escaped prescribed fire Archives - Page 13 of 18

Lessons learned from 3 wildfire incidents

Bill GabbertMarch 6, 2012November 13, 2013Uncategorizedair tanker, escaped prescribed fire, prescribed fire1 Comment

The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center has posted reports from three recent incidents: an escaped prescribed fire that burned private land, an injury caused by an air tanker drop, and wheels that loosened and fell off an engine, hitting a passenger car. We commend the folks involved in these incidents, sharing their experiences so that others may learn.

Here are summaries of the three reports:

Escaped fire from pile burning on Black Hills National Forest

On January 13, 2012 during pile burning operations on the Black Hills National Forest 10 miles west of Rapid City, South Dakota, 9-15 mph winds gusting at 23-37 mph contributed to the fire escaping from the piles and burning onto private land. After driving to a USFS facility to obtain fire tools, the three firefighters on scene fought the fire for two hours before notifying the zone fire management officer.

Here is the executive summary from the report:

On January 13, 2012, fire personnel from Northern Hills Ranger District of the Black Hills National Forest ignited approximately 150 hand piles within the Forest Health Unit 1 fuel break. As the three-person burn team completed ignition around noon, the relative humidity dropped rapidly while brisk westerly winds developed. The combined effect of the pre-heating from the burning piles and the drying wind quickly evaporated the two inches of snow covering the heavy fuels immediately upslope from the burning piles. As the fire began to spread by means of spotting from log-to-log, the burn team worked diligently to contain the spots. Buffeted by wind gusts in excess of 35 mph during the afternoon and evening, the fire burned approximately 3.5 acres of private property.

During the escape, the affected landowner became dissatisfied by a perceived lack of regard shown by the Forest Service and shared his frustrations via telephone with the Acting District Ranger who, in turn, advised the off-duty Zone FMO that the fire had burned onto private property. Additional resources arrived on scene. The Forest Health Prescribed Fire was declared a wildfire, and became known as the Picnic Fire. Command transferred from the RXB3 to an ICT4, and the Picnic Fire was declared contained the following day. No structures or improvements were damaged by the fire.

Wheels come off BLM engine and hit passenger car

The crew of a Bureau of Land Management engine removed, painted, and re-installed the wheels of their engine in preparation for a 4^th of July parade. The following day they experienced a problem.

Here is an excerpt from the Introduction section of the report:

On Wednesday June 29, 2011, E-423, a Type-4 wildland fire engine was travelling south on US-395 returning to the Burns Interagency Fire Station in Hines, Oregon after visiting a recently controlled fire incident. In route to the station, the rear driver’s side dual lug nuts loosened and fell off causing the wheels to separate from the vehicle. One of the free wheels from the engine traveled into the opposing lane of traffic and struck a passing motorist causing damage to the frontend of the passenger side of the vehicle. E-423 came to rest on the left rear hub and sustained damage to the brake/hub assembly and surface damage to the rear body box. No serious injuries were sustained as a result of the incident.

Firefighter injured by air tanker drop

This is the complete narrative section of the report:

On January 13, 2012, units from CAL FIRE Riverside Unit/Riverside County Fire Department were dispatched to a vegetation fire in the Cherry Valley area near Oak Glen Rd. and Apple Tree Ln. The fire occurred mid-slope on a very steep hillside. The engine company had been assigned to determine if there was a good location to access the fire and start a hose lay. A Helitack Fire Captain was acting as a lookout and notified all personnel operating in the area that airtankers were about to make air drops. Communication was established both face to face and over the radio. A Fire Apparatus Engineer assigned to an engine was approximately 50’-60’ downhill from the ridgeline near the flank of the fire. The FAE acknowledged the notification of incoming air drops. An air tanker then came over the ridge and began its drop run . The FAE saw the air tanker at the last second and discarded his tool but was unable to get into the proper safety position for the drop. He was struck by the drop causing him to roll approximately 50’-60’ feet down the steep slope.

