Above: Photo of the truck after rolling over on the Aragon Fire, on the Santa Fe National Forest, in New Mexico; from the report.
In searching through the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned website looking for information about a dozer transport truck that rolled over while it was carrying a dozer on the Cougar Creek Fire in Washington, I ran across a few accidents we previously had not reported on. This is one of them.
On July 16, 2018 a four-door pickup truck slid off a rain-slicked road and rolled over. The accident occurred on the Aragon Fire, on the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico. Below is an excerpt from the Rapid Lesson Sharing report:
…Two District fire personnel were driving Truck #1168 from the Aragon Fire to the Staging Area.
[Road] NFSR 505 contains a narrow section where the road is elevated above the natural drainage. Erosion had created a depression on the right side of the road in this narrow section.
The driver steered the vehicle to the left side of the road here to miss the eroded area. The vehicle began to slide off the road and over the embankment. The vehicle rolled completely over, coming to rest upright in the bottom of the drainage.
Several Forest Service employees witnessed the vehicle rollover. The driver and passenger exited the vehicle under their own power. An EMT arrived on scene less than five minutes after the accident. The EMT examined the individuals. While neither had visible injuries, both individuals were shaken-up and complained of soreness in their neck area.
For precautionary reasons, these two went to a local hospital that evening to be examined. Both were released within two hours…
It has burned 30,250 acres 8 miles northwest of Wheatland, Wyoming
Above: Firefighters conduct a firing operation to remove the fuel along Palmer Canyon Road. Uploaded to InciWeb September 2, 2018.
Firefighters on the lightning-caused Britania Mountain Fire west of Wheatland, Wyoming have been conducting firing operations to stop the spread along roads and other barriers.
On the southwest side Palmer Road has been the focus for burnout operations and structure protection. Saturday there were spot fires across the lines in that area, but crews and aircraft engaged them quickly preventing spread of the fire farther south. Crews have also been working to protect structures in the Paradise subdivision and along Palmer Canyon Road.
(To see all of the articles on Wildfire Today about the Britania Mountain Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.)
Map of the Britania Mountain Fire at 9:45 p.m. MDT September 2, 2018.
Both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters are being used to support firing operations on the west side south of Britania Mountain.
The incident management team reported Monday that the fire has burned 30,250 acres. Evacuations are in effect.
Firefighters conduct a firing operation to remove the fuel along Palmer Canyon Road. Uploaded to InciWeb September 2, 2018.
The fire has destroyed 19 structures but that number has not been broken down by residences and outbuildings. There are 502 personnel assigned to the incident.
Vicinity Map, Britania Mountain Fire.Map of the Britania Mountain Fire at 9:45 p.m. MDT September 2, 2018. Incident Management Team.
Nine of them were monitored by University of Idaho researchers
Firefighters arrive at the White Tail Fire in South Dakota, March 8, 2017. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
(UPDATED December 2, 2018)
A copy of the full paper from the study is now available. Here are a couple of figures from the document.
(Originally published September 2, 2018)
This study conducted by researchers at the University of Idaho followed 9 smokejumpers over the course of a fire season. This is not a representative sample of wildland firefighters and the many different jobs they perform, but it is interesting nonetheless. This year they are monitoring 18 additional smokejumpers and hope to expand it to more firefighters in the future.
University of Idaho study looks at firefighter diet, sleep in an effort to curb impaired work
By Sara Zaske, U. of I. College of Natural Resources
Wildland firefighters are working long shifts this summer all across the West. And they are getting really tired.
Randy Brooks knows exactly how tired. The University of Idaho professor is closely tracking 18 smokejumpers with the help of advanced motion monitors that use an algorithmic fatigue model originally developed for the U.S. military.
This is not just an academic exercise — Brooks is aiming to save lives.
“Wildland firefighters need to be alert and vigilant of their surrounding situation because something could happen at any moment,” he said.
Both of Brooks’ sons fight fires. And the need for great situational awareness hit close to home in 2015 when a fire shifted directions on one of his sons.
It started with a late-night text — his son, Bo Brooks, let him know the crew was heading to work the next day on the Twisp fire in north central Washington. He was nervous because high winds were forecast.
The next day, Brooks got a phone call instead of his typical text.
“My son called me at 4 in the afternoon,” Brooks said. “I knew something was wrong because they usually just text me to let me know they were all right.”
This time everything was not all right. The winds kicked up suddenly, and the fire crew had to “bug out” – run out of an area as quickly and efficiently as possible. Not all of them made it. Three firefighters died and another was badly burned.
