Wildfire Skill Learning Books

Hotshots are the backbone of US wildfire management; an excellent learning aid in fireline leadership is the Supe's Handbook: Leadership Lessons from America's Hotshot Crews.

Wildfire leadership differs from many other styles: we work remotely in rapidly changing situations as part of small teams. Leadership styles successful for us often come from military special operations; the classic is Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior. Richard Marcinko was a personal friend of mine and I highly recommend this book to new fireline leaders.

More military special operations leadership can be understood through this highly recommended classic, Secrets of Special Ops Leadership.

Teamwork and how to create it from the masters of the subject, the Green Berets: Conquer Anything is a classic work I highly recommend to fire leaders.

How are new fireline leaders made? They have to learn, and the classic for how to do this is Trust & Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash Greatness in Others.

Wildfire firefighters worldwide deploy in small units on the fireline. In Small Unit Tactics, veteran special operations soldiers share experience that transfers directly into working together in small teams.

Much of my wildfire career has been in and around helicopters. This training handbook covers the basic skills of helicopter rescue techniques and is highly recommended for firefighters and rescuers who work around helicopters.