Firefighters and teamwork

Few would consider trust between a leader and her team a matter of life or death. Recently, however, I was instructed in the critical importance of teamwork among firefighters by the Captain of the volunteer firemen at Lake Tahoe, not far from where I live in northern Nevada, .

Out here in the west, the danger of wildfires stalks us throughout the hot summer months. One of the most common causes of ferocious fires is lightning strikes. Once you witness the horrific entity of a wildfire out of control, that memory is burned into the psyche. Therefore, when I saw the volunteer from the Lake Tahoe volunteer firefighter department truck drive into the driveway, I welcomed him. He was there to assess and make recommendations about ways to reduce our risk. I stayed with him while he surveyed our ten-acre land. And asked enough questions that he opened up about his experiences.

The most memorable he said, were those homeowners who refused to leave. While listening to Curt’s stories, I thought of the book Young Men and Fire. It is a true story about the 1949 Mann-Gulch fire in Montana. Sixteen smoke jumpers (the elite of the US Forest Service) parachuted in to fight the fire. Within two hours, thirteen were dead, and only three were left alive. Surprised that I knew and had read the book, Curt became very friendly, welcoming a conversation about this fierce foe.

Remember The River Runs Through It?

This is the same author: Norman McLean; a superb writer and in this case, researcher. McClean, a resident of Wyoming, spent many years researching the deaths of these courageous young men. Their deaths had erroneously been blamed on the leader who survived. What McClean learned and published in his book has changed the training and rules for firefighters. The story is riveting. And it is heartbreaking.

In a management class at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, the book serves as a case study. That is where I learned of the book. The story demonstrates the horrific consequences of the absence of real teamwork. The team leader for the crew of smoke jumpers was new. The men had never worked with him; they were virtual strangers. When the fire had become a conflagration and there was no way out, the leader figured out a unique solution. He tried to show them how they could make it through the fire. By rapidly digging deep into the ground and they could let the flames race over them. But none believed him.

All burned to death.

My firefighter friend told me that he had just been through that training a few months earlier. The training had been instituted by the man who could not save the lives of his team.