SC fire: 2 burnovers and a fire shelter deployment

On Wednesday, April 22 during the initial attack phase of the Highway 31 fire near North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, there were two separate incidents in which tractor-plow units were burned over.

The South Carolina Forestry Commission (SCFC) has released 24-Hour Preliminary Briefing reports on both incidents.  There were no injuries or fatalities in either case. Both reports refer to extreme fire behavior with spotting occurring 400-500 yards ahead of the main fire, which was burning in bay fuels. The fire reached approximately 9,000 acres during the initial operational period.

Here are excerpts from the SCFC reports:

Incident #1:

During the initial attack, a SCFC tractor-plow operator was on his tractor in the process of unloading while parked on a road right-of-way. Before the tractor was unloaded, the fire came out of the woods adjacent to the right-of-way and the operator left his unit and ran to a nearby safety zone. The operator was not injured, but the fire burned over the firefighting unit (tractor and transport) and was significantly damaged.

Incident #2:

During night operations, 5 SCFC tractor-plow units were constructing firebreaks in a power line right-of-way. Two units reached a wet area ahead of the remaining tractors and became stuck. The fire rapidly approached the right-of-way, and both tractor operators exited their units. The tractor-plow operators located a wet area within the firebreak and deployed their fire shelters in close proximity to their tractors to deflect radiant heat from the approaching fire. They remained in the shelters for a very short time period and suffered no burns or other injuries. The fire caused no damage to the tractor-plow units.

Geeze.  Be careful out there folks.

In case you are not familiar with tractor plows, here are some photos that I took on the Blackjack fire on the Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia in 2002. On this particular plow, hydraulics are used to raise the tires, which in effect lowers the disks and the plow into the soil.

tractor plow on trailer
Tractor plow. Photo: Bill Gabbert
Tractor plow up close
Tractor plow up close. Photo: Bill Gabbert

Thanks, Mark.

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4 thoughts on “SC fire: 2 burnovers and a fire shelter deployment”

  1. Homey, that makes sense…I was just fooled since he pulled it out of a blue New Generation pouch!

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  2. Glad to hear that everyone is ok. Mushercubby, that looked like an old style shelter that he deployed, unless I missed it the were no handles on the side when he shook the shelter out.

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  3. Thanks for the story…Two burnovers is pretty significant stuff…I had not heard about these!

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  4. Wow. Did the firefighter in that video REALLY just pull out and open a New Generation Fire Shelter? Hope the TV station paid for it!

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