2019 WOR Day 5: Muscle Memory

June 30-July 6, 2019

This Week of Remembrance is dedicated to all those who have fallen in the line of duty and is intended to serve as an opportunity to renew our commitment to the health, wellness, and safety of wildland firefighters.

Graphic of a brain lifting a barbell of weights.

What does Muscle Memory mean and what does it mean to us as firefighters?

Muscle memory by definition is “the ability to reproduce a particular movement without conscious thought, acquired as a result of frequent repetition of that movement. Typing, for instance, relies heavily on muscle memory"

Without conscious thought….let’s look at the benefit of that best of our abilities at all times on the fireline. This is an example of a positive implementation of muscle memory. The strength of muscle memory in learning the 10 and 18 is that we are implementing those steps throughout the day without conscious thought and these lessons help us to make better decisions on the fireline.

“Over time, with continual practice, actions as complicated as riding a bike, knitting, or even playing a tune on a musical instrument, can be performed almost automatically and without thought.” – Oxford University Publication

Practice develops muscle memory and this can work to our benefit on the fireline. While we may not be aware of it, the body is implementing muscle memory continually. While we are repeating actions, which at first we need to think about to execute correctly, our brain is building shortcuts resulting in our ability to do the action much quicker and with less conscious thought. Actions that we train to do, practice repeatedly and implement on the job, become second nature to us. The other benefit of this muscle memory is that once we have it, we can be thinking about other things…like the gorilla (remember that video from a couple of days ago?) for a moment.

The RT-130, Wildland Fire Safety Training Annual Refresher requires each firefighter to practice deploying their fire shelter. The Jolly Mountain Incident within an Incident Training Rapid Lesson Sharing (RLS) concluded that "Training builds great muscle memory that will be invaluable to performance during periods of high stress" such as the stress we will feel if we are ever in a deployment situation.

Consider the action involved with the E in LCES. Just identifying escape routes isn’t enough, it’s walking that escape route that develops muscle memory making it routine. Taken from the GAP Fire Tree Strike RLS- "Always have a PLANNED escape route. Make a physical connection to it by walking it out. Put some muscle memory into your efforts.” This practice could be the difference in reaction time and outcomes.

Preventing Complacency
ANALYZE small mistakes, not just the serious ones. Think you might be too complacent? TRY placing visual reminders in your line of vision such as a photo of a loved one. DISCUSS the hazards of your job with your crewmembers. SHADOW someone in a different job than you as they identify hazards. LOOK for signs of complacency in other people. This will increase your awareness of it.

Preventing Complacency

ANALYZE small mistakes, not just the serious ones.
Think you might be too complacent?
TRY placing visual reminders in your line of vision such as a photo of a loved one.
DISCUSS the hazards of your job with your crewmembers.
SHADOW someone in a different job than you as they identify hazards.
LOOK for signs of complacency in other people. This will increase your awareness of it.

Can muscle memory result in complacency? An article from the Lessons Learned Center on Complacency discusses how the routine of doing something every day can create blinders. Muscle memory built from the repetitive action such as doing the same drills several times a week can cause us to miss the subtle changes that can escalate into significant events. So how do we change our muscle memory? Active effort is required. The guide on the left “Preventing Complacency” provides some suggestions for how to adjust what we see, how to actively change our muscle memory, and function with more awareness. Exercise your brain daily, alert yourself to the hazards that may have become invisible, and come off the line safely and successfully each shift.

How do you and your crews develop muscle memory? Has muscle memory ever “failed” you at a critical point? What are some examples of negative muscle memory?

Purple ribbon symbol

How can YOU Honor through Learning?

The topics, review, and resources for the NWCG “Wildland Firefighter Week of Remembrance” have been contributed by the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center, the NWCG Leadership Committee, and many other field subject matter experts.

Have an idea or feedback?

Share it with the NWCG 6MFS Subcommittee.

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NWCG Latest Announcements

NWCG Equipment Technology Committee Releases New Equipment Bulletins

Date: September 27, 2024
Contact: Equipment Technology Committee

The Equipment Technology Committee (ETC) has released three new Equipment Bulletins:

ETC-EB-24-003 Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) in fuel containers.
ETC-EB-24-004 Two-compartment fuel and oil container (Dolmar) unavailable in the United States (US) and reminders for upkeeping current inventories.
ETC-EB-24-005 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Inspection, Care, and Maintenance.

These bulletins remind field going personnel of important issues related to equipment for wildland firefighting efforts.

References:

NWCG Alerts

ETC-EB-24-003 Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) in fuel containers

ETC-EB-24-004 Two-compartment fuel and oil container (Dolmar) unavailable in the United States (US) and reminders for upkeeping current inventories

ETC-EB-24-005 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Inspection, Care, and Maintenance

The Experiential Learning Subcommittee is looking for your feedback on Staff Rides

Date: September 20, 2024
Contact: Ashleigh D'Antonio and George Risko, Leadership Committee

The Experiential Learning Subcommittee needs to hear from the field about where the greatest need lies regarding staff rides and their accessibility.

