At fire meeting, Forest supervisor says 'treat teammates like gold'

Flathead National Forest Supervisor Chip Weber spoke out about sexual harassment in the workplace during a meeting of Type III interagency fire crews in Kalispell recently.

The upper echelon of the Forest Service has been rocked by a sexual harassment scandal, with Tony Tooke, the head of the agency, resigning earlier this month after allegations of sexual harassment were made public by a National Public Radio and television report.

Weber said it wouldn’t be tolerated on the Flathead and urged employees to respect each other and speak out, if necessary.

“I want you to behave appropriately,” he told the group.

“Treat your teammates like they were gold,” he added. “The best teams lift each other up.”

He said if anyone had a complaint or an issue, that his “door was open.”

Type III fire crews are often the first and last crews on wildfires fires and they’re generally made up of local teams of firefighters from the Forest Service, the state, the Park Service and local volunteers and contractors.

Weber also urged safety in the field.

“The highest cost could be your life our someone else’s life,” he said.

Greg Poncin, a now retired Type I deputy incident commander, also spoke to the group.

Type III teams often don’t have the resources of the bigger overhead crews.

“It’s one of the most difficult jobs in the fire business,” he said. “You have to do so much without having enough.”

But he urged a strong initial attack when fires first start.

“Strong initial attack is how we can keep people safe longterm,” he said.

He noted that 2 percent of the large fires account for 80 percent of the overall cost. Last year the Lolo Peak and Rice Ridge Fires combined cost $50 million and across the nation, $2.4 billion was spent fighting fires.

“I want you to catch that (initial) fire,” he said.

The Flathead is well prepared for fires this year. Weber noted that the agencies work well together and he’s seeing less and less “turfiness.”

“We’re working on a common goal,” he said.

Rick Connell the fire management officer for the Flathead and a Type II incident commander said predictions on this year’s fire season at this stage are just way too early.

“If you can tell me what my tomatoes will look like in August, I’ll tell you about this year’s fire season,” he said.

Kidding aside, he did note that a deeper snowpack means there won’t be much of an early fire season.

But last year had a deep snowpack and turned out to be a historic fire year. The fire season is defined by summer heat, rains (or the lack thereof) and fuel conditions.

“This time last year we were saying average fire season,” he said.

The thing to really understand about fire season, he noted was fine fuels. Take a look at the borrow ditches along side the road. Once the grass browns and dries out, “that’s fire season,” he said.