Anne Veseth, a 20-year-old firefighter from Moscow, Idaho, was killed August 12 while working on the Steep Corner Fire near Orofino, Idaho. The U.S. Forest Service firefighter was struck when one tree fell and crashed into another tree, causing it to fall in a domino effect.
On August 11, the day before Veseth was killed, the Flathead Hotshots arrived at the Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protection Association (CPTPA) station to work on the Steep Corner Fire. They were briefed, received a radio clone, and showed up at the fire about 2 p.m., where they located the CPTPA incident commander. He briefed them on tactical duties, according to the SAFENET report filed three days later, but “had to be prompted for specifics on everything else.” The hotshot report said there was no direct link to Grangeville dispatch, no information on EMS or weather, and no medical plan besides “call the county.”
The report listed a slew of other heads-up flags on the incident, including no mention of hazards and no direction other than “jump in the middle and work south.” The IC was wearing jeans, and the hotshots immediately noticed several other CPTPA personnel without PPE or shelters.
The Flathead superintendent told the IC that they’d go scout the fire before committing the crew, and the IC told him to head down the burned line through the middle of the fire. The hotshot foreman then briefed the crew, and they established their own LCES and posted the first lookout of the day on the fire. The scouting superintendent radioed back that no one should be sent down the burned line — which was still hot — through the middle of the fire because of snag hazards and previously cut log decks. Continue reading “Safety issues noted one day before Steep Corner Fire fatality”
The firefighter that was killed by a falling snag on Sunday, August 12 has been identified as Anne Veseth of Moscow, Idaho, a second-year firefighter with the Nez Perce & Clearwater National Forests. She also worked for one year on a U.S. Forest Service trail crew. Ms. Veseth was 20 years old and was attending Lewis and Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho.
According to KLEWTV, she was working toward a Bachelor degree in Business administration after earning an associate degree in Auto Mechanics Technology. She was on the Dean’s List all four semesters.
Her older brother, Brian Veseth, is also a wildland firefighter.
A rosary will be held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 1st and Polk, Moscow, Idaho (map) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, August 17. Full Mass services will be held for Anne on Saturday, August 18, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. The family asks that all firefighters attending the services wear their yellow shirts and green pants (clean, but used).
Here are a couple of photos from the Mother Lode fire on the Mt. Hood National Forest in Oregon. Both are from the fire’s InciWeb site, but the photographers and dates are unknown.
The photo, titled “Falling a Hazard Tree”, has this caption on InciWeb: “Class A Faller retreating to his safety zone as a tree ‘Barber Chairs’ during hazard tree falling operations.”
Hmmm. Really? A Class A faller who should be limited to trees smaller than 12 8 inches in diameter? And if there’s a face cut (or undercut), which tends to reduce the chance of a barber chair and control the direction of fall, it was very small. “Barber chair” is when the tree splits vertically as seen in this photo. It can be very dangerous because the portion of the tree’s trunk that springs back can injure or kill the faller if they are standing near the tree when it occurs.
Mother Lode fire observer
From InciWeb, September 18, 2011:
Estacada, Oregon – Kidd’s Incident Management Team, Great Basin 4, is currently managing the Mother Lode Fire on the Mount Hood National Forest. The fire, which began as a lightening strike on August 26, 2011, is estimated at 2,132 acres and continues to very slowly grow near the confluence of Mother Lode and Battle Creeks. This pattern has remained virtually the same over the last several days as weather over the fire returns to a more seasonal model.
A Kentucky Wildland Firefighter has been seriously injured with burns and blunt force trauma yesterday morning while working a 12-acre wildfire in Livingston County. Don Lam, Forest Ranger Technician for the Kentucky Division of Forestry is currently in serious condition at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville after being airlifted following the accident.
Initial investigations report that Ranger Lam was struck by a rolling log, a burning snag approximately 10 ft in length that broke loose and rolled off a bluff. The impact has left Ranger Lam unconscious and with serious injuries including second degree burns. We’ll post updates as they become available on our home page.
Firefighter John Curry. Photo by Volusia County Fire Services
A 17-month investigation by the Florida State Fire Marshal’s office identified a number of mistakes that contributed to the death of firefighter John Curry during chain saw training on November 27, 2007. Curry was 30 years old and had been a member of Volusia County Fire Services for 10 months. He was training to be a member of the elite Firewalker Wildland Team and left behind a wife and two children.
The incident occurred during a training class at the Volusia County Fire Training Center near Datona Beach, Florida.
