**[Initial Facilitator Information---NOT TO BE SHARED WITH
STUDENTS]{.underline}**

**Title: Chain of Command / Wilsonia Pile Burning**

**Author(s):** Ben Jacobs Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park

**Target Audience:**

Burn Boss Type 3

**Training Objective:**

Given the following scenario, the Burn Boss will be confronted with an
outside resource going around the chain of command and will need to deal
with the situation. The player should verbally communicate their
responses to the appropriate individuals.

**Resources Referenced:**

-   **Burn Boss Type 3, (Player Role)**

-   John -- a local unit maintenance worker

-   Joe -- Smoke Eater Contract Crew Boss

-   Smoke Eater Contract Crew (20 people)

-   Local cooperator engine

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**[SCENARIO INFORMATION TO BE SHARED WITH STUDENTS]{.underline}**

**Facilitator Briefing To Student(s):**

Pile burn specifications:

-   Size -- 40 acre area with approximately 500 piles

-   Adjacent Fuel Models -- 8, 9 and 10

-   Topography -- west facing slope, 10% average, 6600 feet

-   Objectives -- ignite and chunk slash piles to consume all fuels;
    minimize creep

-   Pile Location -- adjacent to and within sight of an inholding
    wildland urban interface (WUI) community. Nearest piles to the
    structures are less than 100 feet.

Current conditions:

-   Date -- November 30

    -   Time -- 1000

-   Temperature -- 36˚

    -   RH -- 41%

    -   Winds -- calm

    -   Patchy snow covering 50% of the ground

You are the Burn Boss on the Wilsonia Pile Burning project with the
objective of protecting the adjacent community. While most of the
community has been supportive, some residents have vocally criticized
your agency for cutting trees and then burning them. The previous week,
the area received about a foot of snow. Temperatures have warmed since
then and snow cover has melted to about 50% of the ground. Surrounding
fuels are still wet.

This is the second day of the project. Yesterday the contract crew
working for you ignited about 200 piles. You gave your briefing earlier
this morning and the contract crew is ready to ignite another 200-300
piles. Progress is good and the piles may be completed today.

Prior to igniting the dispatcher calls and asks for an update.

Take 2 minutes to develop your response to the dispatcher.

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**[ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR FACILITATOR ONLY]{.underline}**

**Facilitator "Murphy's Law" Suggestions:**

The "Murphy's Law" suggestions listed below can be added as "What ifs"
at any time during the scenario to raise the stress level of the lead
player. You can also use one of your own.

In order to meet the objective of the scenario, the facilitator must use
the primary "what if" (refer to the "key role playing script" for a
detailed role play for either the facilitator or another participant).

**Primary "what ifs"**

-   Just before ignition, the Burn Boss overhears John, a local unit
    maintenance worker, call Joe, the Contract Crew Boss, three times on
    the radio. His first call is letting Joe know that yesterday's piles
    weren't chunked and are a mess, the second call is telling Joe there
    is significant pile creep, and the third call is requesting Joe
    bring his contract crew back to yesterday's piles to secure some
    creep. John sounds clearly aggravated. The Crew Boss is standing
    next to the Burn Boss and asks what to do.

**Additional "what ifs"**

-   A local cooperator engine pulls up Code 3 responding to a smoke
    report. They want to know why you didn't notify anyone you were
    burning.

-   An angry resident walks up and demands to know "what in the hell is
    going on?" This person is irate that there is fire burning near his
    cabin.

-   You get a radio call from the dispatch saying that residents have
    called to complain about an unattended fire burning outside the
    piles.

-   The FMO arrives on scene and wants know why there is pile burn creep
    all over the place.

-   The dispatcher calls to inform you that residences are complaining
    about the smoke.

-   A tourist drives up with broken English and wants information about
    the local area.

**Facilitator's Notes:**

This scenario is designed as a Seminar or Simulation Style TDGS.

The idea with this TDG is to address the importance of following the
chain of command regardless of the personalities involved or the
perceived urgency of the situation. There is also a secondary issue of
not becoming distracted by outside people or events. Of equal importance
is the fact that piles are one of the most common causes of escaped
prescribed burns in the nation. In addition to the primary objective,
this is most important take home message for the players and should be
emphasized in the AAR. Items to consider are the need for frequent and
long term patrol, chunking piles, securing piles with handlines as
necessary, and the realization that conditions change during the course
of pile burning such as snow melting. Long range weather forecast
monitoring is essential.

The facilitator has the option of role playing one or more of the
additional roles. This may be effective with the original dilemma to
ensure the objective of the game is achieved. However, the facilitator
should take care not play too many roles or to dominate the exercise.
There should be some room for flexibility to allow the game to take
unforeseen directions. Facilitators should be creative and experiment
each time they put this game on based on prior experiences with this
scenario.

The original scenario relates to the primary objective. The "Murphy's
Law -- What Ifs" branch into the secondary objectives. These mostly
relate to the players being distracted by other people or events. The
secondary objectives are best delivered by other role players using the
scripts below. The facilitator should designate other members of the
group to act as the additional role players during the two minutes the
player is considering their original response. The facilitator should
brief all role players on when to enter into the scenario. In this way
the facilitator can control the pace of the game and throw in "what ifs"
as their discretion to keep the game flowing. As with any real life
scenario, events are influenced by the personalities of the people
involved. These are the unknown human factors. The role playing scripts
are intended to allow the role players flexibility to add a human factor
component throughout the game. The facilitator should encourage this to
run its natural course as long as the players remain serious and stick
to the intent of the dilemmas.

Role player scripts have been provided in the amendment section to
assist the facilitator with role player prompting. The facilitator must
find the balance as to not overload the players but keep as much
pressure on them as they can handle.

