work and train together to develop a bond.
• The smokejumpers on the Mann Gulch fire rarely
  worked together and it was the first fire for
  some.
• The Type II crew on the 30 Mile fire was made up
  of two district crews to form one crew.

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Intercrew Cohesion

• Blending with other crews and within crew did not
  occur.
• Both the 30 Mile and South Canyon fires had no
  clear direction of Tactics or Chain of Command.

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CohesionA Definition
When the word cohesion is used in relation to
groups, people are describing how closely tied
together they are as a group. But the meaning of
cohesion extends far beyond this. People in
cohesive groups speak openly of themselves as a
little family. They often talk about their
cohesion in spiritual and reverential ways.
Members of military, sports, and work teams may
use the word cohesion to describe a kind of
intensified spiritual state of interpersonal
connectedness or a special group chemistry.
When people experience cohesion in the groups
they belong to, they speak as if they have been
blessed with a special kind of strength that
enables them to overcome great obstacles. The
special strength provided by cohesion has not
gone unnoticed by sociologists.
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Suicide The Problemof Cohesion in ModernHuman
Groups

• People belonging to groups with low cohesion had
  higher suicide rates
• Low cohesion had higher suicide rates than those
  who belonged to highly cohesive groups. Groups
  without rules fit into this category.

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Accidents and Cohesion in Forest Service Crews

• Crew cohesion is made by individual workers
  themselves when they establish agreements about
  the rules that govern a host of their day-to-day
  work practices.

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Accidents andCohesion in ForestService Crews - 1

• Accidents in field crews were inversely
  correlated with the cohesion in the crews. In
  other words, the greater the crew cohesion, the
  fewer the accidents.

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Accidents andCohesion in ForestService Crews - 2

• Members of cohesive crews talk frankly with one
  another about their ongoing expectations.
• These expectations govern such things as
• work pace,
• rest periods,
• decision making,
• humor,
• warnings of danger,
• requests for help,
• assistance for fellow crewmembers,
• complaints,
• sharing food,
• and other practical matters that bear directly on
  maintaining their cohesion.

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Accidents andCohesion in ForestService Crews - 3

• Cohesion, and the protection it affords
  individual workers, comes about only after crews
  have tested and negotiated acceptable norms
  governing their work practices.
• It takes time for this cohesion to develop. In
  studies, It takes from 6 to 8 weeks for
  individual seasonal workers to click into
  crews.

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Brainstorming Transition - What do each of the
terms below mean to you as a fire fighter or fire
crew supervisor in relationship to transition.

• Inter-crew
• Intra-crew
• Initial Attack
• Extended Attack
• Transition Phase
• Inter-agency
• Inter-regional
• Other

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Firefighter Fatalities and Transition Fires

• Transition from an Initial Attack Incident to an
  Extended Attack Incident. Early recognition by
  the Initial Attack IC (Incident Commander) that
  the initial attack forces will not control a fire
  is important.
• As soon as the Initial Attack IC recognizes that
  additional resources are needed or knows
  additional forces are en-route, the IC may need
  to withdraw from direct fire line suppression and
  must prepare for the transition to the Extended
  Attack.

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Firefighter Fatalities and Transition Fires

• Initial attack fires can vary according to area.
  Some initial attack fires may consist of a
  single tree with some ground fire that can be
  handled by a single resource (engine crew or
  small contingent).
• Other initial attack fires can have complexity
  in place before anyone arrives on scene as is the
  case in most southern California areas.

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Firefighter Fatalities and Transition Fires -
cont

• Extended attack fires which occur when resources
  cant handle the fire during initial attack can
  become dangerous because of the transition that
  occurs with the crews on scene having to fight
  the fire with other resources and agencies coming
  in (transition) and the length of shift that
  could occur.

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Firefighter Fatalities and Transition Fires
Transition Stage

• The transition stage is confusing because the
  fire community uses the word transition in two
  senses.
• First, transition refers to a time when a fire
  is changing from a small, type IV or V fire to a
  much larger type III fire.
• In ordinary language, this means the fire has
  grown big.

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Firefighter Fatalities and Transition Fires
Transition Stage cont.

• Some fires grow big suddenly.
• Firefighters use different words to describe
  this moment blowing up, taking off, losing
  control, or making a run.
• During transition, the fire has quickly expanded
  beyond the capacity of the resources that were
  initially assigned to control it.

