THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP
POWERFUL LESSONS FROM HOT SHOT SUPES BY MICHAEL DEGROSKY
A late-summer road trip with my wife brought us near the Smith River, Happy Camp and Hoopa complexes of fires in Oregon and California. Along the way, we encountered Interagency Hotshot Crews (IHC) traveling to, from and around these fires. There are more than 100 IHCs in the United States – highly professional, mobile, and skilled hand crews assigned to the most challenging and highpriority fires. Though organization can vary, IHCs are typically led by a superintendent who is often referred to as The Supe. As we passed the hotshots going about their business, I reflected on my long association with these crews. I was a hotshot for two fire seasons, one as a crew member and one as a squad boss. I consider those two seasons to have been foundational as a fire professional, a leader, and as a person. Later, as a division supervisor, I was always grateful when assigned hotshots; an all-career experience came when I was assigned six IHCs, punching hotline overnight, over steep and rugged terrain and through the ugliest snag patch I can recall.
Last year, a friend gave me The Supe’s Handbook: Leadership Lessons from America’s Hotshot Crews, by Angie Thom. I am quite proud that I know or knew more than 20 of the people profiled in Thom’s book – firefighting colleagues, training cadre teammates, audience members and training participants, and consulting clients. (Sadly, some are no longer with us.) I was immediately drawn in by a balanced, honest, on-point foreword by Anthony Escobar, who had served as the superintendent of the Kern Valley IHC and retired as the fire management officer for the Los Padres National Forest in California. It is worth the price of the book just to read the foreward. Brit Rosso served as the superintendent of the Arrowhead Hotshots and retired as the manager of the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center. Included in this book are Rosso’s lessons learned from the line-of-duty death of crew member Dan Holmes. Anyone leading a fire program or an agency with a fire program should read Rosso’s account.