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**After Action Review:**

Conduct an AAR with focus on the training objective. Use the AAR format
found in the Incident Response Pocket Guide to facilitate the AAR. There
are four basic questions in the AAR.

1.  What was planned?

2.  What actually happened?

3.  Why did it happen?

4.  What can we do next time?

**Other possible items to consider in the AAR are:**

-   PILES ARE ONE OF THE MOST COMMON CAUSES OF ESCAPED PRESCRIBED BURNS
    NATIONWIDE.

-   How much did personality influence the decision to go outside the
    chain of command?

-   What is the potential consequence of going outside the chain of
    command on any incident?

-   Is it ever appropriate to outside the chain of command? If so, when?

-   How did the overhead players feel when confronted with potentially
    difficult situations?

-   Did any of the players feel overwhelmed?

TDGS shouldn't have a single solution, keep the focus of the AAR on what
was done and why.

**[KEY ROLE PLAYING SCRIPT]{.underline}**

The following role play script is related to the first "what if" which
is the key to meeting the scenario objective. THIS IS A CRITICAL ROLE
PLAY.

**YOU ARE JOHN, A LOCAL UNIT MAINTENANCE WORKER. YOU WERE DRIVING BY AND
SAW YESTERDAY'S PILES AND STOPPED. LOOKING AROUND YOU SEE WHAT APPEARS
TO BE CREEP. AFTER FURTHER INVESTIGATION YOU SEE THAT NONE OF
YESTERDAY'S PILES WERE CHUNKED. ALL THE CREW DID WAS LIGHT THE CENTER OF
THE PILE AND WALK AWAY CREATING WHAT YOU CALL "DONUT HOLES". NONE OF THE
PILES WERE LINED AS WELL. THERE IS NO ONE PATROLLING THE AREA AND
SEVERAL OF THE PILES ARE CREEPING INCLUDING, CLOSE TO ½ ACRE SMOLDERING.
THIS IS ALL VISIBLE FROM THE RESIDENCES AND ONLY 100 FEET AWAY FROM
STRUCTURES.**

**AT THIS TIME YOU HEAR THE RXB3 CALL YOUR DISPATCHER TO INFORM HER THEY
ARE BEGINNING TO BURN A COUPLE HUNDRED MORE PILES.**

**YOU FEEL THAT THE RXB3 IS INEXPERIENCED AND DON'T TRUST HIS/HER SKILL
LEVEL. HOWEVER, YOU'RE FRIENDS WITH JOE, THE CONTRACT CREW BOSS, AND YOU
FEEL HE IS VERY SQUARED AWAY. THIS WHOLE SCENARIO PISSES YOU OFF AND YOU
FEEL SOMETHING MUST BE IMMEDIATELY DONE.**

**YOU RADIO JOE (USING FIRST NAMES) AND TELL HIM YESTERDAY'S PILES
"WEREN'T CHUNKED AND ARE A MESS."**

**LESS THAN ONE MINUTE LATER YOU RADIO JOE AGAIN AND TELL HIM THERE IS
SIGNIFICANT CREEP.**

**FIGURING THE BURN BOSS DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE/SHE IS DOING, YOU RADIO
JOE A THIRD TIME REQUEST THAT HE BRING HIS CREW DOWN AND CLEAN UP THIS
MESS.**

**IF THE BURN BOSS CONTACTS YOU PRIOR TO YOUR THIRD RADIO CALL WITH JOE,
DO NOT ANSWER. WHEN YOU DO TALK TO THE BURN BOSS YOU ARE CONFRONTATIONAL
AND CONDESCENDING.**

**[ADDITIONAL ROLE PLAYING SCRIPTS]{.underline}**

**YOU ARE THE ENGINE CAPTAIN FROM A LOCAL COOPERATOR ENGINE. YOU JUST
ARRIVED ON SCENE RESPONDING TO WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS A WILDFIRE AND ALL
YOU FOUND WERE SOME PILES BURNING. YOU'RE NOT HAPPY WITH THIS AND
POINTEDLY ASK THE BURN BOSS WHY HE/SHE DIDN'T NOTIFY ANYONE OF THEIR
PILE BURNING.**

**\
YOU ARE A LOCAL RESIDENT THAT DOESN'T TRUST THE GOVERNMENT. YOU SEE A
SMOLDERING FIRE BURNING LESS THAN 100 FEET FROM YOUR CABIN WITH NO ONE
ON SCENE. YOU FIND THE NEAREST PERSON WITH A YELLOW SHIRT (WHO HAPPENS
TO BE THE BURN BOSS) AND START BERATING THEM ABOUT THEIR INCOMPETENCE.**

**YOU ARE THE DISPATCHER AND HAVE JUST RECEIVED A SMOKE COMPLAINT FROM A
LOCAL RESIDENCE. YOU CALL THE BURN BOSS AND ASK WHAT HE/SHE IS GOING TO
DO ABOUT IT. YOU ARE PERSISTENT IN GETTING AN ANSWER.**

**YOU ARE THE UNIT FMO AND DECIDED TO CHECK ON THE PILES. YOU ARRIVE AND
FIND PILE CREEP WITH NO ONE ON SITE. YOU TRACK DOWN THE BURN BOSS AND
WANT AN EXPLANATION WHY THIS SITUATION HAS OCCURRED. YOU ARE
DISAPPOINTED IN THE BURN BOSS.**

**YOU ARE A TOURIST FROM GERMANY AND YOUR ENGLISH ISN'T VERY GOOD. YOU
SAW THE SMOKE AND DROVE TO IT. THE FIRST FIREFIGHTER YOU RUN INTO
HAPPENS TO BE THE BURN BOSS. YOU WANT TO KNOW, "WHERE IS THE TREE YOU
CAN DRIVE THROUGH?"**