According to the report the trainees watched only 2 hours of a 4 hour training video. Then during tree felling field training, the cuts on a pine tree were not completed properly, causing the tree to fall in an unexpected direction. It fell onto Curry’s escape route, killing him. The report said there was no one at the training site to keep him from running where the tree eventually fell.
The State Fire Marshal’s office issued a Notice of violation for:
Failed to provide adequate training to meet “Trained Commensurate to Duty” requirement.
Failed to provide a safe workplace.
This was the first death at the training center which was established in 1988. Nearly 15,000 firefighters receive training there each year.
HERE is a November 27, 2007 WFTV.com report about the accident.
UPDATE: April 8, 2009 @ 6:30 a.m.
The State Fire Marshal’s report is available on our Documents page. According to the report, Mr. Curry, the victim, had not previously received any formal training on chain saw use or tree felling. During their training that day, they viewed half of a four-hour video from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group S-212 Chainsaw Use course.
Photo from the cover of the Florida State Fire Marshal’s report
Mr. Curry was the swamper while another trainee was felling a snag, a dead pine tree that was 40 feet in height and 18 inches in diameter. Neither were fully trained.
The report says:
The cuts into the tree appear to have been made in such a manner that the tree had a “hang-point” rather than the “hinge” described in the video. This caused the tree to turn counter-clockwise as it began to fall, which caused the tree to move 135 degrees from its intended fall. When the tree started its fall, the assigned instructor, who was already half way down the escape route, saw the direction the tree was falling, ran the rest of the way down the escape route (away from the tree base), later turning 90 degrees to the left to get out of the tree’s way.
Mr. Curry also ran down the escape route and was struck by the tree trunk and killed. The report said if he had stayed with the sawyer he most likely would not have been injured.
According to the NWCG Field Manager’s Course Guide, it should take 24 to 36 hours to put on S-212. Mr. Curry and 13 other firefighters were participating in a monthly drill which included a “refresher course for qualified operators culminating with the felling of three dead trees”.
Aside from the issue of a shortened training course, starting untrained firefighters on a 40-foot high, 18″ diameter snag, is ill advised at best. Snags are extremely difficult to fall safely even for experienced fallers. I used to say, “Mama said don’t f**k with snags!”. The are unpredictable, holding wood has little effect, tops can break off, and they usually have many widow-making dead limbs that could fall at any time.
Until it was replaced by a plastic hard hat, I used to wear an aluminum hard hat that had a dent in the top put there by a falling limb while I was cutting a snag on a fire. Another large limb that fell at the same time broke the back of my swamper. Mama said “Don’t f**k with snags”.
Our condolences to the family of firefighter John Curry.
The National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Safety and Health Working Team has issued a “2008 Safety Gram” which can be found HERE.
Below is the cover letter that was attached:
To: Chair, National Wildfire Coordinating Group
From: Chair, Safety and Health Working Team
Date: February 2, 2009
Subject: 2008 SAFETY GRAM
The 2008 SAFETY GRAM is attached. It summarizes reported wildland fire fatalities, burnovers/entrapments and other serious accidents for all wildland fire management organizations throughout the United States in 2008.
Twenty-five fatalities occurred in 2008 when employees were performing wildland fire management activities. This is a substantial increase from the nine fatalities that were reported in 2007. The 2008 fatalities are listed by category below:
Driving – 2: Two fatalities occurred while firefighters were responding to a wildland fire.
Entrapment/Burnover – 1: One fatality occurred while firefighter was doing fire reconnaissance.
Medical Emergencies – 3: Three fatalities have occurred; one responding to fire, two heart attacks while fighting fire.
Hazard Tree/Snag – 1: One fatality occurred; firefighter was struck by falling tree top.
Aviation – 14: One fatality occurred when a S.E.A.T. crashed. One fatality occurred in a medical helicopter mid-air collision. Nine fatalities occurred when an S-61N crashed and burned. Three fatalities occurred when a P2V retardant plane crashed and burned on take-off.
Other – 4: Two individuals (VFD and Deputy Sheriff) hit by semi while directing traffic near fire. One fatality occurred when firefighter fell from cliff while scouting fire. One fatality occurred when a grader operator jumped from equipment and sustained head injuries.
Accident prevention is enhanced when firefighters and fire managers are made aware of serious accidents that have occurred over the year and can identify where our future safety emphasis areas should be. Please provide wide distribution of the 2008 SAFETY GRAM to your respective agencies and organizations. The SHWT will also distribute the Safety Gram via NWCG Safety Alert System and post to the SHWT website.
Please feel free to contact me at (208) 387-5175 or michelle_ryerson at nifc.blm.gov if you have any questions or need additional information.