After the tragedy, some members of the team quit firefighting. Bo Brooks stayed on but wanted things to change: “He said ‘Dad you’re a forestry researcher — is there anything you can do to help us?’” Randy Brooks said.
So Brooks, who works in U of I’s College of Natural Resources, and Callie Collins, a doctoral student in environmental science, conducted a survey of more than 400 wildland firefighters. The majority indicated that the main contributors to accidents in fire operations were inadequate sleep and fatigue, both mental and physical.
The researchers followed the survey with a pilot study of nine firefighters to closely assess sleep, fatigue and body composition.
They outfitted the smokejumpers, firefighters who parachute from planes to battle wildland fires in remote areas, with Readibands — motion monitors made by Fatigue Science that keep detailed data on sleep and activity. The data was then analyzed using the algorithm model developed by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to obtain an “alertness score,” which quantifies the wearers’ reaction times and relative accident risk.
In the pilot study, Brooks and Collins found firefighters spent more than 42 percent of one month working in impaired conditions with reaction times slowed by as much as 34 to 100 percent – equivalent to having a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.05 to 0.11 or higher. That’s on the cusp of the legal limit for driving at 0.08.
Professor Randy Brooks wearing a Fatigue Fitness Readiband holds a tablet that is monitoring the alertness scores of 18 wildland firefighters currently in the field.
The researchers also had the firefighters’ body composition measured, before and after the fire season, and looked at their hydration and diet. Despite their high level of physical activity, the smokejumpers maintained their weight but gained fat over the summer — and lost muscle mass.
Brooks and Collins believe this may be because of the quality of their diet, which is high in carbohydrates and sugar and lower in protein and healthy fats like those found in eggs, nuts and fish. They hope to test that hypothesis in future studies.
Always a challenging profession, wildland firefighting has become even more difficult in recent years as the wildfire season in the West continues to grow in intensity and duration – today the fire season is about 30 days longer than it was three decades ago.
“It’s like they used to be running a 100-yard dash 30 years ago and now they’re running a marathon with the longer fire seasons,” Brooks said.
And if they are running a firefighting marathon, he argues, the crews may need to eat and drink like elite athletes do as well.
This summer, Brooks doubled the sample size of his pilot study to 18 smokejumpers. He wants to expand the project further in the future, and nearly 200 firefighters have volunteered to participate in his studies. His research was only limited by the expense of the motion trackers, which cost close to $1,000 each at the start of the study.
Still, Brooks hopes whatever data he gathers will help make this dangerous profession safer.
“I think we need a paradigm shift in the way we think about fighting wildfires at all cost and place a greater emphasis on personal safety over protecting resources,” Brooks said. “Trees grow back, homes can be rebuilt, but lives can’t be replaced.”
Originally published at 10 p.m. MDT September 1, 2018)
On September 1 the Predictive Services section at the National Interagency Fire Center issued their Wildland Fire Potential Outlook for September through December. The data represents the cumulative forecasts of the ten Geographic Area Predictive Services Units and the National Predictive Services Unit.
If their analysis is correct, in September the wildfire potential will decrease in the Northern Rockies, which is not unusual for this time of the year, but remain elevated in Central Texas, California, Nevada, and the Cascades. For October through December the potential should remain high in Southern California, with no sign of a busier than usual fall fire season in the Southern Great Plains or the Southeast.
Below:
An excerpt from the NIFC narrative report for the next several months;
NIFC’s monthly graphical outlooks;
NOAA’s three-month temperature and precipitation forecasts; and,
Drought Monitor.
“The significant wildland fire potential forecasts included in this outlook represent the cumulative forecasts of the ten Geographic Area Predictive Services units and the National Predictive Services unit.
“The western fire season peaked in August as very hot and dry conditions continued under the presence of a very strong, persistent high pressure ridge during the first three weeks of the month. Many approached or broke all-time record highs during the second week of the month. Not surprisingly, many fires became quite large including the Mendocino Complex which burned more than 420,000 acres making it the largest fire on record in California. Most fires observed were in areas of preexisting or developing drought.
“Along the West Coast, drought intensification and expansion was observed across Oregon and Washington. Further inland, abnormally dry conditions developed across Nevada, Idaho, and western Montana. Drought intensification and expansion was also observed across the Great Lakes region. While pockets of extreme to exceptional drought continued across the Four Corner states, the active monsoon was allowing for some improvement to occur. Nearly the entire West Coast received less than 25% of average precipitation. Significant deficits extended inland into the Great Basin and the Northern Rockies where large areas received less than 50% of average precipitation.