Do you have an event you would like to turn into a learning experience?
Do you have a staff ride built, but are struggling to implement the delivery?
Do you need help building capacity?
What other ideas do you have to support experiential leadership training?

Fill out this short survey below to help us help you.

References:

Staff Rides: Feedback

Staff Rides

Updated NWCG Single Resource Casual Hire Information, PMS 934

Date: September 19, 2024
Contact: Incident Business Committee

The Incident Business Committee has updated the NWCG Single Resource Casual Hire Information, PMS 934. This update expands the provisions for hiring emergency personnel.

References:

NWCG Single Resource Casual Hire Information, PMS 934

IBC Memorandum 24-03

NWCG 2024 Spring/Summer Highlights

Date: September 13, 2024

Welcome to our latest highlights from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, where we explore the latest updates, insights, and efforts that develop interoperable wildland fire operations among federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial partners.

The Performance Support Package, which for ABRO includes the Incident Position Standards and Next Generation Position Task Book were developed through the Incident Performance and Training Modernization (IPTM) effort. The Performance Support Package will support trainees, those qualified in the position, and evaluators.

NASA JOINS NWCG!

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is officially an associate member of NWCG. As such, NASA is beginning to collaborate with wildland fire management agencies with the goal of increasing collaboration across agencies and leveraging NASA data, technology, and innovation for nation-wide efforts in wildland fire management. NASA has a rich history of research, development, and technology transfer in the areas of Earth science, space technologies, and aeronautics that support the NWCG mission.

WWW.NWCG.GOV HAS A NEW LOOK AND DESIGN

The NWCG web team dedicated the past two years to making a significant upgrade to the www.nwcg.gov site. This upgrade involved a comprehensive redesign of over 7,700 web pages.

The modernization of NWCG’s website involved migrating to Drupal 10, a cutting—edge content management system, and leveraging Amazon Web Service GovCloud for secure and efficient hosting. These upgrades help ensure that the NWCG website remains current in content management practices, offering enhanced customization, improved performance, and an overall superior user experience.

NWCG Leadership Committee

The Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program announced the Professional Reading Program’s 2024 list!

The years books include:

Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean
The Wisdom of the Bullfrog by William H. McRaven
The Art of Clear Thinking by Hasard Lee
Emotional Agility by Susan David
Writing to Persuade by Trish Hall

Learn more at the NWCG Leadership Committee

INCIDENT PERFORMANCE AND TRAINING MODERNIZATION

In 2023, NWCG kicked off the Incident Performance and Training Modernization (IPTM) effort. A training system overhaul focused on developing a performance-based training system designed to shift training to on-the-job when appropriate.

Over the next five years, NWCG intends to analyze all positions within the NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire Position Qualifications, PMS 310-1. To date we are currently working on 30 incident positions, and planning for 20+ in calendar year 2025.

Subject Matter Experts from a variety of geographical areas and agencies recently completed the position analysis for 16 positions. From this analysis, Incident Positions Standards and a Next Generation Position Task Book will be developed for each position.

Incident Performance and Training Modernization

NEXT GENERATION POSITION TASK BOOK

In April 2024, NWCG launched the new Next Generation Position Task Book (Next Gen PTB) which is a key component of the IPTM effort. This revised evaluation tool is designed to work in conjunction with the newly developed Incident Position Standards.

Major Next Gen PTB changes:

Structured to improve constructive conversations between evaluators and trainees.
Reference new Incident Position Standards.
Include only tasks required to be evaluated for successful performance.
Trainees will be rated on their performance vs. initialing whether a task was completed.
Must include written feedback when trainee does not meet the standard.
Will be position specific (no combined PTBs).

Screen shot of the Next Gen Position Task Book

Banner image of the Wildland Fire Learning Portal website

NWCG’s training course catalog is now available on the Wildland Fire Learning Portal (WFLP).

To access the training course catalog, visit WFLP and either set up an account or login as a guest.

6MFS

2019 WOR Day 5: Muscle Memory

June 30-July 6, 2019

This Week of Remembrance is dedicated to all those who have fallen in the line of duty and is intended to serve as an opportunity to renew our commitment to the health, wellness, and safety of wildland firefighters.

What does Muscle Memory mean and what does it mean to us as firefighters?

How can YOU Honor through Learning?

Additional Resources

Have an idea or feedback?

Share it with the NWCG 6MFS Subcommittee.

NWCG Latest Announcements

References:

References:

References:

NASA JOINS NWCG!

WWW.NWCG.GOV HAS A NEW LOOK AND DESIGN

NWCG Leadership Committee

INCIDENT PERFORMANCE AND TRAINING MODERNIZATION

NEXT GENERATION POSITION TASK BOOK

NWCG National Wildfire Coordinating Group

NWCG

National Wildfire Coordinating Group