F I R I N G O P E R a T I O
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Summer 2012 ▲ Vol. 2 Issue 2 ▲ Produced and distributed quarterly by the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center F I R I N G O P E R A T I O N S What does a good firing show look like? And, what could go wrong ? Once you By Paul Keller t’s an age-old truth. put fire down— Once you put fire down—you can’t take it back. I We all know how this act of lighting the match— you can’t when everything goes as planned—can help you accomplish your objectives. But, unfortunately, once you’ve put that fire on take it back. the ground, you-know-what can also happen. Last season, on seven firing operations—including prescribed fires and wildfires (let’s face it, your drip torch doesn’t know the difference)—things did not go as planned. Firefighters scrambled for safety zones. Firefighters were entrapped. Firefighters got burned. It might serve us well to listen to the firing operation lessons that our fellow firefighters learned in 2011. As we already know, these firing show mishaps—plans gone awry—aren’t choosey about fuel type or geographic area. Last year, these incidents occurred from Arizona to Georgia to South Dakota—basically, all over the map. In Arkansas, on the mid-September Rock Creek Prescribed Fire, that universal theme about your drip torch never distinguishing between a wildfire or prescribed fire is truly hammered home. Here’s what happened: A change in wind speed dramatically increases fire activity. Jackpots of fuel exhibit extreme fire behavior and torching of individual trees. One crew member, conducting interior firing, is entrapped. He has Inset Photo: by Arrowhead Interagency difficulty deploying his shelter. Hotshot Crew [Continued on Page 3] Background Photo: by Kari Greer In this Issue You ever heard: “Hustle up, the window is closing”? Page 2 More firing operation incident reviews. Page 5 Firing tips and Tactical Decision Game scenario. Page 6 Firing operation insights from a veteran burner. Page 17 Ground By Travis Dotson Fire Management Specialist Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center Truths [email protected] Breaking Windows ave you ever heard this during a firing operation: Had a clearly defined trigger point? Known ahead of time what “Hustle up, the window is closing.” all of the terrain looked like? Had a briefing? H What does that mean? I think I get it. We are trying to Get That Stuff Ironed Out get through the window. Right? We are on this side and we You have to get that stuff ironed out before the operation want to be on that side. (Why are we trying to squeeze through begins, however you can, or you’re right back in chaos mode. a “window”? Apparently, “door of opportunity” just doesn’t And chaos mode is dangerous. The answer is Leading Up. sound as good.) This year, eleven wildland firefighters have already died. We “A window of opportunity is a brief period of time where it is have lost folks flying on a fire, driving on a fire, and PT’ing in particularly advantageous to do something. Often a window of preparation for a fire. We have already had multiple people get opportunity closes quickly, meaning someone must take a hit by trees resulting in fractured bones and other injuries. We decisive action at the time…” have had multiple narrow informs WiseGeek.com. escapes where equipment is abandoned and burned up. Yes, we know the term “window.” We use it all the “A window of opportunity is a brief period of time where Who knows how many time. We also know about unreported close calls have making sound and timely it is particularly advantageous to do something. Often a occurred. The window for us decisions and having a bias for window of opportunity closes quickly, meaning someone getting hurt seems to be action. How are we able to constantly open. So, what recognize windows of must take a decisive action at the time . .” do we do about that opportunity? We use Situation window? Awareness. So we have all the WiseGeek.com tools to recognize and take Adapt this Question advantage of the right windows. to Other Risky Operations So why do we end up in It seems like sometimes we situations where the window is get so excited about an open open and there is no action window, we get all geared- going on, and then—as it closes—we scramble around and do up and jump through—without looking out of it first. It’s why something? we ask: “Is this flight necessary?” Meaning, just because we have a chance to fly, doesn’t mean we should. Maybe we That is the Window Closing should adapt that question to some of our other risky Have you ever been stuck waiting for someone to give the OK operations: Is this drive necessary? Is