Captain Tran Sugai (second from right) briefs his platoon leaders as three crews of the Army’s Task Force First Round prepared to spend their first day on an active fire.
Tom Story, who is in Washington documenting some of the wildfire activity, has been spending time with some of the 200 soldiers that were trained last week to assist on the fires. These are his photos, and below is his report.
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Three crews from the freshly fire-trained Army Task Force First Round, from Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington, made their first trip to the fireline August 24, 2015 when they traveled north of the Kaniksu Complex’s Tower Fire in eastern Washington to the 300-acre Onata Fire. The Incident Management Team welcomed the additional help and gave the soldiers two tasks for the day: put in some hand line and help plumb, or install fire hose, on the bottom edge of the fire along a road the team wanted to use to halt the fire’s spread.
Like most things in fire, the plans changed on the scene and the hand line assignment was cancelled and the crews were put to work putting in a 1,500 foot hose lay in preparation for a burnout. Not only did the crew haul and lay a bunch of hose, they tied in with the Forest Service’s McKenzie River Hand Crew who were doing chain saw work, prepping for the burnout, lending a hand with swamping the cut material.
Part of the Army’s assignment on the Onata Fire was to assist putting in a hose lay as part of preparation for a planned burnout. Robert “Hippie” Horn (left) of North Dakota Forest Service hands rolls of hose to soldiers to distribute along a road.Members of the Army’s Task Force First Round swamp behind the McKenzie River Hand Crew’s Sawyers in prep for a future burnout operation.Following the sawyers of the McKenzie River Hand Crew, Penn Woolridge and other crew members move the cut material across the road and onto the green side of the planned burnout area.
Crescent Fire, Aug 13. Photo by Lucinda Nolan, PIO.
Firefighters have closed the north entrance road to Crater Lake National Park in southwest Oregon due to activity on the Crescent Fire. The blaze is part of the National Creek Complex that also includes the National Fire on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.
Both fires started during a series of lightning strikes on August 1, 2015. They are being managed under a full suppression strategy although the tactics may differ between the Park and Forest.
The red dots represent heat detected on the Crescent Fire at 1:10 p.m. PT, August 24, 2015. The yellow dots are from the previous six days. We are looking south. Crater Lake can be seen beyond the fire. (click to enlarge)
Below is the witness list for a field hearing that will be held before the Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Thursday, August 27, 2015 at 11:30 a.m. PDT in the Pigott Auditorium of Seattle University (located at Su Campus Walk). The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on opportunities to improve the organizational response of the Federal agencies in the management of wildland fires.
Division Supervisor Jay Walter starts a burnout deep in the forest, firing Quickfire Hotshot flares (nicknamed “sausages”) that burn like fireworks when they land. Photo by Mark Thiessen for National Geographic, used with permission.
Map of smoke from wildfires, morning of August 24, 2015.
Areas in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and California have “unhealthy” air quality, at least partially caused by smoke from wildfires.
Air quality affected by wildfire smoke. AirNow.
The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag Warnings or Fire Weather Watches for areas in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and California.
The map was current as of 8 a.m. MDT on Monday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts and maps. For the most current data visit this NWS site or this NWS site.
To see the most current smoke reports on Wildfire Today, visit the articles tagged “smoke” at https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/smoke/
The general area of the fatalities, August 19 on the Twisp River Fire in Washington. The deceased firefighters were found 40 feet off Woods Canyon Road. The 3-D map is looking north. (click to enlarge)
On Sunday afternoon the U.S. Forest Service released additional information about the fatalities of the three wildland firefighters that occurred in the Twisp River Fire August 19 near Twisp, Washington.
The fire was reported at 12:30 p.m. PT, August 19, 2015. Between 2:45 and 3 p.m. the wind direction changed and the fire activity increased. At about 3 p.m. firefighters were entrapped by the fire, and around 4 p.m. fatalities and injuries were reported and one injured firefighter was airlifted to a hospital.
Engine 642, from the Okanogan/Wenatchee National Forest, was found upright 40 feet below Woods Canyon Road. It had been burned over and three deceased firefighters were inside. Two deployed fire shelters were in the general area, but at a press conference, the leader of the USFS investigation team, John Phipps, who currently serves as Station Director of the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, Colorado, said he did not know where they were found in relation to the firefighters.
The deceased have been identified as Tom Zbyszewki, 20, Andrew Zajac, 26 and Richard Wheeler, 31. One firefighter, Daniel Lyon, 25, of Puyallup, Washington, is in critical condition with third degree burns over over 60 to 65 percent of his body. Three other injured firefighters were treated at a hospital and released.
The investigation team is using the Coordinated Response Protocol which was developed in 2014. Part of that process is a Learning Review which, according to a four-page document released by the USFS last year, “is designed to produce at least two learning products, one for the field and one for organizational leadership”. When asked about the process during the news conference, Mr. Phipps appeared to be unfamiliar with the “learning products”, and said he did not know if they would both be released to the public.
At least six investigations are going on concurrently:
Coordinated Response Protocol/Learning Review;
Office of Inspector General ( as required by the Cantwell-Hastings legislation, Public Law Public Law 107-203);
OSHA;
Washington DNR investigation into injuries to two of their employees;
