WFLDP Toolbox

Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program header

Leaders constantly assess the elements of the leadership environment and adapt accordingly. Successful leaders understand the interplay of these variables and demonstrate flexibility in selecting appropriate leadership tools and techniques as a situation changes. The Leadership Toolbox provides an array of tools leaders can use to develop their art of leadership.

The following headings link to the corresponding toolbox page where you will find more information.

After Action Reviews

An After Action Review (AAR) is a professional discussion of an event, focused on performance standards, that enables firefighters to discover for themselves what happened, why it happened, and how to sustain strengths and improve on weaknesses.

Briefing and Intent

Fire leaders show respect by keeping people informed—describing leader’s intent for assignments, providing timely briefings and debriefing, identifying hazards, and answering questions at appropriate times.

Electronic Library

This ever-growing collection of leadership publications provides something for everyone.

Field Leadership Assessment Course

This feature provides support to facilitators in the planning, development, and execution of a Field Leadership Assessment Course (FLAC) portion of the L-280 course and for team building.

Crew Cohesion Assessment

The Crew Cohesion Assessment is designed to provide a tool to measure crew or team behaviors as they relate to cohesion.

LEAD Time

LEAD Time is a collection of leadership topics within the 6 Minutes for Safety library as a means to promote leadership discussions during tailgate sessions.

Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, PMS 494-2

This publication expresses the fundamental leadership concepts of the wildland fire service, outlining the framework, values, and principles that guide wildland fire leaders in providing leadership across a broad range of missions.

Leaders We Would Like to Meet

This tool includes interviews with wildland fire leaders that have had an impact on the wildland fire organization.

Leadership Media

This feature is intended to provide a selection of media (films, videos, podcasts, etc.) that support continuing education efforts within the wildland fire service.

Professional Reading Program

Leaders are readers. The intent of the PRP is to engage leaders of all levels to support a continued growth in leadership through reading through yearly collection of publications.

Self-Development Plan

Being a successful firefighter means being a student of fire. This tool helps leaders at all levels plan and track training, challenging field experiences, and their own self-directed learning efforts.

Staff Ride Library

This tool provides a library of information on significant wildland fire events in order to assist individuals who want to conduct staff rides to those sites and to provide a reference source for individuals who want to develop new staff rides for incidents of local interest.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

This tool serves as a planning guide and reference for fire management programs, including individual crews and overhead teams, for developing, implementing, and maintaining SOP to conduct business safely and set standards for basic crew operations.

Tactical Decision Games (TDGs)

The TDG tool hosts a library of games and references as a means for leaders to practice making decisions and communicating those decisions to others.

Wildland Fire Leadership Campaign

The campaign promotes leadership development across all wildland fire community disciplines by focusing on one theme nationally but is easily implemented locally. This tool includes references and challenges from previous years.

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.

WFLDP Toolbox

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