The fatality on the Coal Canyon fire in South Dakota and two police officers being killed in Rapid City, all within the last few weeks, gave Kevin Woster, a columnist for the Rapid City Journal pause. He wrote an excellent piece about the dangers that firefighters and police officers face, and how it affects him. The Governor of South Dakota, Dennis Daugaaard, who spoke at firefighter Trampus Haskvitz’s funeral, released a column on August 19 that addresses the issue of the recent fatalities.

I have to admit that the death of Trampus Haskvitz on the fire about 15 miles from my house while I was riding my motorcycle in northern California affected me as well. I made it back home a few hours before the funeral service began, which occurred within walking distance from my house. The procession of over 130 fire department vehicles, mostly brush engines, passed within two blocks.

Mr. Woster’s column mentioned the phrase that was repeated in many episodes of Hill Street Blues by Sgt. Phil Esterhaus, played by Michael Conrad, at the end of his shift briefings as his cops left the meeting to begin their shift. We first posted this 11-second video August 6, 2009, but it bears repeating.

If you don’t remember Hill Street Blues, it was a television series, an excellent police drama, that ran for 146 episodes in prime time between 1981 and 1987. The show received a total of 98 Emmy nominations during its run and won four Emmy awards for Outstanding Drama Series.

The high-ranking U.S. Forest Service official who used his Blackberry five times during Trampus’ funeral may not have felt the impact of the fatality that some of us did, but at least he gets points for showing up.

Photo from the Interagency Aviation Accident Prevention Bulletin

In addition to the report on the entrapment of the two firefighters on the Horseshoe 2 fire, the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center has posted reports on several recent accidents and near-accidents on fires:

• The short-haul extraction of a firefighter that was hit by a rolling rock “the size of a Volkswagen Beetle” on the Las Conchas fire in New Mexico, July 2, 2011.
• The extraction of a firefighter who was injured by a falling tree on the Hastings Fire near Fairbanks, Alaska, June 16, 2011.
• The 24-hour report on the crew carrier that overturned in southern California on July 4, 2011, injuring nine firefighters. (Wildfire Today originally covered this on July 5.)
• An Interagency Aviation Accident Prevention Bulletin. An excerpt: “There have been multiple airspace related events with conditions that could lead to a mid-air collision. Analysis of past and recent near mid-air collisions revealed that communications, deviation from standard operating procedures, and situational awareness were common contributing factors.”

Firefighters on the Las Conchas fire short-haul an accident victim, July 2, 2011.

Bequi Livingston and Gary Luce have written an interesting analysis following two firefighter entrapments that occurred within 45 days of each other on two separate wildfire incidents on the Coronado National Forest in Southern Arizona.

Continue reading →

In what seems to be an annual occurrence, the Southwest Geographic Area has issued another “Safety Alert” with the subject: “US – Mexico Border Fire Operations Safety”. Saying the border area has become “increasingly dangerous” to firefighters, they listed in the two-page document some watchout situations:

“These are potential situations firefighters could encounter:

1. Illegal immigrant and smugglers warming fires have started wildland fires.

2. Illegal activity along the border has involved “copy cat vehicles” painted to look like agency vehicles.

3. Radios and phones don’t work in many locations on the border.

4. Awareness that when using cell phones to communicate, you may experience interference from Mexico.

5. Conflicts in air space with helicopters assigned to the fire and helicopters used for law enforcement.

6. Undocumented aliens are hiding or camping within or adjacent to the incident operations.

6. Potential health risks associated with large amounts of trash or caches of drugs burning.

7. Arson fires being started to divert attention from illegal activities happening nearby.

8. Clusters of illegal immigrant vehicles.

9. Packs and equipment being stolen.

10. Potential lack of law enforcement or medical support on the Mexico side of the border.”

Update at 10:56 MT, June 6, 2011. Comments are now closed. More info about comments.

Photo: cbsatlanta.com

We are distressed to have to report still another rollover of an engine responding to a vegetation fire, injuring firefighters. This time it is in Coweta County, Georgia.

From AJC.com:

Three firefighters were injured in a wreck on the way to a brush fire in Coweta County on Sunday.

Engine No. 16 rolled over at Ga. 34 and Dixon Road just before noon, county spokeswoman Patricia Palmer said.

Two of the firefighters were taken to Piedmont Newnan Hospital, and the third was transported by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center, Palmer said.

The injuries do not appear to be life-threatening, she said.

Remember the statistic that Dick Mangan reported:

Vehicle accidents were the 2nd leading cause of death for wildland firefighters between 1990 and 2009.

Here are the search results for “rollover” on Wildfire Today. Distressing.

Firegeezer reported today that an aerial platform with a 300-foot reach rolled over in Germany on Saturday. It’s obviously not a wildland fire rig, but spectacular in it’s capabilities…which, by the way, are nil when it’s laying on it’s side.

This video titled “Firefighter Safety in the Wildland/Urban Interface” covers three actual or near-entrapments on wildland fires, featuring interviews with the firefighters involved.

The incidents include:

• a tractor-plow operator in Florida,
• a CalFire engine crew in northern California that took refuge in a house as their engine burned, and
• a narrow escape in New Mexico that may have been on the Cerro Grande fire in 2000.

The video was produced by the National Wildland/Urban Interface Fire Program and the National Fire Protection Association.