Interagency Reviews and Investigations Database

Interagency Reviews and Investigations Database Incident Review Template

Interagency Reviews and Investigations Database is a significant recent addition to the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center’s (LLC) website. It is the official interagency repository of factual investigation reports and analysis completed by subject matter experts. This part of the LLC site is co-sponsored by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group-Safety and Health Working Team and the Federal Fire and Aviation Safety Team (FFAST). Several hundred reports are currently available for the wildland fire community to learn from its past. More are being added as they are located and submitted.

Examining the past and learning from it are both wise and a critical task of any true learning organization. Surprisingly, few take the time to reflect on their experiences and develop lessons for the future. The philosopher George Santanyana is famous for the saying, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We’ve all heard that before. Yet, reflection often appears to be an avoidable luxury requiring time and providing an uncertain payoff.

Incidents are often complex and factual reports on them don’t always disentangle cause-and-effect relationships. Determining the critical variables and their relative contribution are often difficult for even the brightest subject matter experts. Yet these documents are our history and we can learn from many of them. Most involved months of work by sincere people reviewing events, trying to distinguish optimal from sub-optimal decision-making processes, the human factors that contributed, and more, so others could learn. Some offer recommendations for the future.

Lessons may be drawn from single cases or comparisons of several similar events. Insights and practical advice can come from side-by-side assessments that highlight differences, isolate causal factors, and reduce interpretive error. The time commitment is usually worth the effort.

Leading learning, by fostering a climate where self-assessment and critical thinking are valued, is vitally important. A tolerant culture is essential to produce active, honest reflection. The right choices are not always obvious in the heat of the moment. Plans change and the unexpected happens. Effective strategies and practices are often identified after the fact. As the philosopher Kierkegaard put it: “Life is lived forward, but understood backward.” To move ahead, one must often look behind.