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RT-130, Wildland Fire Safety Training Annual Refresher (WFSTAR)

RT-130 Decorative banner. Group of photos depicting wildland firefighters performing various duties.

Chainsaw Operational Complexity and Tree Size-Up - When Complexity Changes

Identify common themes from the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center “2004-2019 Tree Felling Accident Analysis” to promote discussion between new and experienced sawyers about ongoing procedural size-up and complexity analysis, human factors affecting the cutting process, and complexity changing throughout a chainsaw operation.
Category: Hazards
Core Component(s):
Local Topics, Incident Reviews and Lessons Learned, Fire and Aviation Operational Safety, Human Factors, Communication and Decision Making
Estimated Delivery Time: 45 minutes
Video Length: 20:26

Intent

Identify common themes from the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center 2004-2019 Tree Felling Accident Analysis to promote discussion between new and experienced sawyers about ongoing procedural size-up and complexity analysis, human factors affecting the cutting process, and complexity changing throughout a chainsaw operation.

Facilitator Preparation

  • Review the video, module tools, and additional resources linked below.
  • Consider additional discussion questions pertinent to your location and agency.
  • Guide discussion based on the topics and guidance provided below from the NWCG Hazard Tree and Tree Felling Subcommittee.

Facilitating the Discussion

  • Show the video.
  • Pause video as questions appear on screen to facilitate discussion.
  • Optional: Conduct additional activities pertinent to your location and agency.

Discussion Questions

  1. What size-up process(es) have you used or seen?
  2. What factors affect which is the good side vs. bad side of the tree?
  3. What does cutting area control mean to you?
  4. What other human factors might influence the size-up process, complexity analysis, or overall cutting operation?
  5. What experiences have caused you to reevaluate your felling operation? How do you maintain your cutting area control?

Resources

Video Information

  • This video is also available as a download (zip file, size 1.2 GB) with .srt file for closed captioning (you may need to right click and Save As). For information on how to add closed captioning to a video, see this how-to page.
  • Note: For Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, right click the word download and select Save Link As; for Internet Explorer (IE), right click and select Save Target As.

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