Pacific Southwest

Title: Equipping tomorrow's fire manager

Author: Dicus, Christopher A.

Date: 2008

Source: In: Narog, Marcia G., tech. coord. 2008. Proceedings of the 2002 Fire Conference: Managing fire and fuels in the remaining wildlands and open spaces of the Southwestern United States. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-189. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. p. 001-006

Station ID: GTR-PSW-189

Description: Fire managers are challenged with an ever-increasing array of both responsibilities and critics. As in the past, fire managers must master the elements of fire behavior and ecology using the latest technologies. In addition, today’s managers must be equipped with the skills necessary to understand and liaise with a burgeoning group of vocal stakeholders while also facing the complications of a changing landscape, particularly an increasing wildland-urban interface. These challenges have been embraced in the Fire and Fuels Management program of study at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. There, classes are offered in fire suppression, ecology, and management. Other required courses address the historical role of fire in society and its subsequent effects on current policies, the evolution of fire technologies, and the management of the wildland-urban interface. Throughout their tenure in the program, students are perpetually immersed in an atmosphere in which they must develop innovative and realistic solutions to real-world problems. This “learn by doing” philosophy is fostered by course assignments, a mandatory internship and senior project, and in various research opportunities. This paper discusses the successes and lessons learned at Cal Poly and examines the future of equipping tomorrow’s fire managers.

Keywords: 

View and Print this Publication (119.39 KB)

Publication Notes: 

• We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
• This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
• You may send email to rschneider@fs.fed.us to request a hard copy of this publication. (Please specify exactly which publication you are requesting and your mailing address.)

 Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility

Citation

Dicus, Christopher A.  2008.  Equipping tomorrow's fire manager.   In: Narog, Marcia G., tech. coord. 2008. Proceedings of the 2002 Fire Conference: Managing fire and fuels in the remaining wildlands and open spaces of the Southwestern United States. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-189. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. p. 001-006.