July was a brutal month for grass and wildfires within a couple of dozen miles of my home in Fort Worth, TX—leaving behind dozens of damaged buildings in addition to the scorched earth.
A fire in the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs was sparked by a mowing operation. It spread through some low grass before it extended to fences and then into the neighborhood, destroying or damaging two dozen homes in the development. Officials said the 20-mph wind drove the fire into the neighborhood quickly. From video at the scene, the fire’s spread to fences ignited the soffits and then engulfed home after home.
The next day in Rendon, which is a Fort Worth suburb, an indoor kitchen fire spread to the grass that surrounded the home and then to at least seven homes. Controlling the blaze required dozens of fire departments.
The Chalk Mountain fire burned through more than 6,200 acres and destroyed 16 homes in a rural area of Somervell County, and the Possum Kingdom Lake fire consumed a half-dozen homes and 500 acres. (Eleven years earlier, a fire at Possum Kingdom burned more than 125,000 acres and destroyed numerous buildings.)
Also in July, a massive fire burned at Yosemite National Park, as did others in the Pacific Northwest. Fires in Greece, Turkey, the U.K. and other parts of Europe destroyed everything in their path.
It’s time to revisit the findings from last year’s Wingspread VII gathering in Racine, WI. A small and diverse group of people from all aspects of the fire service—from fire chiefs, to researchers, to industry icons and other stakeholders—met to determine the biggest issues that the fire service faces. That meeting outlined 12 Statements of Significance that must be discussed and addressed at the local and national level.
The fires that are noted above are examples of the premise of Wingspread VII’s Statement Three: Wildland fires are a continuing and growing problem in the United States and globally, which must be solved by using all resources and technologies available.
State agencies and even private contractors have been reporting firefighter shortages, and President Biden raised the minimum pay for wildland crews, but there still is a tremendous shortage of resources, and agencies must be vocal about it, whether that regards funding for clearing brush, apparatus, staffing or equipment.
Insurance companies, businesses and the government should push the agenda of wildfire mitigation and prevention efforts to be funded properly from the start. Imagine those cost savings for everyone. As Benjamin Franklin said in 1736 when he pushed the notion of fire prevention, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
On July 22, 2022, we posted a story on Firehouse.com about Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ order to all state agencies to provide as many as five paid days off to volunteer firefighters who are helping on the front lines of his state’s wildfires, because the state’s wildfire resources are strapped. Police asked private businesses to offer a similar incentive to increase resources for the devastating fires that they are seeing annually.
This is one small step toward bolstering the number of resources, but it’s nowhere near enough.
At The Fire Chiefs Summit in New Mexico last month, staffing and recruitment were hotly discussed during several roundtables. Although this was a gathering of career chiefs, attendees who have been on the job for decades scratched their head about being unable to retain firefighters and/or recruit those who are looking for a long-term career commitment. What will you do to enhance that experience and make it a career or lifelong commitment?
At one table, a chief uttered the phrase “an experience” when he spoke of how his applicants are sticking around for no more than five years before moving on to another career/job. Another chief explained that the applicant pools have very few who are qualified and, although they can be taught the skills, they come into the department lacking the drive and courage that’s required.
This was touched on last year in Statement of Significance Six from Wingspread VII: The capability to recruit, retain, and train a qualified and diverse workforce has become an increasingly difficult task, requiring additional resources.
I would like to hear what successes your department has had when it comes to recruitment and retention, so we can share those in an upcoming forum. Please email me at [email protected] with those details.
Find the full Wingspread VII report here: wingspreadvii.org.