The FAE was immediately attended to by onscene personnel. The FAE was able to walk to the ridge with assistance and then transported by Copter 301 to a helispot where a private ambulance was waiting. The ambulance transported the FAE to a local trauma center for evaluation. The FAE was evaluated and released within a few hours with minor injuries.

Report issued about escaped prescribed fire in Western Australia

Bill GabbertMarch 4, 2012October 13, 2012UncategorizedAustralia, escaped prescribed fire, prescribed fire, Western Australia

A report recently released about an escaped prescribed fire in Western Australia said some employees of the Department of Environment and Conservation are overworked and are performing above their skill levels. The prescribed fire in Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park escaped on November 23, 2011 and pushed by strong winds, destroyed 40 structures and burned over 8,400 acres. Residents who had refused to evacuate later had to take refuge from the fire on a beach. They were rescued by jet ski and ferried to a search and rescue boat offshore.

Here are some excerpts from an article at www.watoday.com.au

…The damning report by former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty, released [February 23], found DEC made a series of omissions and mistakes during the planning and implementation of a prescribed burn that led to devastating consequences.

More than 40 properties were destroyed or damaged when the burn became out of control and raged across 3400 hectares.

Rather than pointing the blame on any individual, Mr Keelty said the errors that led to the bushfire were made by people making decisions beyond their expertise and using the available resources.

“Many officers are required to make decisions affecting the lives and livelihood of the community which, on the face of it, do not match their pay scale,” the report says.

The union representing most DEC employees, the Community and Public Sector Union, claims the poor resources at DEC have forced some employees to work in excessive of 36 hours without a break and many others to regularly work 20 hours.

When they finished their ordinary day job with the department they were then on-call in case of a bushfire outside of hours.

“They’ll go home and be on-call to manage a fire incident, whether it’s small or big,” state secretary Toni Walkington said.

“They’ll spend whatever amount of hours that it takes and then they’ll report back the next day and do their parks and services job. So they don’t get breaks and that’s because DEC isn’t funded to have more people in those fire roles.”

Ms Walkington said their jobs also were made more difficult because of a lack of technology, including no electronic operational processes, meaning staff still had to do paperwork by hand.

They were also reluctant to put themselves on the on-call roster or take responsibility for fires because some employees had been publicly named and identified during the Margaret River inquiry.

“The spotlight is on them and criticisms have been made,” Ms Walkington said.

August-Margaret River Shire Mayor Ray Colyer said DEC employees now feared walking the street in their work uniforms following community outrage over the department’s failure to contain the prescribed burn.

Thanks go out to Dick

Prescribed fire in Western Australia escapes, burns dozens of homes

Bill GabbertNovember 24, 2011October 13, 2012UncategorizedAustralia, escaped prescribed fire, prescribed fire, Western Australia2 Comments

A prescribed fire in Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park in Western Australia escaped on November 23 and has destroyed or heavily damaged 19 to 30 homes in the Prevelly area. Pushed by strong winds, the fire has burned at least 4,900 acres.

Fifty-five people that had refused to be evacuated later had to take refuge from the fire on a Prevelly beach. They were rescued by jet ski and ferried to a waiting search and rescue boat offshore. From there they were taken to nearby Gracetown and then bused to an emergency welfare center in Margaret River.

Details emerge about fatal accident at Nebraska controlled burn

Bill GabbertMay 16, 2011September 13, 2019Uncategorizedescaped prescribed fire, fatality3 Comments

UPDATE: January 8, 2012

It was pointed out to us that in addition to Theresa Schnoor who died soon after the April 28, 2011 controlled burn, the two people that were injured also passed away later. Further research found that Robert Seybold, 40, died May 18, 2011, and 37-year-old Anthony Meguire died at a burn center in Lincoln, Nebraska September 18, 2011. More details are HERE.