“Most of Texas and the central Great Plains received above average precipitation in August. Amounts across Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas received 200% to 400% of average precipitation. The East Coast received similar amounts. Temperatures nationwide were generally near to slightly above average except across the central Great Plains where they were a few degrees below average. Alaska fully exited the season mid-month as a wet and cool patter took hold across the Interior. Hawaii experienced large fire activity as well; however, the heavy rains from Hurricane Lane quickly reduced fire potential across the state.
“September is a transitional month for the West. Critical fire weather periods become increasingly driven by occasional wind events resulting from passing cold fronts or by a strong westerly flow. The transition this year began a few weeks early. A shift to a fall-like pattern began the last week of August. Overall normal significant large fire potential is expected in most areas across the West except along the Canadian border with northeastern Washington, extreme northern Idaho, and northwestern Montana where above normal potential is expected. Debris from Hurricane Lane may produce heavy dead fuel loadings across Hawaii which could become receptive should abnormally dry conditions develop. Portions of northwestern Nevada and northeastern California could remain elevated as well given continued fuel dryness and a propensity for wind events.
“In October, the continued seasonal transition into fall will allow for colder air to become entrenched across the Great Basin thus creating a high pressure ridge that should periodically induce Foehn Wind events across both Northern and Southern California. Other regions across the Westshould fully exit fire season. In the East, preexisting drought conditions across the Great Lakes Region cloud promote wind-driven events should the fuels remain dry after leaf drop. The remainder of the East is largely free of drought entering late fall.
“November and December are traditionally months where fire activity is reduced. The focus during this period generally shifts from California to the Southeast where during dry years, significant fire activity can be observed. Latest data suggests that the late fall period will experience at least average conditions if not wetter than average conditions in some locations. So, Normal Significant Large Fire Potential is expected across most of country during the remainder of the outlook period.”
The fire is 8 miles northwest of Wheatland, Wyoming
Britania Mountain Fire. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 1:54 a.m. MDT September 1, 2018. The red shaded areas were areas of intense heat detected by a fixed wing aircraft overnight, exact time unknown. The red line was the perimeter at the time of the fixed wing flight. Click to enlarge.
(Originally published at 7:34 a.m. MDT September 1, 2018)
The Britania Fire continues to spread on the west and southwest sides near the peak of Britania Mountain and areas south and southeast of the peak. The Incident Management team reports that it has burned 27,200 acres.
On Thursday firefighters were successful in constructing fireline to gain additional containment on the north side of the fire. On the eastern edge of the fire, crews mopped up and patrolled established containment line constructed over prior shifts.
(To see all of the articles on Wildfire Today about the Britania Mountain Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.)
The southeastern corner of the fire increased containment as crews were successful in constructing direct fireline in the lighter fuels as well as using roads as indirect firelines to conduct firing operations along Palmer Canyon Road. Firefighters used both fixed wing air resources and helicopters to support ground personnel in these efforts. On the southwest corner of the fire, crews identified roads that may be utilized as indirect firelines and began prepping those areas to conduct continued firing operations.
One was on the Miles Fire in Oregon and the other was on the Ferguson Fire in California
Two water tenders rolled over while working on wildfires in California and Oregon earlier this month. According to the very brief Rapid Lesson Sharing reports filed with the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center, there were no serious injuries. No assumptions were made about the cause of either accident, and road conditions were not mentioned as being an issue.
It is not always possible to point to a single cause of many of these sometimes fatal accidents. But challenges facing drivers of emergency vehicles on wildland fires include visibility due to smoke or dust, long hours leading to fatigue, low standard or inadequately maintained roads, distractions, skills needed to drive a large heavy vehicle, top-heavy vehicles, weights exceeding manufacturer’s GVW rating, and shifting of weight caused by partial loads of water in the tank.
The Rapid Lesson Sharing report for the accident on the Miles Fire reached this conclusion:
Statistics show that the biggest risk to firefighters today is the mundane task of driving to and from the worksite. Often, the function of driving is accompanied by fatigue from the day’s events and thoughts of what is yet to come.
Water Tender operators are asked to drive large, heavy vehicles in variable conditions repeatedly for multiple operational shifts. Just like line firefighters, these professional drivers must fight fatigue and complacency from the beginning of an assignment to its end.