this tree felling to put some fire down? And during the waiting there is not a lot necessary? Is this firing operation necessary? of discussion about what exactly the plan is and how it will be carried out. And then when they finally pull the trigger, it’s an I’m not trying to create a bias for inaction. I’m all about gettin’ emergency and chaotic and you take more chances because after it when it’s time to get after it. I just don’t think we need you have fewer options? That is the window closing, and us to be getting smashed doing things that don’t need to be done. breaking the glass to force our way through. And we get Just know why you are being asked to carry out an operation, bruised, scraped, cut, and even killed doing it. how it fits with the strategy, and look for the windows. The How do we avoid that, even if you are just a lowly holder or ones for getting it done—and the ones for getting smashed! torch dragger? Well, when you look back on situations where Dig on Tool Swingers. you lost the window, how do you finish the sentence: “We should have…” We should have what? Been on the same page? 2 [Continued from Page 1] Firing Going as Planned Burn Boss on the Rock Creek Prescribed Fire: ‘There is not a wildfire and a prescribed fire—Fire is Fire’ Once inside his deployed shelter, he realizes fire is burning in the leaf litter inside his shelter. He abandons the shelter and escapes to a nearby road. His injuries include burns on his face, one of his hands, both knees, and back. He is also treated for heat stress. In the FLA, the Burn Boss explains that, in hindsight, he now realizes: “On a wildfire you show up respecting it. On a prescribed fire, something’s got to happen before you respect it.” His key lesson: This mindset has to change. Because prescribed burning is a “common” work activity, all burn crew members explained that they had become complacent. One crew member pointed out how their thinking before this shelter deployment incident was: “We weren’t on a fire, we were burning.” http://wildfirelessons.net/documents/Rock_Creek_RX_Entrapment_FLA.pdf Firing Ops – Vale Interagency Hotshot with Fusee chucks a Firequick Flare on the 2011 Las Conchas Fire. “I wasn’t thinking LCES, I was thinking get the fuel out there and burn,” explains a burn Sling-Shot – Vale Interagency Hotshots launch crew member on the Rock Creek Prescribed Fire that entrapped a fellow burn crew a FireQuick Flare on the Las Conchas Fire. member, who was forced to deploy his fire shelter (above). As pointed out in the FLA, all crew members said that they had become more complacent because their mindset was that this operation was a “prescribed” fire—not a “wild” fire. Firing Operation Entrapment Avoidance Last August on the Coal Canyon Fire in South Dakota’s Black Hills—just one day after firefighter Trampus Haskvitz dies during initial attack operations on this same incident when fire overruns his position and entraps him in his engine (http://wildfirelessons.net/documents/Coal_Canyon_Fire_SAI_Report_REDACTED.pdf)— firefighters are forced to implement entrapment avoidance procedures during a firing operation. While no one is injured, a crew vehicle catches fire and sustains significant damage. http://wildfirelessons.net/documents/320_Road_Entrapment_Avoidance.pdf To prevent events like this from happening again, this incident’s FLA focuses on the importance of your ability to successfully identify changed—or changing— Drip Torch Time – Gila Interagency Hotshot on the conditions and modify your actions. FLA participants discuss the following tools Las Conchas Fire. to be used for interrupting your immediate operation to gain a better appreciation for the bigger, more complete picture of what’s happening around Photos by Kari Greer you: Evaluation Triggers – Changed conditions that might prompt a reevaluation of your operations. These include: change in RH or probability of ignition; frequent [Continued on Page 4] 3 [Continued from Page 3] spotting; unanticipated fire behavior; changes in tactics; increased operational tempo or communication overload on radio frequencies. Tactical Pause – What you initiate when an “Evaluation Trigger” is identified. This pause—leading to dialogues to identify changed conditions—can simply be a deliberate communication about what people are seeing. This can be accomplished by radio, or face-to- face check-ins with adjacent resources, or your own crewmembers, to discuss what others are observing. Check-In with a New Firefighter – Feedback from a first- or second-year firefighter can prompt a reevaluation of expectations. Engaging your newer firefighters—or others who think differently—can help “daylight” missed cues or biased assumptions.