The Fire Management Deep Smarts Project: interviews with key people involved with the Yellowstone fires of 1988 and with experts in returning natural fire to wilderness and National Park Service lands

Metadata:

• Identification_Information
• Data_Quality_Information
• Entity_and_Attribute_Information
• Distribution_Information
• Metadata_Reference_Information

Identification_Information:

Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: Thomas, David A.

Originator: Leonard, Dorothy A.

Originator: Miller, Carol

Publication_Date: 2012

Title:

The Fire Management Deep Smarts Project: interviews with key people involved with the Yellowstone fires of 1988 and with experts in returning natural fire to wilderness and National Park Service lands

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: transcripts

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Fort Collins, CO

Publisher: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Online_Linkage: https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2012-0010

Description:

Abstract:

This data publication contains transcripts from 74 videotaped or audiotaped interviews of highly experienced wildland fire managers that were conducted between 2006 and 2009. These experts have extensive expertise in prescribed fire, fire behavior prediction and wildland fire use. They represented mainly USDA Forest Service and National Park Service fire agencies, and most positional levels within these fire organizations and most geographical sections of the United States. Included is an one interview with an international fire behavior prediction expert from Canada. After providing brief biographical information, interviewees were asked to describe a challenge they had worked through in their fire management careers. Follow-up questions attempted to solicit the particular skill sets, cognitive and managerial, the subjects used to solve or to work-through the challenge they chose to talk about. This set of skills was considered to be part of their "deep smarts".

Purpose:

The purpose of this Fire Management Deep Smarts Project was to capture the experience of seasoned employees who are acknowledged by their peers to have high expertise in planning and implementing fire programs. There are many possible uses for these interview transcripts. For example, in one instance, we tried to determine if these wildland fire managers naturally possessed one or more of the five properties of high reliability organizing mindfulness (HRO-mindfulness) as defined by Weick and Sutcliffe (2001; 2007; 2008). This analysis of the interviews showed that these wildland fire managers did operate very effectively sometimes utilizing an HRO-mindfulness framework. As a result this study constructed a preliminary outline of what a widely accepted model of HRO-mindfulness looks like for wildland fire managers as it moves more completely from "theory to action". The results from this project can be used to coach and train wildland fire managers and other individuals working in high risk occupations in HRO-mindfulness, helping them to operate more safely and effectively.

These interviews were also used to develop "deep smarts" video podcasts hosted at the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center website, Tucson, Arizona (http://www.wildfirelessons.net/). The deep smarts effort was promulgated using Dr. Dorothy Leonard's (Harvard Business School) model of deep smarts (2005), a method of identifying tacit knowledge in highly experienced fire manager's heads.

There are also other ways to make use of this interview material, such a writing histories of the wildland fire use program in both the Forest Service and National Park Service, and in developing training programs to coach and mentor apprentice fire managers.

Leonard, D. & Swap, W. 2005. Deep smarts: How to cultivate and transfer enduring business wisdom. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.

Weick, Karl E. & Sutcliffe, Kathleen M. 2001. Managing the unexpected: Assuring high performance in an age of complexity. Jossey-Bass, John Wiley & Sons.

Weick, K. E. & Sutcliffe, K. 2007. Managing the unexpected: Resilient performance in an age of uncertainty. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

Weick, K.E. & Sutcliffe, K.M. 2008. Organizing for higher reliability: Lessons learned from wildland firefighters. Fire Management Today, Vol. 68, No. 2, Spring 2008.

Supplemental_Information:

Original metadata date was 10/23/2012. Minor metadata updates on 03/26/2014. Minor metadata updates on 12/09/2016.

Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 2006

Ending_Date: 2009

Currentness_Reference:

ground condition

Status:

Progress: Complete

Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: None planned

Spatial_Domain:

Description_of_Geographic_Extent:

Most geographical sections of the United States were represented. One interview with a Canadian from Edmonton, Alberta, is included.

