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Seven-hour extraction of injured firefighters by helicopter at night

Bill GabbertSeptember 22, 2019September 22, 2019UncategorizedCalifornia, hoist, injury12 Comments

Lesson Learned: “Be willing to turn down an assignment if evacuation of an injured person is not possible in a timely manner.”

Coast Guard Helicopter — From the report.

After one of their helicopters used a hoist to extract two seriously injured firefighters on the Middle Fire in Northern California, the Coast Guard issued a press release that read in part:

…The helicopter crew approached the extraction zone and made a high-altitude, tree-top hoist from 240 feet, the helicopter’s maximum hoist range. The injured firefighters were flown to Weaverville airport and transferred to emergency medical services.

“This rescue was extremely challenging due to the proximity to an active fire, the high elevation and the rugged terrain,” said Lieutenant Commander Derek Schramel, the pilot in command of the mission. “I’m very proud of how our crew worked together with our fire service and law enforcement partners in Trinity County to save these two men.”

The press release failed to mention that the injured firefighters were rescued and then delivered to two medical helicopters at Weaverville more than seven hours after the Coast Guard received the request for the mission.

We wrote about the hoist rescue on September 9, 2019.

Crew member firefighter with broken femur. — From the Rapid Lesson Sharing document.

On September 6, 2019 two firefighters were seriously injured by a rolling rock while working at night on the Middle Fire on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in Northern California. One firefighter was knocked unconscious for 30 seconds due to a head injury. The rock also hit his neck and shoulder. The other firefighter had a very serious broken femur causing his leg to be twisted about 180 degrees.

(Download the Rapid Lesson Sharing report; 1.6 MB)

During this night shift the only resource on the fire was one contract Type 2 Initial Attack crew. The Crew Boss was the Incident Commander on the fire and had been on the Dutch Creek Fire in 2008 when Andrew Palmer was injured by a falling tree and bled to death. Mr. Palmer remained at the site for two hours while EMTs and fellow firefighters struggled to settle on and carry through a workable plan.

And, on the Iron 44 fire in 2008 the IC had been on the helicopter flight immediately before the crash of the overweight helicopter that killed nine firefighters and flight crew personnel.

The IC was thinking about the delay in extraction and a too heavy helicopter when the Coast Guard helicopter arrived over their fire at 2340 and the pilot said the ship was too heavy to extract personnel at 4,500 feet and would have to loiter to burn off fuel.

After flying for 90 minutes the pilot said the helicopter was still too heavy and would have to return to base to reconfigure. The crew was told that only one firefighter could be extracted, so they moved the firefighter with the head and shoulder injuries to a different location. When the helicopter was en route back, the pilot told the IC to prepare both patients for extraction—they could take both after all, so the crew carried the second firefighter back to the hoist site.

The helicopter was back on scene sometime after 0300. The two firefighters were extracted and delivered to two waiting medical helicopters at Weaverville at 0350. The patients were flown to “Mercy Hospital” (or Mercy Medical Center in Redding which is about 35 miles from Weaverville).

Here is the time line, according to the Rapid Lesson Sharing report:

2100 — Two firefighters hit by a rock
2107 — The IC requested extraction of the victims by helicopter with hoist
2117 — The Coast Guard was called to request a helicopter
2252 — The Coast Guard accepted the mission
2340 — Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter arrives at the fire. Pilot says the ship is too heavy to hoist, orbits for 90 minutes to burn off fuel, then still too heavy, flies back to reconfigure.
0300 — (approximately, or later), Coast Guard helicopter is back on scene
0350 — Coast Guard helicopter extracts then delivers the two firefighters to two waiting medical helicopters at Weaverville. They were then flown to a hospital or medical center.

The firefighters were lucky that at least there was a Coast Guard helicopter available to take on the mission, even though the injury-to-hospital-time was over seven hours.

To be fair, conducting a hoist rescue at night far from the coast at 4,500 feet above sea level is not a primary mission for the Coast Guard. But fighting fire in every kind of imaginable condition is routine for wildland firefighters. The Coast Guard, judging from this incident, is not prepared that kind of mission, but it is not uncommon for the wildland fire agencies to have to extract injured firefighters at night in remote, rugged terrain.

