South Canyon/Storm King Mountain Lessons Learned- Eric Hipke said it best, “Why are we even here?!” the resource wasn’t worth the initial attack intensity levels applied. 14 lives and everyone else burned physically & psychically… My grandfather, Army Capt.D.E.Hodges & Civil Engineer from Lewistown, Montana, remembered Mann Gulch very well as he was in school at zmontana school of mines when it happened. So in 1994 I was 20 years old & just completed my FFT2 training & standards for survival course on July 6th. That night my grandparents had me over for dinner. My grandfather asked to speak with me in the Den. He sat me down and asked if I knew what I was getting into. I was unaware of what had happened in Colorado that day. He turned on the TV to CNN, which I knew he watched for the stock ticker at the bottom of the screen. Immediately the news cycled to Storm King Tragedy, my grandfather said; “this same dam thing happened to a bunch of young men just like you when I was in College. I love you Lonesome Polecat(my nickname) , and if this is what you want to do, for god sake please be careful & dont let anyone tell you to betray your intuition! If the hair on your neck is on end it’s on end for a reason!! Use your head! Keep your head cut in!”…..I fought Wildland Fire from that day until 2010. Great Career.
Karl E. Weick discussed the disaster from group/sensemaking POV in his book _Making Sense of the Organization_
South Canyon/Storm King Mountain Lessons Learned- Eric Hipke said it best, “Why are we even here?!” the resource wasn’t worth the initial attack intensity levels applied. 14 lives and everyone else burned physically & psychically…
My grandfather, Army Capt.D.E.Hodges & Civil Engineer from Lewistown, Montana, remembered Mann Gulch very well as he was in school at zmontana school of mines when it happened. So in 1994 I was 20 years old & just completed my FFT2 training & standards for survival course on July 6th. That night my grandparents had me over for dinner. My grandfather asked to speak with me in the Den. He sat me down and asked if I knew what I was getting into. I was unaware of what had happened in Colorado that day. He turned on the TV to CNN, which I knew he watched for the stock ticker at the bottom of the screen. Immediately the news cycled to Storm King Tragedy, my grandfather said; “this same dam thing happened to a bunch of young men just like you when I was in College. I love you Lonesome Polecat(my nickname) , and if this is what you want to do, for god sake please be careful & dont let anyone tell you to betray your intuition! If the hair on your neck is on end it’s on end for a reason!! Use your head! Keep your head cut in!”…..I fought Wildland Fire from that day until 2010. Great Career.
Constant "uh" is a distraction to the excellent and interesting content. I've read YMAF and also John's books. My son was a wild land fire fighter.