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Transition and Fatalities Transition Phase

• The other dangerous phase of a wildfire is the
  transition phase, when the fire has escaped
  initial attack efforts and higher level incident
  management teams are being brought in.

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Transition and Fatalities Transition Phase
cont.

• During this phase some confusion may exist over
  areas of responsibility Locations of different
  resources such as crews, engines, or line
  overhead Or appropriate radio frequencies for
  tactical operations.
• This is often the time the fire is exceeding the
  capability of the initial attack.

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Transition and Fatalities Transition Phase cont.

• Most of the burnover events occurred during the
  initial attack or extended initial-attack phase.
• This is when the firefighters are often involved
  in independent action,
• either as members of a small crew,
• an engine,
• or even as individuals.

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Transition and Fatalities Transition Phase cont.

• The higher levels of incident management teams
  are not on the scene,
• communication may be confused,
• fire weather and behavior conditions may not be
  widely known or recognized,
• and the chain of command may not be well
  established.

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What This Means

• Poor inter-crew and intra-crew cohesion during
  the fire transition stage is a major factor in
  wildland fire fatalities. Cohesion problems that
  were quite different existed in crews on the Mann
  Gulch, South Canyon, and Thirtymile Fires.
• Because of the rapid growth of such fires and
  the associated transition of command, it is
  difficult for crew bosses to create the minimally
  required inter-crew cohesion before starting
  extended attack.
• Sociologists know from their studies that
  cohesive groups are safer than groups with little
  or no cohesion.

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Some Impressions of Different Wildland Fire Crews
and Their Cohesion

• Type I Hotshot Crews - Interagency Hotshot Crew
  Operations Guide (Anon. 2001) These standards
  specify working and training requirements,
  experience levels, and the assignment of
  permanent supervisors.
• Because of these requirements, crewmembers are
  able to establish deep understandings of each
  other as people, work out their own internal
  division of labor, and learn ho to fight fire
  together as a tightly knit crew. In most
  instances, one would expect high cohesion in
  hotshot crews.

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Summary

• Know and understand strengths and weaknesses
  between crew members and supervisors.
• Work, train and do things together to help
  develop a bond with each other.
• Learn how to identify the lack of cohesiveness
  amongst resources we are working with on
  incidents and provide assistance as needed.
• Be conscientious of the transition period of
  fires and know the difference between initial
  attack to extended attack and management
  transition.

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Exercise 1 Transition recognition and readiness

• Your a crew member on a fire crew en-route to
  initial attack a fast moving brush fire in
  Southern California.
• While sitting in the back of the vehicle youve
  been listening to the radio and it sounds like
  the fire is getting away from the units on scene.
• What kind of transition is occurring and what
  can you prepare yourself and crew members for
  before you arrive on scene?

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Exercise 2 Inter-crew Cohesion

• Youre a crew supervisor of a Type I hand crew
  thats currently on assignment in Arizona.
• The assignment for the day is to work on
  Division B and prep the division for a possible
  firing operation. Other resources on the division
  are a Strike Team of Type IV Engines, 3 dozers, 3
  felling crews, 2 Type II hand crews, 2 field
  observers and a safety officer.
• The dozers have a DOZB except for one dozer, the
  felling crews have a felling boss but exhibits
  very little experience
• What things can you do to help complete the
  operation safely using your crew?

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Exercise 3 Crew Cohesion

• You just received a call from the Battalion to
  have you go to a station on the district and
  cover for the day and run the engine crew.
• What kind of cohesion issues will you have and
  how will you address them?

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Exercise 4 Cohesion

• Come up with exercises to meet the audience
  needs.
• Examples
• STL (crew, engine, dozer)
• TFL
• ICT3
• Ops
• Other

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Inter-Agency Cohesion

• In present day situations, new cooperation
  agreements, team assignments and all risk
  becoming a part of our future, what are we doing
  to address cohesion between agencies and all risk
  assignments?
• Something to think about
• A typical first alarm fire on the Angeles
  response with LA County mutual aid will consist
  of 2-3 hand crews, 5 engines, 1-2 air tankers, 2
  helicopters (medium and heavy), 1 dozer, 1-2
  water tenders, a patrol and 2 chief officers.
  The county will send just about the same
  response.
• If the fire escapes the initial attack forces
  then the response will double.
• What cohesion factors are involved and how is
  transition identified and addressed?