The U.S. Forest Service does not have in-house capability to use a helicopter to extract injured firefighters at night. Some of their contract helicopters are approved for and have a helitack crew that can perform short-haul operations during daylight hours.

One of the lessons learned that was identified in the report is:

Be willing to turn down an assignment if evacuation of an injured person is not possible in a timely manner.

Below is video of the hoists, shot from the Coast Guard helicopter.

Our opinion:

The federal and state agencies with major wildland fire programs need to develop the day and night capability to extract injured firefighters within one hour. Failure to do so is firefighting malpractice.

Santa Fe National Forest fuels & restoration videos, parts 3 and 4

Bill GabbertSeptember 21, 2019September 20, 2019Uncategorizedfuel treatment, fuels, fuels videos1 Comment

fuel management fire forest — Screenshot from Part 4 of the Santa Fe NF series of videos on fuel management.

Here are parts three and four of the series of 12 videos produced by the Santa Fe National Forest on the topic of fuel management and forest restoration.

Fuel Management is defined as:

An act or practice of controlling flammability and reducing resistance to control of wildland fuels [vegetation] through mechanical, chemical, biological, or manual means, or by fire, in support of land management objectives.

Forest Restoration:

Actions to re-instate ecological processes, which accelerate recovery of forest structure, ecological functioning and biodiversity levels towards those typical of climax forest, i.e. the end-stage of natural forest succession.

Part 3, How We Got Here

Part 4, The Scientific Evidence

Other videos in the series, published weekly, can be seen here. The final video will appear on October 20, 2019.

Will efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions affect forest management?

Bill GabbertSeptember 21, 2019September 21, 2019Uncategorizedclimate change8 Comments

Convection column Pioneer Fire — Convection column on the Pioneer Fire, August 30, 2016. Photo by Nick Guy of the University of Wyoming.

In case you came to our website yesterday and saw the green banner saying the site was closed for the day to recognize the global #ClimateStrike, we are back in service as you can see.

On Friday millions of people across the world, many of them young, assembled to help bring awareness to what I and others are convinced is an emergency — a climate emergency. The more scientists learn about the changing climate the more serious the situation looks. A few years ago we were hearing that we had to reach net zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2050. That is a long way off and many of us will not be around then. But the young people marching today will be stuck with the results of what we do between now and then.

The preliminary numbers say there are at least 3 million people in today’s #ClimateStrike And that is before counting North and South America!! To be updated… #FridaysForFuture pic.twitter.com/9C8SE5kSxZ

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) September 20, 2019

We still need to reach net zero CO2 emissions by 2050, but we can’t wait until 2049 to begin making changes. Scientists are saying that to reach that goal, emissions would have to start dropping well before 2030 and be on a path to fall by about 45 percent by 2030. The longer we wait to begin making significant changes, the more difficult it will be to meet the 2050 goal.

Scientists estimate that wildland fires make up 5 to 10 percent of annual global CO2 emissions when taking into account renewed forest growth in the burned areas. Fires also release other greenhouse gasses such as methane. Experts estimate that the wildfires in California’s North Bay in October of 2017 emitted as much CO2 in one week as all of the state’s cars and trucks do in one year.

Up until now fire management in developed countries has virtually received a free pass when it comes to CO2, at least compared to what it could become in the next 10 to 15 years. There is world-wide pressure now to rapidly reduce the burning of fossil fuels. It is only a matter of time before we start hearing a chorus saying all vegetation fires are “bad”, including prescribed or “good fires”, using a term now being used by some U.S. Forest Service personnel.

Land managers should be thinking about how to deal with strong pressure to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from burning vegetation. Part of the answer is additional firefighters, engines, dozers, helicopters, and air tankers. The U.S. Forest Service budget for wildland fire has remained flat for the last several years, while the costs of suppression infrastructure has increased. In light of the climate emergency, allotting fewer real dollars to suppression is counter intuitive. Congress and the President need to take action on this budget issue.