============================

On May 4, 2011, Wildfire Today covered the tragic story of the fatality and two injuries that occurred on a controlled burn in southwest Nebraska on April 28, 2011. Yesterday the Omaha World-Herald published an in-depth article about the incident and the difficulty of small volunteer fire departments being present at every controlled burn conducted by a private land owner. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Two weeks ago, shifting winds whipped a grassland fire over a firebreak in southwest Nebraska, killing a 46-year-old woman and critically burning two men.

Theresa Schnoor, Omaha World-Herald

The tragedy involved a growing fraternity of Iowa and Nebraska landowners and others using fire to rid grazing land of unwanted trees and to reinvigorate grassland and wildlife habitat.

The incident was part of a spring run of fires in Nebraska’s dry southwest that exposed holes in the thin line of volunteers who fight wildfires — and then chase after the rare prescribed burn that escapes its handlers.

Lack of manpower and money were the primary reasons no trained firefighters were on hand April 28 when flames engulfed 46-year-old Theresa Schnoor of Trenton, Neb. The State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the death.

Some rural fire departments send crews to stand by at prescribed burns — commonly referred to as controlled burns — as part of their training, but neither Nebraska nor Iowa requires their presence.

State Sen. Annette Dubas of Fullerton held hearings on the issue of prescribed burns last year and found no need to have volunteer firefighters at every event, so long as the procedures set in state law are followed.

“It was very clear to us that volunteer firefighters are already overextended, and imposing more training or regulation on them could be a disincentive to volunteering,” said Joselyn Luedtke, an aide to Dubas. “The problem didn’t seem to be that there was a need for more firefighters on the ground, but a need for landowners to develop and follow prescribed burn plans.”

There were no indications that the Trenton-area burn would turn tragic, said former State Sen. Tom Baker, who watched the operation start and later was the first emergency medical technician on the scene.

New AAR’s posted, including an engine burnover with injuries

Bill GabbertFebruary 25, 2011November 24, 2020Uncategorizedburnover, escaped prescribed fire, prescribed fire

The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center recently posted three reports: 1) An After Action Review, 2) A Facilitated Learning Analysis, and 3) a 72-Hour Report.

1) Painter Piles escaped pile burning project, After Action Review; Black Hills National Forest near Custer, South Dakota, March 12, 2010. While the title of the report is “Painter Piles After Action Review”, the terms “Painter prescribed fire” and “Windsong prescribed fire” are both used in the report. Here is an excerpt from the Executive Summary:

On March 12, 2010, a U.S. Forest Service prescribed fire near the town of Custer, South Dakota, spread onto Forest and Private Lands. The slopover was contained within the first burning period and was not declared a wildfire. The pile had been ignited on March 10, 2010, and was one of the thousands in the Painter project. The Windsong Incident involved one land owner.

Some of the private land that burned. USFS photo

The Windsong Prescribed Fire was immediately adjacent to the Forest boundary and was managed by the Hell Canyon Ranger District (RD) of the Black Hills National Forest, in the Rocky Mountain Region of the U.S. Forest Service. Prescribed fire was planned to treat up to 3200 acres of hazardous fuels (piled slash) on National Forest land. The Windsong Incident consisted of 8.1 acres outside the intended treatment area, including 0.5 acres of private land. The fire traveled down slope and directly threatened one single family dwelling, and two out buildings. Damage to private property was minimal including one scorched pine, one small cedar tree, and scorched fence post.

2) Cooter’s Bog escaped prescribed fire, Facilitative Learning analysis, Kisatchie National Forest, in Louisiana, April 26, 2010. Here is the text from the Introduction:

On Tuesday, April 26, 2010 on the Calcasieu Ranger District of the Kisatchie National Forest, Louisiana, the 709 acre Cooter’s Bog Prescribed Burn (Compartment 132) was implemented. After completion of the firing phase of prescribed burn operations, a pine snag caught fire and threw embers outside of control lines, causing a spot fire in a pine plantation on adjacent private lands. The fire intensity and size of the escape grew rapidly and exceeded the capabilities of onsite resources for that burn unit. The FMO declared the escape a wildfire at 1445, per direction in the prescribed burn plan. The wildfire eventually burned 132 acres of pine plantation before being brought under control by on-site and contingency resources.

