The dozer that rolled over on the Soberanes Fire in 2016, killing Robert Reagan. CAL FIRE photo.
Both a private contractor and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) were issued citations by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) related to a fatality when a dozer rolled over. Robert Reagan, 35, of Friant, California, was killed while fighting the Soberanes Fire south of Monterey, California July 26, 2016.
Minutes after Mr. Reagan began operating the piece of equipment for Czirban Concrete Construction on contract to CAL FIRE, it rolled over. Not wearing a seat belt, he was thrown from the cab and was killed when the dozer rolled onto him.
According to KQED news, Cal/OSHA issued five citations to Czirban totaling $20,000. The largest was $13,500 for not wearing a seat belt.
Czirban had not secured workers’ compensation insurance for Mr. Reagan as required, and had been cited eight times in four years by the Contractors State License Board, several times because of worker’s compensation issues.
Below is an excerpt from an article at KQED in which they point out a number of problems related to contractors working on wildfires:
Cal/OSHA also issued two citations to Cal Fire, one for failing to report a serious injury within eight hours and another for failing to maintain an effective injury and illness prevention program.
“The employer failed to ensure a supervisor was in the immediate area during all bulldozer activities,” Cal/OSHA compliance officer Kelly Tatum wrote in the agency’s citation.
Cal Fire, which also faces a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Reagan’s wife and two young daughters, has appealed the findings.
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke was interviewed as he participated in what the Fresno Bee called a firefighting exercise during his first visit to Kings Canyon National Park in California, Friday, April 14, 2017.
On September 19, 2016, two days after the fire started, approximately 50+ firefighters were assigned to Division Zulu on the north side of Honda Canyon (about a mile east of the site where four Air Force firefighters were entrapped and killed on the Honda Fire in 1977).
Assigned to the division on the Canyon that day in 2016 were 8 engines, 4 dozers, 1 water tender, and a 20-person hand crew comprised of 3 helitack crews. All were ordered by the Division Supervisor to take refuge in a safety zone.
3-D map of the Canyon Fire looking east. The red line was the perimeter of the Canyon Fire at 11 p.m. PDT September 20, 2016. The white line was the perimeter at approximately 11 p.m. September 19.
After observing conditions that morning last September the tactic decided on was to fire out the ridge on the north side of Honda Canyon, which runs east and west. The main fire was to the south on the other side of the canyon. The operation was going well until the intensity in the burnout increased dramatically; fire whirls developed and the fire began spreading to the west more quickly than the igniters and holders could keep up with it.
The Division Supervisor ordered, “All Division Zulu resources pull back to the safety zone”. Even though some of the personnel were about 600 to 700 yards from the safety zone, the smoke-obscured visibility occasionally made movement difficult or impossible. At times the engines had to stop when they could not see the ground in front of them. Burning embers, some of them fist-sized, pelted the vehicles and the 20 people in the hand crew that were walking to the safety zone.
In the video below, it appears to have taken about 10 minutes to travel the 600 to 700 yards. The recording shows how harrowing it must have been as day turned to night. At least two firefighters were later transported to a hospital suffering from smoke inhalation injuries.
The video is incredible and at times has on the screen views from three different cameras, apparently time-synced. Pretty impressive editing (by Mark Pieper and Tony Petrilli) for a government-produced video. The maps and annotated still images are also very useful.
A screenshot from the video, at minute 7:39.
Some firefighters, approximately two, removed their fire shelters from their gear. One was fully deployed and another was partially unfolded.
From the report:
When asked: “How scared were you on a scale of 1 to 10?” multiple crew members replied “9” and “10.”
We covered the Canyon Fire as it was burning and thought we were aware of the major developments at the incident, but we did not hear about this entrapment until today, March 27, 2017. Maybe we missed it, but it is possible that the fact that it occurred on a military base influenced an apparent desire to keep it low key, even though a California Type 2 Incident Management Team had assumed command of the fire the morning of the incident and, according to the report, “did start Regional notification regarding the shelter deployment”.
The Incident Commander and the Deputy IC were first notified more than three hours after the entrapment.
In spite of the late release of the information, firefighters can benefit from this lessons learned opportunity and the fact that the preparers of the report conducted it in such a way that there were apparently few if any efforts among those involved to “lawyer up” and shut up fearing litigation or prosecution. Many still and video images were made available and at least enough of the firefighters were willing to talk about what happened to allow a useful report to be completed.
Maybe the way this review was conducted can be a template to reverse the recent trend of investigations that are not as useful as they could be.
On September 21, 2016 a Ventura County Fire Department firefighter was killed in a vehicle accident while responding to the Canyon Fire. Fire Engineer Ryan Osler, a passenger in a water tender, lost his life. The driver of the truck self-extracted and was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries.
We were not familiar with the Tallac Hotshots until yesterday when we ran across this recently taken photo. The crew, based near Lake Tahoe in California, was officially certified in 2014.
Below is an excerpt from their website:
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“Crew Profile
On June 19, 2014, the Tallac Hotshots completed the extensive certification process to become the first Interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC) from Lake Tahoe. Formerly, the Tallac Hand Crew, the Tallac Hotshot Crew joins an exclusive group of roughly 2,000 firefighters in the country. The Tallac Hand Crew was established in 2001 as part of a nationwide buildup of resources for a maximum efficiency level of preparedness as direct by the National fire Plan. The original intent of the crew was to perform fuels management projects along with resource management objectives and to be availalbe for wildland fire response. The crew evolved through extensive training, recruitment, and retention of leadership to become a highly skilled 20 person crew. The crew completed the 2-day certification process, which covered all the standards for IHC operations.
Forest Organization Overview
The Tallac Hotshots are based on the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and are one of three federally funded, Forest Service 20 person, fire suppression and fuels management crews in the Tahoe Basin. There are two on call organized crews O.C 36 and O.C 37. The Lake Tahoe Basin also has four type 3 engines, four fire prevention staff, a VUFF Staff Officer, Forest Fire Management Officer (Chief 1), one Assistant Forest Fire Management Officer (Chief 2), one Fuels Battalion (Battalion Chief 42)and Fuels Division (Division 4). Everything is overseen by Forest Supervisor and Deputy Forest Supervisor. ECC Dispatch is located at Camino on the Eldorado NF.”
Atmospheric river funnels moist tropical air into northern California.
The atmospheric river of moist tropical air being funneled into northern California continues to dump very large amounts of precipitation in areas suffering from five years of drought.
The rain began Wednesday, January 4 and is predicted to continue at least into Wednesday of this week. Some areas have received between 5 and 9 inches of precipitation since Friday.
Storm total precipitation in selected northern California locations, 5 p.m. Friday 1/6 through 5 p.m. Sunday 1/8.
The National Weather Service office in Reno, Nevada reported that multiple wind sensors recorded gusts Sunday morning that exceeded 170 mph.
Extreme winds gusting above 170 mph were reported by the National Weather Service office in Reno, Nevada, Sunday January 8, between 6:45 a.m. PST and noon. Posted by the NWS at about noon local time on Sunday.
Some areas in the Sierra Nevada mountains could see another 3 to 7 inches of precipitation between Monday and Wednesday. Flooding is being reported in many areas.
Precipitation forecast for northern California Monday 1/9 through Wednesday 1/11.
National Park Service officials evacuated the valley in Yosemite National Park Friday except for essential personnel.
The lack of aggressive action during the early days of the Chimney Tops 2 Fire that burned more than 2,000 homes in Gatlinburg, Tennessee has ignited discussions about allowing some wildfires to spread under predetermined conditions.
National Public Radio explores how four national forests in California are modifying their fire strategy. (Less than 4 minutes.)
