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Youth offender fire crew program to close in N.C.

Bill GabbertNovember 20, 2009August 25, 2019Uncategorized

Fire chiefs in North Carolina are getting together to try to figure out how to keep a program from shutting down that since 1986 has trained youthful offenders to be firefighters. It appears that the the successful BRIDGE program will be a victim of budget cuts in the state budget.

Here is an excerpt from an article at BlueRidgeNow:

BRIDGE stands for Building Rehabilitating Instructing Developing Growing and Employing. It’s joint effort of the N.C. Forest Service and the N.C. Division of Prisons.

Since 1986 the agencies have trained inmates ages 18 to 25 help crews battle wildfires. BRIDGE has saved taxpayers more than $19 million by working inmates more than 2 million hours, fire officials say.

We know the state has to cut somewhere and any cuts will be painful. But state leaders should consider long- and short-term costs and savings in the case of BRIDGE.

When wildfires rage, they have to be fought. If multiple fires break out across the state, as has occurred during widespread drought, state and local crews benefit from the BRIDGE crews, and so do property owners who homes are threatened.

“As more homes are being built in wooded areas, this program is more important,” Mills River Fire Chief Rick Livingston said. “If we were to lose the resources, namely the BRIDGE crews, we would be setting ourselves up to have fires much the same as in California during dry seasons.”

While that may seem like an exaggeration in our current wet spell, it wasn’t long ago that the Southeast was parched by drought. It will happen again, and when it does, having adequate firefighting resources is a matter of public safety.

Most folks would consider that a primary responsibility of government. But BRIDGE also provides long-term savings to taxpayers in the form of reduced recidivism.

One of the program’s goals is to have inmates develop a strong work ethic and skills so they can become productive members when they are released.

BRIDGE offers inmates a variety of vocational opportunities. In addition to forest management and firefighting, these include painting and sandblasting, portable sawmill operation, masonry and plumbing. Qualified inmates can enroll in light construction courses through Western Piedmont Community College.

No arrest yet in Station fire

Bill GabbertNovember 20, 2009June 2, 2013Uncategorizedarson, Station Fire

Investigators have concluded that the 160,000-acre Station fire near Los Angeles was arson, but in spite of arresting someone for starting a small fire in the same area, they have not charged anyone starting the fire that was the largest in the recorded history of Los Angeles County.

Here is an excerpt from an article in the Los Angeles Times:

Nearly three months after the Station wildfire turned into the biggest blaze in L.A. County history, killing two firefighters, investigators say they don’t have the necessary evidence to arrest anyone for the arson.

Babatunsin Olukunle

Sheriff’s homicide detectives have questioned a man charged with setting a smaller blaze less than a week before in Angeles National Forest. But authorities say they have not been able to connect Babatunsin Olukunle, a 25-year-old Nigerian national, to the 160,577-acre Station fire that began Aug. 26 in a turnout near Mile Marker 29 above La Cañada Flintridge, authorities say.

“He has told us nothing of relevance in connection with the Station fire,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Liam Gallagher, who is leading the homicide probe. “We’ve talked to him and we’d like to talk to him again.”

Nationally, only about 10% of arson fires yield charges .The task is made all the more difficult in arson wildfires because unlike structural fires there is no confined space.

Arson wildfires are among the most difficult homicide cases to prove, especially when there is a lack of eyewitnesses in an area and point of origin has been repeatedly burned over during by the fire, Gallagher said.

Gallagher said Olukunle was charged last month with setting the Lady Bug Fire and was sent to Patton General Hospital, a state mental health facility, for an evaluation. Olukunle, a one-time UC Davis student who became a transient, was “articulate” during an interview but of little help, Gallagher said.

Olukunle has pleaded not guilty to setting the earlier fire in a forest. Detectives won’t even call him a person of interest anymore in the Station fire.

“We don’t label people,” Gallagher said.

Investigators know that a substance helped ignite the fire, according to sources familiar with the investigation. They have repeatedly combed the grid around the fire’s point of origin looking for markings or other clues to the human cause of the blaze.

“Basically we have nothing at this point. We have run down all our leads,” Gallagher said.

The fire became a double homicide Aug. 30 when County Fire Capt. Tedmund “Ted” Hall, 47, and firefighter specialist “Arnaldo “Arnie” Quinones, 35, died when their vehicle careened off a road south of Acton, plunging some 800 feet into a ravine.