3) Smoky Hill Wind Farm Engine Burnover, 72-Hour Report, Lincoln County, Kansas, January 29, 2011. This incident is very similar to another engine burnover that occurred in Stafford County Kansas on November 3, 2010, except in that case the firefighters escaped unharmed. Here is the “sequence of events” from the report about the January 29 incident:

The initial responding engine entered the pasture involved, and went up to the top of a hill in an attempt to find access to attack from the black, in order to be able to work from within a safety zone. They were unable to find immediate access to the burned area, and for reasons as-yet unknown, their engine stalled. They got out, and were almost immediately overrun by the head fire. They ran laterally out of the head fire, back towards where they had come from, which placed them in unburned fuel on one flank of the fire. At that point, a wind shift converted that flank to the new head, and threatened to overrun them again, as the rate of spread was too fast to outrun. The initial attack IC was nearby in a pickup, and was able to drive over and remove them before the new head fire again overran them. He estimates the time frame for this sequence of events was under one minute from onset until he had them in his vehicle and was driving away.

The first firefighter, who was going to be doing the direct attack, was wearing full structural bunker gear (not wildland PPE), consisting of boots, pants, coat, gloves, and helmet, except for his Nomex hood. He did have a “grass mask” on. He sustained 2nd and 3rd degree burns in the areas between his helmet, mask, and coat. He was treated initially at a local hospital, and is receiving outpatient treatment from the burn unit, but the area burned is small enough it did not require inpatient treatment. The other firefighter was the driver of the engine, and as such was only wearing bunker pants and boots over street clothes. He sustained burns on his face, neck, hands, and arms. Burns were initially identified as 2nd degree and have now been determined to involving some 3rd degree burns as well. He remains an inpatient in the burn unit in Wichita at this time.

The engine involved experienced significant body damage, but after the fire had moved past, it was discovered with its pump still running, and the interior was intact. It was started and driven back to the fire station after the fire.

Top wildland fire stories of 2010 – with poll

Bill GabbertDecember 27, 2010August 25, 2019Uncategorizedair tanker, Australia, Colorado, escaped prescribed fire, firefighter health, Montana, poll, prescribed fire, Rehberg, Russia, Utah, Victoria3 Comments

Vote on the most significant wildland fire stories of 2010

As we documented earlier this month, the 2010 wildland fire season, when measured by the acres burned in the 49 states outside Alaska, was the slowest since 2004. But in spite of that, there has been significant news about wildland fire. In fact, we posted over 670 articles this year.

In 2009 we listed some of the top stories and invited you to vote on the ones that you considered to be the most significant.

Continuing that tradition, below we have listed the top stories of 2010. The line of duty fatalities are not listed unless there was an unusual spin-off story associated with the fatality. Below the list, there is a poll where YOU can let us know which stories you feel are the most significant of 2010.

Top wildfire stories of 2010

Jan. 8: The National Park Service released the report on the August, 2009 Big Meadow escaped prescribed fire in Yosemite National Park. The fire blackened 7,425 acres before being controlled by 1,300 firefighters at a cost over $15 million. It became the eighth largest fire in California in 2009.

Jan. 11: One of the five Type 1 Incident Management Teams in California was disbanded. Bill Molumby, who had been the team’s Incident Commander for several years, retired in November, 2009 and apparently they were not able to replace him.

Jan. 21: Federal wildland firefighter bill introduced in Congress. The “National Infrastructure Improvement and Cost Containment Act” would affect the pay, retirement age, and fireline liability of federal wildland firefighters.

