Yes, the problem. These folks (TFS) have made it very clear that they are going to do things their own way (described below) and to Hell with any of us who have a problem with that. What they seem to forget is that we (most of us) are still federal employees when we work for them and that all of their funding comes from FEMA, a federal agency. Then their threat becomes something akin to "if you don't like the way we do things in Texas then you just won't work here anymore" I absolutely agree with that: I will not work there anymore. The issue is safety both of the public and certainly of firefighters consigned to TFS on a temporarily suspended agreement that they will keep us safe with the nationally recognized SOP's, i.e. 10 and 18, LCES, Principles of Safe Flight, Anchor/Flank/Pinch, etc. "We do things different in Texas".
The proof that most of their supervisors are not remotely qualified (i.e. ICT2/3, OSC2, DIVS) to be supervising wildland fire operations is the fact that almost none of them go out of Texas on big league fire assignments elsewhere in the US. TFS writes their own redcards in-house with different standards/quals from the national interagency-recognized 310-1. They make up the job as they go when fire is on the land and the Regioanl Fire Coordinator is the defacto ICT2 onsite. But then he will tell you that Gomer from the local VFD is the IC. Gomer has in fact no quals whatsoever other than the buddy-buddy relationship both with the TFS RFD and with the very wealthy private landowners who cater to very wealthy bubbas who hunt to kill what he prides his property for. And American taxpayers pay for all of this.
And they are paying for a large, revolving cadre of retired federal folks who are hooked on the $$$ and the hotel rooms. The rest of us take questionable orders for low GS wages and sleep in the dirt at least half of the time.
BarkR is absolutely right regarding the confusion of dispatch and the perversion of ICS. Also, FEDS (liability insurer) has stated that since TFS is so far out of the envelope of SOP's that FEDS doubts that any liability case against any covered federal employee would find in favor of any of us working under TFS supervision.
We watched several federal employees get axed without recourse last Summer by TFS simply for stating the obvious and demanding a safer working environment. It seems to me that now the inevitable will be fatalities and/or injuries to get federal involvement in fixing this mess.
Get ready for your Waterloo, TFS. It is coming soon at the hands of much smarter people than you. We just hope you do not hurt anybody first.
Tejas No Mas
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I have to agree. The two times I've been to Texas, it was a complete mess.
ReplyDeleteWhile I've only served about 50 days in Texas in my career, they were extremely troubling.
As a point of clarification...everybody needs to understand that Texas Forest Service is not even a standalone agency of the government in Texas. It is an extension of the Texas A&M University. I understand that to mean that nobody in TFS has any line authority at all. I have been told that county judges are the only persons who have line authority in Texas and that they can only delegate that to their own fire department chiefs, most of whom are volunteers except in the large urban areas. SO WHO CAN BLAME THEM FOR SPENDING ALL OF THE FEDERAL MONEY THEY CAN IF THE CIRCUS (TFS) IS IN TOWN!!! And the circus is happy to help them with that even though, as I see it, they have no real authority to do so. Tejas No Mas
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