Thanks Dick

DOI releases report on Aug. 20 SEAT crash

Bill GabbertNovember 20, 2009September 6, 2018Uncategorizedair tanker, fatality, lodd

The Department of Interior’s Aviation Management Divison has released a report on the crash of the Single Engine Air Tanker in which the pilot, Dave Jamsa, was killed. The accident occurred on August 20 on the Hoyt Fire 125 miles northeast of Reno, Nevada. Wildfire Today reported on it HERE.

The report, which is in addition to and separate from any report by the NTSB, concluded that the air tanker while attempting to drop retardant on the fire did not release any retardant and impacted the ground. Investigators found that the drop mechanism had not been armed, meaning it would have been impossible to release the load.

Thanks Dick

UPDATE September 6, 2018: Here is an excerpt from the NTSB summary of the accident investigation:

LA County FD releases report about the Station Fire

Bill GabbertNovember 18, 2009June 2, 2013UncategorizedStation Fire

The Los Angeles County Fire Department has released a report about the 160,000-acre Station Fire which started on August 26 near Los Angeles in the Angeles National Forest and killed two firefighters. This comes as a surprise, since the U.S. Forest Service, which was the lead agency for the fire, released their official report five days ago. One of the members of the five-member panel that wrote the USFS report was John Tripp, the LA County FD Chief Deputy for Emergency Operations, the second in command to the Fire Chief, P. Michael Freeman.

The LA County FD was of course heavily involved in the Station Fire along with the USFS, and they have been named, at least secondarily, in some criticisms reported in the media related to the number of resources assigned to the fire during the first 46 hours, until the Type 1 Incident Management Team assumed command.

We have requested a copy of the report from the LA County FD, but until we receive it, an article in the Pasadena Star News provides some insight about the report’s key details. Here is an excerpt.

The U.S. Forest Service should change how it attacks fires in the Angeles National Forest, implementing techniques and policies more in line with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, according to a county report on the Station Fire released Tuesday night.

The report calls for a “vastly different approach” to both fire prevention and response to wildfires that break out in the Angeles National Forest, specifically because of “its proximity to highly populated urban areas.”

In a key recommendation, the report – which was authored by a group of county fire chiefs – officials said the U.S. Forest Service should reinstitute night-time aerial water drops.

Unlike the county, the U.S. Forest Service does not allow water-dropping helicopters to fly at night. Last week Jim Hubbard, deputy chief for the U.S. Forest Service, said that the agency suspended the nighttime flights because the practice is extremely risky.

U.S. Forest Service could not be reached for comment after the report was released Tuesday night.

While no “particular action or tool may not have changed the outcome of the Station Fire,” the absence of nighttime flights “raises a valid question for the future,” the report said.

“There is no debate that a critical time period existed from initial dispatch on August 26, 2009, until approximately 8:00 a.m. on August 27, 2009, when the fire crossed the Angeles Crest Highway. What was not used were LACoFD firefighting helicopters during the hours of darkness on August 26, 2009, until dawn on August 27, 2009.”

In a phone interview, county Fire Chief Michael Freeman said officials “understand the history of helicopters operating at night and that there have been some tragedies,” but added that his experience in firefighting “says you need to have all the tools available …as opposed to some absolute that says that we do not fly at night.”

“Would such an attack have made a difference in the outcome? No one can say for sure, but such a tactical practice should be the norm for wildland fires in the forest,” the report stated.

The executive report also recommended that the U.S. Forest Service increase its focus on brush clearance around structures in the forest. Currently, the vegetation around structures is cleared for 30 feet.

UPDATE at 10:00 MT, Nov. 18:

We heard from the LA County FD, and they let us know that the report has been posted on an LA County web site. We also have a copy of it on the Wildfire Today site.

Reflections on Andrew Palmer’s death

Bill GabbertNovember 16, 2009September 6, 2018Uncategorized

When the “Factual Report” (huge 21Mb file) about the death of firefighter Andrew Palmer was released on November 3, we posted a summary of the report and the findings. But beyond those facts and findings, which were developed by a government panel investigating the death of Mr. Palmer, who died in a tree felling accident on a fire in northern California July 25, 2008, I have not written anything else about the incident. In part, because to anyone who has taken the time to read the 115-page report, the issues that contributed to the unfortunate death of Mr. Palmer are very obvious. And, because there were so MANY, uh, “issues,” that led up to and contributed to the death, that it is rather sickening to think about the many examples of poor judgment that screamed out at me as I read the report. Sickening.

To write about those mistakes, in one respect, is like picking low-hanging fruit. They are obvious to anyone with a background in wildland fire suppression and some emergency medical training.

