The Wildfire Lessons Learned Center has posted quite a few new documents over the last couple of months. Visit their site for the details, but here are some samples:
Helicopter overturns north of Juneau, Alaska
On September 26, 2011 personnel from the Tongass National Forest were installing a weather station on a remote mountaintop and were using a helicopter to transport workers and equipment. During cool down after landing, with the contract pilot and a Helicopter Manager still onboard, the helicopter lifted off the helispot and violently flipped over. There were no injuries, and the pilot, the Helicopter manger, and two other employees were evacuated from the site by a rescue helicopter. The facilitated learning analysis includes this quote:
The helicopter cool down time is not a safe time – it’s two minutes of danger.
National Park Service engine burns in Arizona
A Type 6 engine from Redwood National and State Parks in California was returning from an assignment on June 27, 2011 when it suffered a catastrophic engine or drive line failure and caught fire.
As it traveled down Interstate 10 near Buckeye, Arizona, parts that flew off the truck started a wildfire and another fire started under the engine after the driver pulled to a stop in the median. There were no injuries but the truck appears to be totaled.
Mississippi firefighter entrapped, burned, escapes
On May 2, 2011 a District Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) was working on the Acadian Fire on the De Soto Ranger District of the National Forests in Mississippi. Here is an excerpt from the facilitated learning analysis:
The LEO is assigned to patrol the second plow line with a bladder bag and suppress spot fires. Approximately 400 feet down the plow line, after engaging in suppressing a spot fire, the LEO determines that he needs assistance. As he pulls his radio out to call the dozer, the main fire “flashes” over the plow line in front of him. As the LEO moves back up the line toward his vehicle, the LEO feels the heat of the two flanking fires coming together. He looks into the green toward the dozer unit, but believes the fuels are too thick to run through. At this time, the LEO looks into the black and decides to hop over the 2- to 3-foot high flames into the black. He jumps the flames to find himself on the first plow line, which he proceeds down until it becomes too hot. At this point, the LEO makes the decision to run through the black to the road, 200 feet away. He runs to the south, weaving his way in and out of debris to the road.
The LEO is cared for onsite by other firefighters until an ambulance arrives. The LEO is treated for first degree burns to his hands and a quarter-size second-degree burn on his right elbow.
New “Rapid Lesson Sharing” system
The Wildfire Lessons Learned Center has a new system for rapidly sharing lessons, such as a success, a way of doing things in a more efficient or safer way, a close call, or anything others could learn from. It’s just a matter of filling out a form.
