Week of Remembrance 2026 has been spent in reflection of incidents that occurred during the 2016 fire season—10 years ago. Today, on the 32nd anniversary of the South Canyon Fire, we also remember the Fallen 14 who lost their lives on Storm King Mountain in 1994. We honor you through our commitment to learning. You are not forgotten.

Our work is dangerous. During the 2016 fire season, as in all seasons before and since, firefighters in our community died at work. We remember and honor them by continuing our commitment to learn and improve. Despite our best efforts to create training, standard operating procedures, and policy to protect our own, we still face objective hazards, equipment failures, and accidents. The 2026 season will be no different. That fact must motivate us to hone our craft further, to be judicious about how we perform our work, and to be observant and attentive to our tasks as we do them. For our processes to have integrity, we must carry out tasks methodically and with awareness, focus, constant communication, and consistency. Let there be integrity in your process and have confidence that this approach tilts the scales in the direction of firefighter safety over the long haul. 

In the fire organization, we say we have a safety culture. And by “culture,” we mean our shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices. Culture is a way of doing things. But, sometimes we do things because we always have, or because one admired person did it that way, or because it’s easier to keep doing it the same instead of investing time and energy to evolve the process. Every now and then, we need to audit ourselves—hold our feet to the fire and take an honest look at the working environment we have created. Are we applying the lessons? Are we listening to the good and opposing ideas of our people? Are we in tune with the real hazards of our environment and employing the best practices to manage them consistently? Where is there room to add integrity?

Discussion:

To close Week of Remembrance 2026, take inventory: What does your safety culture look like? 

• What are the little things your crew does intentionally every day that add up to create safety? 
• What are the structures, systems, and behaviors you implement consistently at the shop and on the fireline to manage the risks of our work? 
• How do your communication practices, up and down the chain of command, promote sharing ideas and perspectives? Does everyone feel safe to speak up? 
• How do you maintain a decision-making process that considers probabilities, multiple perspectives, and trade-offs among multiple courses of action?

References:

• South Canyon Fire