Fuel treatment projects, including mechanical projects and prescribed fires, can reduce the size and resistance to control of wildfires. However, pressure to reduce CO2 emissions could make it more difficult to obtain approvals to conduct prescribed fires even though the results if done on a large enough scale can reduce emissions from wildfires over the long term. But it will be difficult to develop the formula for the right mix and priorities of mechanical treatments, prescribed fires, wildfire suppression, or doing nothing.

There are many irons in that fire, so to speak, such as dealing with smoke, protecting communities, restoring forests, conserving water resources, wildlife, endangered species, and of course the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses coming out of our forests as they burn one way or the other. It remains to be seen if all of those goals can be satisfied as we move closer to the climate emergency tipping point. Some of them may have to be de-emphasized. Land managers might be accused of being selfish if they insist on attempting to accomplish all of these traditional objectives that may exacerbate the climate for the entire planet. As well meaning as de-emphasis might me, unless skillfully implemented using the best science, the unintended consequences could actually increase CO2 emissions over time.

Precipitation slows fire season in the Northwest

Bill GabbertSeptember 19, 2019September 19, 2019Uncategorizedweather3 Comments

Precipitation in the northwest one-quarter of the United States received over the last 72 hours will slow if not end the wildland fire season in some areas. The map shows precipitation detected by weather radar, which means there are gaps in areas with poor radar coverage.

According to the data, many areas received more than half an inch which will definitely have an effect lasting more than a few days.

You might notice that the rainfall in southeast Texas is completely off the chart, showing more than 15 inches. As this is written Thursday afternoon the Houston area is in the middle of the fifth 500+ year rainstorm in the last five years.

The Houston metro area is in the middle of one of the worst flash floods in American history, right now. This is at least the fifth 500+ year rainstorm in the region in just the past 5 years.

We are in a climate emergency. https://t.co/nV162bEAwX

— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) September 19, 2019

What has the weather been like in your area over the last week?

The maps below show the precipitation and temperature outlooks for September 25 through 29.

Oklahoma firefighter suffered severe burns after becoming entrapped

Bill GabbertSeptember 19, 2019November 24, 2020Wildfireburnover, entrapment, injury, Oklahoma

The firefighter was operating a UTV when it became disabled

On September 12, 2019 an Oklahoma firefighter operating a UTV became entrapped during the initial attack of a wildfire in the southeast part of the state 24 miles northeast of Antlers. The Oklahoma Forestry Services released the following preliminary information about the incident.

“On September 12, 2019 during initial attack efforts on the Jack Creek Fire, an Oklahoma Forestry Services firefighter from the Southeast Area / Antlers District was involved in an entrapment and subsequent burnover while scouting control line opportunities. The fire was burning in steep, rugged terrain dominated by dense pine forest with occasional hardwood glades. The firefighter was operating a UTV scouting logging roads for access and suppression opportunities when the UTV became disabled. The firefighters escape route was compromised when fire behavior increased due to the fire making an uphill run in the flashy understory fuels and crown fire in the canopy fuels. The firefighter did not deploy his fire shelter.

“The dispatch office requested an ambulance at the time of the incident while Oklahoma Forestry Services and local fire department personnel located the firefighter. The firefighter was transported to ground ambulance then transferred to air ambulance taking the firefighter to a burn center. The firefighter remains at the burn center and is being treated for second and third degree burns on >30% of his body with the most intense burns to his face and hands.

“An Incident Review Team has been assembled.”

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Matt. Typos or errors, report them HERE.

A film about Rowdy Muir

Bill GabbertSeptember 18, 2019UncategorizedRowdy Muir2 Comments

A District Ranger and Area Commander

Near the beginning of the video below, Rob Morrow, a retired Fire Management Officer, said we don’t put enough effort into honoring those in the wildland fire profession that deserve recognition.

I don’t know why we don’t have a book about our General Pattons … our Abe Lincolns. Rowdy is one of those in our outfit. We need a story about leaders in the Forest Service and the wildland fire community. Rowdy will be truly a shining star in that book.

Rowdy Muir came up through the ranks in the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management and currently is a District Ranger on the Ashley National Forest in Utah and is an Area Commander on one of three existing Area Command Teams.

A third person featured in the video is Steve Jackson a retired “FOS”.