Bounding_Coordinates:

West_Bounding_Coordinate: -124

East_Bounding_Coordinate: -53

North_Bounding_Coordinate: 49.00

South_Bounding_Coordinate: 25

Keywords:

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Theme_Keyword: wildland fire

Theme_Keyword: deep smarts

Theme_Keyword: public and firefighter safety

Theme_Keyword: learning organization

Theme_Keyword: natural resource management

Theme_Keyword: wilderness fire management

Theme_Keyword: national park fire management

Theme_Keyword: decision making

Theme_Keyword: knowledge management

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ISO 19115 Topic Category

Theme_Keyword: society

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: National Research & Development Taxonomy

Theme_Keyword: Environment and People

Theme_Keyword: Decision making, public involvement

Theme_Keyword: Fire

Theme_Keyword: Fire suppression, pre-suppression

Theme_Keyword: Prescribed fire

Place:

Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Place_Keyword: United States

Place_Keyword: Canada

Access_Constraints: None

Use_Constraints:

These data were collected using funding from the U.S. Government and can be used without additional permissions or fees. If you use these data in a publication, presentation, or other research product please use the following citation:

Thomas, David A.; Leonard, Dorothy A.; Miller, Carol. 2012. The Fire Management Deep Smarts Project: interviews with key people involved with the Yellowstone fires of 1988 and with experts in returning natural fire to wilderness and National Park Service lands. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2012-0010

PLEASE NOTE: It is extremely important to be professional, cautious and empathetic when using these materials, for many of the interview subjects spoke openly, candidly, and emotionally about their fire management careers.

Point_of_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Dave Thomas

Contact_Organization: Renoveling, Ogden, UT

Contact_Position: Contractor/Consultant

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing

Address: 2334N 500W

City: Ogden

State_or_Province: UT

Postal_Code: 84414

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 801-782-2912

Data_Set_Credit:

Funding for this project provided by USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station and Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center.

We thank Margaret McCaffrey for her assistance with the Denver interviews, Brenna McDowell for her assistance with the Johnson City, Tennessee, interviews, Kirstin Manganini for her aid with the Yellowstone and Yosemite National Park interviews, and Katie Knotek with our early initial efforts in Missoula, Montana.

See \Supplements\Interview_details.pdf (included in the full data publication download) for a list of interviewees, along with the interviewer and videographer.

Cross_Reference:

Citation_Information:

Originator: Thomas, David A.

Originator: Miller, Carol

Originator: Fox, Rebekah

Publication_Date: Unknown

Title:

HRO-mindfulness, a common trait of highly skilled fire managers

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: journal article

Series_Information:

Series_Name: Society and Natural Resources: An International Journal

Issue_Identification:

Other_Citation_Details:

In revision.

Data_Quality_Information:

Attribute_Accuracy:

Attribute_Accuracy_Report:

The transcripts were transcribed from the audio recordings taken from the videotaped interviews. The level of accuracy is not known, however if the transcriptionist was not confident in the recording (garble, poor re-recording, word or name pronunciation), the unknown text or confused wording was noted. Personal names often were misspelled in the original transcripts.

Logical_Consistency_Report:

A professional transcriptionist was used to transcribe the interviews. We are unsure of how the data were checked for errors beyond the steps outlined in the Process Steps section.

Completeness_Report:

There are some cases where the date of the interview is unknown.

In the transcription process there are occasions where the audio was unknown or inaudible. In these cases "?" or "[inaudible]" was inserted in the text.

Lineage:

Methodology:

Methodology_Type: Field

Methodology_Description:

Interviews were conducted from 2006-2009 with wildland fire managers knowledgeable in various aspects of wildland fire management operations. Nearly half of the interviewees had retired. Interviewees from the National Park Service had worked in Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Everglades, and Grand Teton national parks. 16 interviews were with people involved with the 1988 Yellowstone National Park fires. USFS employees had managed fires in the Selway-Bitterroot, Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, Absarokee-Beartooth, Gros Ventre, Bridger-Teton and Gospel Hump wildernesses.

Selection of Interview Subjects

All interviewees were recognized by their workplace peers (and within the wider wildland fire community) as being very good at their wildland fire jobs. They were valued for their deep experiential knowledge of wildland fire management operations. No attempt was made to pre-determine or verify if an interviewee had certain expertise; interview selection was based primarily on a peer's recommendation. Fire management expertise spanned at least six generic work domains: 1. prescribed fire operations; 2. fire behavior forecasting; 3. media (including public and fire information); 4. management (individuals responsible for strategic decision making); 5. fire behavior and fire ecology research scientists; 6. tactical fire management operations.

