To: IOSWT, TWT

From: Leadership Committee

Subject: 310-1 recommendations for L-381 and L-480 courses

Date: May 18, 2005

**Background:**

In April of 2004, the Leadership Committee presented to the Incident
Operations Standards Working Team (IOSWT) its recommendations regarding
recently-developed leadership training courses for the upcoming 310-1
revision effort. At that time, no recommendations were made regarding
the L-381 (Incident Leadership) and L-480 (Incident Management Team
Leadership) courses. In the spring of 2004 both of these courses were in
various stages of development; the Leadership Committee felt that the
courses needed to become more "finished products" before recommendations
could be made for the current revision of the 310-1. In the year since
those initial recommendations were made, both of these courses have been
successfully tested and delivered. It is now possible for the Leadership
Committee to make 310-1 recommendations to IOSWT for these courses.

These two courses were designed at the request of the National Wildfire
Coordinating Group (NWCG) parent group when it approved the 14
recommendations contained in the *Report of the Leadership Task Group to
the Training Working Team* in February, 2001. Recommendation number 1
states in part "establish a distinct Leadership curriculum of courses
that are connected conceptually from the least complex (follower) level
to the most complex (organizational leader) level." Recommendation
number 9 states in part "revise the Wildland and Prescribed Fire
Qualification System Guide (PMS 310-1) to make specific leadership
courses "required training" for certain key positions and "additional
training" recommended for other positions." In making recommendations
for the current 310-1 revision, the Leadership Committee seeks to
fulfill this original charge from NWCG.

The L-381 Incident Leadership course is a 32-hour, simulation-intensive
course designed to provide Type 3 Incident Commander and Division/Group
Supervisor trainees with "hot seat" experiences in a classroom setting.
Feedback on student performance is given throughout the course and
opportunities to demonstrate improvement are offered. The L-480 Incident
Management Team Leadership course is a 32-hour exercise-driven course
with opportunities for self-assessment. It provides exposure to a
variety of concepts and methods to improve the practice of leadership in
an incident management team setting. This course is designed for people
at the Type 2 Command/General Staff trainee level. It is widely
recognized that one of the biggest shifts in a person's leadership scope
occurs when making the transition from Unit Leader to Section Chief and
this course is designed specifically for people making this shift.

**Issues:**

The L-381 and L-480 courses are designed for some of the most important
positions in wildland fire management today. People in ICT3, DIVS and
Type 2 Command/General Staff positions are responsible for risk
assessment and management in extremely complex, unfamiliar and rapidly
changing environments. People in these positions on active incidents
routinely make decisions involving large sums of money, risks to life
and property, protection of natural resources, and the public image of
natural resource agencies. But that's not all. People in these positions
are also required to make their decisions under conditions of extreme
fatigue and stress while dealing with politicians, the public,
cooperating emergency responders and their own staff who are also
fatigued and stressed. Incident Management Teams, especially, are
increasingly expected to operate on non-fire incidents in addition to
wildland fire emergencies. For people in these positions, leadership is
not optional and the training shouldn't be either.

In recent years the ICT3 position has come under a great deal of
scrutiny following some high-profile fatality fires. Under the current
recommendations that the Leadership Committee is making for leadership
training, the ICT3 would receive the following required training before
functioning in the position:

L-180 4 hours Contained in S-130 which is required for all FFT2's

L-280 16 hours Taken when becoming a Single Resource Boss

L-380 32 hours Taken when becoming a Strike Team or Task Force Leader

L-381 32 hours Taken when becoming an ICT3

Total leadership training required before functioning in position: 84
hours

The position of Operations Section Chief is also considered a key
position in terms of firefighter safety and efficiency of operations.
The position of OSC2 would have the following requirements under the
current training recommendations of the Leadership Committee:

L-180 4 hours Contained in S-130 which is required for all FFT2's

L-280 16 hours Taken when becoming a Single Resource Boss

L-380 32 hours Taken when becoming a Strike Team or Task Force Leader

L-381 32 hours Taken when becoming a DIVS

L-480 32 hours Taken when becoming an OSC2

Total leadership training required before functioning in position: 116
hours

In our current system of developing people to perform in specific
positions, most employees who function as ICT3's have been in the
wildland firefighting business for at least 10 years. Most people
performing as OSC2's have been in the wildland firefighting business for
at least 15 years. Leadership training is taken as a person develops,
not in a single large chunk. Averaging the leadership training out over
these career time spans, the ICT3 would receive about 8.4 hours of
leadership training per year in developing to become an ICT3, while the
OSC2 would receive about 7.7 hours of leadership training per year in
developing to become an OSC2. This type of training requirement seems
reasonable, especially given the high stakes situations in which these
people are expected to perform flawlessly. Agencies can access these
training courses either via private training providers or through
developing their own products using the published Course Design Criteria
for L-380 and L-381.

**Summary of Recommendations:**

The attached chart contains all of the position-specific leadership
training recommendations that the Leadership Committee is submitting for
the current 310-1 revision.

The Leadership Committee recommends that the L-381 Incident Leadership
course be designated as required training for 3 positions: ICT3, DIVS
and RXB1.

The Leadership Committee recommends that the L-480 Incident Management
Team Leadership course be designated as required training for the
following 7 positions: ICT2, SOF2, IOF2, OSC2, PSC2, LSC2, and FSC2. It
is further recommended that L-480 be designated as "additional training"
for the following 2 positions: AOBD, CORD.