Burned firefighter dragged to safety
A 24-hour report about an October 29 incident on the Spur Fire on the Stanislaus National Forest in California is an example of extraordinary work by a couple of firefighters to assist an injured crewmember. Here is the narrative:
A Cal Fire crew was engaged in direct hand line construction during initial attack when a crew member fell and injured his knee. The fire crew captain directed his crew to retreat into the black, and with the help of another firefighter, dragged the injured firefighter through the flame front and into the black. In the process, the captain received a minor first degree radiant heat burn to the left side of his face with no other injury. Both the captain and the firefighter were evaluated at a local hospital and released. No other injuries were sustained by the crew. A Facilitated Learning Analysis (FLA) team is on scene reviewing this incident.
As a reminder, HERE is a link to the guidelines for burn injuries that should be referred to a burn unit, according to Ameriburn.org.
Dave Thomas receives Safety Award
The International Association of Wildland Fire gave their Wildland Safety Award to Dave Thomas of Ogden, Utah. The IAWF said:
The award was given to Dave in recognition of his on-going study of and instruction on the implications of human behavior to firefighter safety. During a 33 year career with the US Forest Service, Mr. Thomas worked as a firefighter, fire manager, fire behavior analyst, regional fire specialist and review team member.
Currently, he’s working on capturing the “deep smarts” of retired fire management employees with high expertise in the fields of fire behavior, prescribed fire and wildland fire use with Harvard Business School.
Wyoming ran out of suppression funds
The busier than usual 2012 wildfire season has taken its toll on the budgets of federal and state agencies. Approximately 1,300 fires in Wyoming burned about 600,000 acres and consumed all of the money the state had allocated for fire suppression. The state’s share of fighting wildfires this season will total an estimated $42 million after accounting for the portion that will be paid by the federal government.
Senator says we need newer air tankers
Colorado Senator Michael Bennet has issued a press release stating that he is in favor of the modernization of the firefighting air tanker fleet.
More photos of firefighting aircraft on Google Earth
Remember when we told you that Google Earth had photos of aircraft working on fires? It turns out there are even more, this time on the Wallow Fire.