Oddly, perhaps, I am reminded of a portion of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

… It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…

He was talking about soldiers, but the same sentiment can apply to ensuring that Mr. Palmer did not die in vain.

The first radio report that there had been an accident and medical assistance was needed came over the radio at approximately 1:50 p.m. Mr. Palmer was pronounced dead at 5:10 p.m., five minutes after he arrived via Coast Guard helicopter at the Redding airport. It took three hours and 20 minutes to get him to the airport. From there, if he had still been alive, he would have been transferred to a ground ambulance and transported to a hospital in Redding for treatment.

The coroner determined the cause of death to be blood loss due to blunt force trauma to the left leg.

The report shed light on many poor decisions and others that were not made in a timely manner. After much dithering about which of four helicopters to use to extract the victim, they finally settled on using a Coast Guard helicopter, after ordering it, canceling it, and then ordering it again. But the final request for the ship was not placed until 2:49 p.m., at the end of the “golden hour” during which a severely injured patient needs trauma care to improve their chances for survival.

The Captain of the engine module to which Mr. Palmer was assigned was in Redding attending to the mechanical repair of their engine when he received a phone call about the accident. It took him an hour and 25 minutes to drive from there to the fire and hike up the hill to the location of his injured crew member. This indicates that a ground ambulance would have gotten Mr. Palmer to a trauma center in Redding far more quickly than the procedure chosen by the incident personnel.

Obviously there was no feasible plan in place for that operational period on the fire that would cover how to extract an accident victim and get them to a trauma center within the golden hour. Or within the second hour. Or within the third hour. Mr. Palmer would have arrived at the trauma center about halfway into the fourth hour. Unacceptable.

He bled to death. And a little forethought would have prevented it.

It is sickening.

(Note: Within the first couple of days of posting this article, eight people left very thoughtful comments, but during some web site maintenance, those comments were lost. We apologize. We believe we have a very stable platform now, and doubt that will happen again.

We encourage those writers to re-post their comments.)

Who protects “no man’s land”?

Bill GabbertNovember 15, 2009September 6, 2018Uncategorizedno man's land

A controversy has been brewing in eastern Washington since August 20 when lightning started the Dry Creek fire which eventually burned 49,000 acres and the Silver Dollar Restaurant. The problem is that the area was not on public land and it was outside the tax-supported fire districts.

When the fire started, the neighboring fire departments were busy with their own fires and could not risk depleting their forces to fight a fire that apparently was no one’s responsibility. It was burning in a remote area of eastern Washington, north of Sunnyside and east of Yakima near the intersection of highways 24 and 241. (Map)

Some of the issues include, who pays, liability, adequate resources to fight the fire while still protecting other areas, and even the “ethics” of firefighters fighting whatever fire they see.

Here is an excerpt from an article in the Yakima Herald:

Silver Dollar [restaurant] owners told the Yakima Herald-Republic in August that firefighters ate lunch in their restaurant shortly before flames consumed it.

The owners, Rick and Martha Lounsbury of Terrace Heights, declined comment for this story but said they plan to attend the upcoming meeting. They have applied for Yakima County permits to rebuild.

Others say property owners tried to fight the fire with their own water trucks but firefighters denied them access.

Benton Rural Electric Association general manager Chuck Dawsey has some of the most stern criticism. Dawsey said his agency lost 16 power poles, at a cost of $30,000 to $40,000, while firefighters watched from their trucks.

He said his own crews wanted to attack the flames but firefighters would not allow them through. The REA sometimes uses a 1-ton pickup with a water tank for protecting poles and equipment from fires.

Some of those crew members will be at the Nov. 23 meeting, Dawsey said. He added that because of the downed poles, about four homes on private wells lost power, leaving them without electricity for their pumps.

Dawsey calls it an ethical issue: If you can help somebody, you should — regardless of liability or jurisdiction, he said.

“My cause is to find a way to allow people … to do the right thing,” he said.

Brian Vogel, chief of the Lower Valley Fire District 5, said ethics are irrelevant in no man’s land.

“Unfortunately, ethics and morals don’t keep you out of court when something goes wrong,” Vogel said.

His firefighters owe their allegiance to the residents paying taxes in their district. He likens fighting somebody else’s fire to mowing a neighbor’s yard.

He also disagreed with the notion that firefighters should fight whatever fire they see. Many wildland firefighters aren’t trained in fighting structure fires, and fire is never predictable. Fighters have been killed protecting power poles, “as simple as it sounds,” he said. He said people who live in no man’s land chose the risk that comes with it.

“The farther out you get from civilization, the farther out you get from those services that civilization provides,” he said.