Purdue News

August 16, 2004

Expert looks at management trends affecting firefighters' safety rules

How we talk about fighting wildfires is just as important as how we fight them, says a Purdue University expert in communication who studies how firefighting safety guidelines are written.

"Federal agencies are changing the way they talk about and manage safety when it comes to fighting wildland fires," says Jennifer Thackaberry, who analyzes managerial communication of safety in wildland firefighting, particularly the role of the "Ten Standard Fire Orders." These orders are safety rules that have been taught to all federal wildland firefighters since 1957.

"With today's management trends, the wildland firefighting community can explore other models for safety, such as those used by airline pilots. There is a greater emphasis on safety and exercising caution, rather than a traditional maverick approach or following orders without question."

However, Thackaberry says the history and tradition of the fire orders tends to make them a sticking point in any discussion of change. She also has examined the spiritual rhetoric of fire orders. For example, the guidelines are sometimes referred to as the "ten commandments of safe firefighting."

Thackaberry also can talk about the rhetoric of accident investigation, media framing and public relations to specific firefighting tragedies, such as the 1994 Storm King Mountain fire near Glenwood Springs, Colo., that killed 14 firefighters, and the 2001 Thirtymile fire near Twisp, Wash., that killed four firefighters. Another fire killed two firefighters in 2003 at Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho.

In the last 10 years, more than 53,000 wildland fires have burned an average of 2.4 million acres every year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. This year, more than 350 fires have burned more than 1.4 million acres. Wildfire season in the western part of the country continues through September.

CONTACT: Thackaberry, (765) 494-3302, jthackaberry@purdue.edu