Interview Questioning Process

Guidance on interview technique was adapted from numerous professional oral history programs: The Smithsonian Institution; The regional oral history office of The Bancroft Library University of Southern California, and the U. S. Army's oral history program. Questioning protocols used in cognitive task analysis were also used.

Each interview began with open-ended questions concerning the subject's biography (place of birth, schooling, and a brief sketch of their career). We then asked them to think back over their career and to select and talk about a significant fire management challenge that they had successfully worked through. Directed follow-up questions were used as a guide to deepen the conversation.

Each interview was roughly one to two hours in length and produced approximately 20+ pages of transcript. Although analysis of the transcripts revealed topics worthy of further inquiry, budget constraints precluded doing follow-up interviews.

It should be noted that the Fire Management Deep Smarts Project involved three distinct categories of work:

1. Interviews with experienced wilderness natural fire managers;

2. Interviews with key people involved with the Yellowstone fires; and

3. Interviews with National Park Service employees, working and retired, to discuss Park Service fire management culture.

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

Audio tapes were made of the video recordings using a Sony digital handheld recorder. The digital tapes were compressed on a computer and then copied to a CD. Beth Swan, a transcriptionist in Missoula with Swan Secretarial Solutions, then created Word documents containing the text from the audio recordings of the interviews.

Process_Date: Unknown

Entity_and_Attribute_Information:

Overview_Description:

Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:

This data publication contains the following files:

\Data\INTERVIEWEE.pdf:
Adobe Acrobat PDF/a files containing transcripts of videotaped interviews for each INTERVIEWEE. Each transcript includes the full name of the person interviewed, title of the project, date of the interview, and the dialog during the videotaped interview.

\Supplements\CombinedWaivers_all.pdf:
Adobe Acrobat PDF file containing a scanned version of the 73 original Appearance Release forms signed by interviewees.

\Supplements\CombinedWaivers_template.pdf:
Adobe Acrobat PDF/a file containing a blank Appearance Release form.

\Supplements\Interview_details.pdf:
Adobe Acrobat PDF/a file containing a list of people interviewed along with the location of the interview, date and time, name of videographer, name of interviewer, interviewee affiliation, and short description of why person was interviewed.

Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:

none provided

Distribution_Information:

Distributor:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Organization_Primary:

Contact_Organization: USDA Forest Service, Research and Development

Contact_Position: Research Data Archivist

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing and physical

Address: 240 West Prospect Road

City: Fort Collins

State_or_Province: CO

Postal_Code: 80526

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: see Contact Instructions

Contact Instructions: This contact information was current as of December 2016. For current information see Contact Us page on: https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS.

Resource_Description: RDS-2012-0010

Distribution_Liability:

Metadata documents have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness. Unless otherwise stated, all data and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. However, neither the author, the Archive, nor any part of the federal government can assure the reliability or suitability of these data for a particular purpose. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed for a user's application of these data or related materials.

The metadata, data, or related materials may be updated without notification. If a user believes errors are present in the metadata, data or related materials, please use the information in (1) Identification Information: Point of Contact, (2) Metadata Reference: Metadata Contact, or (3) Distribution Information: Distributor to notify the author or the Archive of the issues.

Standard_Order_Process:

Non-digital_Form:

DVD versions of these videotaped interviews are available from the author (Dave Thomas) or the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center, which is located at:

National Advanced Fire & Resource Institute (NAFRI)
3265 E. Universal Way
Tucson, Arizona 85756
http://www.wildfirelessons.net/

Fees: None

Standard_Order_Process:

Digital_Form:

Digital_Transfer_Information:

Format_Name: PDF

Format_Version_Number: see Format Specification

Format_Specification:

Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format

File_Decompression_Technique: Files zipped using Winzip 14.0

Digital_Transfer_Option:

Online_Option:

Computer_Contact_Information:

Network_Address:

Network_Resource_Name: https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2012-0010

Fees: None

Metadata_Reference_Information:

Metadata_Date: 20161209

Metadata_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Dave Thomas

Contact_Organization: Renoveling, Ogden, UT

Contact_Position: Contractor/Consultant

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing

Address: 2334N 500W

City: Ogden

State_or_Province: UT

Postal_Code: 84414

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 801-782-2912

Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Biological Data Profile of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata

Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001.1-1999