Feb. 1: Fire contractor sentenced to 10 months in prison for forging wildfire training certificates and task books.

Apr. 23: NIOSH to study long-term health effects of working as structural firefighter, but not as a wildland firefighter. In a follow-up a few days later, Brian Sharkey of the USFS’ Missoula Technology and Development Center downplays lung cancer risks for firefighters. NWCG later responds to our article.

Apr. 30: The International Association of Fire Chiefs, an organization that concentrates on structural fire, received at least $13.2 million from the U.S. Forest Service and DHS-FEMA over a seven-year period, reportedly for wildfire-related purposes. The IAFC became furious at Wildfire Today for exposing the information.

Jul. 5: Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, sues the Billings Fire Department over the loss of “trees and ground cover” on his property during an 1,100-acre fire in 2008.

Aug. 2: Hundreds of wildfires in Russia claimed more than 50 lives, left more than 3,500 people homeless, and caused massive air quality issues in Moscow and other areas.

Aug. 2: A BAe-146 jet airliner was converted to an air tanker and was tested in Missoula. The Interagency Air Tanker Board failed to certify it due to inadequate ground coverage of retardant.

Aug. 24: The 100th anniversary of the fires of 1910 and Ranger Pulaski’s incident are commemorated at several events in Washington, Idaho, and Montana.

Aug. 26: In spite of weather forecasts that would have alarmed most fire managers, the Helena National Forest in Montana ignited the Davis prescribed fire during a near record heat wave. The fire escaped and burned 2,800 acres. The report was released in November. The Forest Supervisor said the report did not point out “something clearly that we did wrong, done incorrectly or that we’re going to make big changes on”.

Sep. 6: The Fourmile Canyon fire burned 6,200 acres and 169 homes a few miles west of Boulder, Colorado. The fire was devastating to local fire districts within the burned perimeter in several ways, including the facts that a firefighter’s burn pile escaped and started the fire, the homes of 12 firefighters burned, and one fire station and an engine inside it burned.

Sep. 21: The Commander of the Utah Army National Guard assumed responsibility and apologized for the Machine Gun fire that burned 4,346 acres and three homes near Herriman, Utah. The fire started during target practice with a machine gun at a National Guard base.

Sep. 24: The Australian state of Victoria tested the U.S.-built DC-10 very large air tanker and concluded that it did not perform adequately and would not be suitable for use in their wildland-urban interface areas.

Oct. 13: The US Forest Service’s response to the 2009 Station fire is criticized, and Congress holds hearing in Pasadena, CA about the management of the fire, which burned 160,000 acres near Los Angeles.

Oct. 26: “Dirty Jobs” TV show features prescribed burning in a Florida wildlife refuge. Video footage captures some activities that are criticized by some viewers.

Dec. 2: A fire in Israel kills 43 prison guards and firefighters. Air tankers from the United States respond.

Dec. 7: NTSB holds a meeting about the helicopter crash on the Iron Complex fire in northern California in which nine firefighters and crew members died. Much of the blame was attributed to falsified helicopter performance documents supplied by Carson Helicopters when they applied for a contract with the U.S. Forest Service. Carson and the surviving co-pilot dispute that conclusion.

===================

Honorable mention stories (not exactly top stories, but interesting; they are not part of the poll).

Feb. 24: Wood piles were burned on frozen Lake Pactola in South Dakota.

Mar. 29: Washington D.C. Metro train drives through wildfire, and stops in the middle of it. And on July 25 we posted a very impressive video that was shot from a Greyhound bus that drove past a large bushfire during the night in Queensland, Australia.

May 11: NWCG outlaws the use of some terms, including “appropriate management response” and “wildland fire use”.

Jun. 20: It was not a wildland fire, but every firefighter can relate to some of the problems encountered when a kinked fire hose and improper procedures delayed the rescue of IndyCar driver Simona de Silvestro from her burning race car which crashed at Texas Motor Speedway.

====================

POLL