Wag Dodge

In 1949, 13 fire-fighters tragically lost their lives in the Mann Gulf fire disaster.

Wag Dodge, was one of three survivors.  The story of his survival is illustrative – and not without controversy*

The fire fighters were in a blind gully when the wind changed direction and swept the fire towards them.  The flames were 20 feet high and moving faster than they could run.  They had nowhere to go, the walls of the gully were too steep.

Think about it, trapped by a fire racing towards you with nowhere to go, what would you do? An impossible problem! How would you survive?

Wag's solution was to light a fire downwind of him!!  The wind blew the flames ahead of him and left a burnt patch.  He crouched down in the burnt patch and was saved.  This practice is now included in fire fighting techniques.

I cannot say how he came to the solution, but it can be seen as a dramatic example of reframing a problem.  It seems as if, instead of thinking about how he could keep away from the fire, he thought about how to keep the fire away from himself.

Reframing a problem is to think about it in a new way, or from a new perspective in order to see something new. 

When you have a difficult problem, reframing is an essential step.


*The report of the incident can be found at http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_int/int_gtr299.pdf