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National Fire Plan Success Story

Tactical Decision Games
Pacific Northwest Fire Training Center, Redmond, Oregon
National Fire Plan - Firefighting
2009

Train-the-trainer session students.
Train-the-trainer session students.

Have you ever been in a high stress and chaotic fire situation where you did not have all the information, and a decision had to be made immediately? What did you do? Did you wish you had more time? Did you wish you could replay the scenario?

Everyone in fire has felt the pressure of making decisions within dynamic environments and constrained timeframes. Tactical Decision Games (TDGS) are a simple, adaptable, and repeatable method for challenging firefighters to make time-sensitive decisions and practice communication skills. They provide teaching opportunities for our current and future leaders to improve their decision-making skills for high-risk and low frequency events on the fire line. For example, such training would better prepare fire managers for a community evacuation during a major urban interface fire.

The Pacific Northwest Training Center provided two TDGS train-the-trainer sessions to zone training areas early in 2009. The decision to take the course on the road was made after analyzing cost-effective delivery methods and the benefits to our students. The interagency sessions were conducted at the Umatilla National Forest (NF) in College Place, Washington, and the Tualatin Fire and Rescue in Tualatin, Oregon. By traveling to the zones, the Training Center reached 29 local students from the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Department of Forestry, and local Fire Departments and Emergency Management.

The training provided the Umatilla National Forest staff with the skills and knowledge to design and deliver their own TDGS based on the Potamus Incident for their annual fire refresher this spring. The 2008 Potamus Incident involved a contract fire engine that was burned over. A fact-finding team wrote a report outlining what had happened, and made some recommendations on how to prevent future incidents of a similar nature. By using this information and TDGS, participants were able to better see the situation as it unfolded and test how they might react to similar information.

For more information about Tactical Decision Games training, contact Mike Ellsworth at the PNW Training Center at 541-504-7347 or visit the fireline leadership website.