A Shelter Comes Out The Hahn Cabin Entrapment and Fire Shelter Deployment Rice Ridge Fire Facilitated Learning Analysis September 12, 2017 This photo was taken from the gravel bar on Youngs Creek on the afternoon of Sept. 12, 2017, by one of the two firefighters who used this gravel bar as a safety zone when the approaching Rice Ridge Fire surrounded and engulfed them with embers and smoke. 0 Contents 1. Summary………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2 2. Narrative………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3 3. Discussion Points A. Safety Zone……………………………………………………………………………… 12 B. Deploying the Fire Shelter………………………………………………………… 12 C. Lookout(s)……………………………………………………………………………….. 13 D. Structure Protection Plan………………………………………………………… 13 E. The Big Picture………………………………………………………………………….. 14 F. The Safety “Margin”………………………………………………………………….. 14 G. Roles/Responsibilities, Delegation and Communication…………… 17 4. Timeline………………………………………………………………………………………………… 18 5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 19 6. FLA Team Members……………………………………………………………………………..… 19 7. Appendix – Photos of Fire Shelter After Deployment…………………………….. 20 1 National Wildfire Coordinating Group Definitions Entrapment – A situation where personnel are unexpectedly caught in a fire behavior-related, life- threatening position where planned Escape Routes or Safety Zones are absent, inadequate, or compromised. An entrapment may or may not include deployment of a fire shelter for its intended purpose. These situations may or may not result in injury. They include “near misses.” Fire Shelter Deployment – Removing a fire shelter from its case and unfolding it to use as protection against heat, smoke, and burning embers. 1. Summary Two Spotted Bear Ranger District firefighters on the Flathead National Forest were flown into the Bob Marshall Wilderness to implement a Point/Zone Protection Strategy for the Forest’s historic Hahn Cabin, located within the northern portion of the Rice Ridge Fire. This was the second consecutive Point/Zone Protection assignment for this pair of firefighters. Because of concerning bear activity during the first assignment the firefighters requested extraction and reassignment. Hahn Cabin is one of several administrative and historic cabins situated along the trail system of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in Montana. The objective of the two firefighters was to monitor the progression of the Rice Ridge Fire toward the cabin and, as conditions necessitated, protect the historic structure with a sprinkler system, protective wrap and/or firing out around the building. The sprinklers and other water handling equipment, along with structure protection wrap, had all been installed weeks prior to the firefighters’ arrival on the afternoon of September 11, 2017. Winds and Fire Activity Increases The next day, on the afternoon of September 12, the Rice Ridge Fire advanced north and east under Red Flag conditions, with humidity in the low teens and ridgetop winds gusting 25-35 mph. The two firefighters had spent the morning completing projects around the cabin and monitoring the approaching fire’s progression, as well as the fire’s progress toward the nearby occupied Jumbo Mountain Lookout, located 2.5 miles east of the Hahn Cabin. During the latter afternoon into the early evening, the firefighters noticed that both the winds and fire activity were increasing. They had traveled to a gravel bar on Youngs Creek (that they had previously identified as their Safety Zone), located approximately 0.5 miles (a 7-minute walk) north of the Hahn Cabin. From this location, they observed some canopy fire to the south of the Hahn Cabin and black smoke near the cabin. The firefighters returned to the cabin to start the pumps, close-up doors and windows, and burn-out—readying the cabin for the imminent fire impact. Next, as they had previously discussed, the two firefighters separately and independently made a hasty retreat back to that gravel bar on Youngs Creek—their predetermined Safety Zone. 2 Entrapment and Fire Shelter Deployment Site While the fire continued to actively burn adjacent to what they had previously agreed to and considered a Safety Zone, this gravel bar would become an entrapment site as well as a fire shelter deployment site. The two firefighters deployed a single fire shelter to prevent injuries such as burns from ember wash and/or smoke inhalation. Although they had two fire shelters, the two firefighters both took refuge under one shelter. As they had originally planned, the two firefighters spent the night on the gravel bar with the fire continuing to burn around the cabin and their location. On September 12, the day of their entrapment and shelter deployment, the Rice Ridge Fire grew nearly 16,500 acres. The next morning, the two firefighters returned to the undamaged cabin and began to mop-up around the cabin and remove the water handling equipment. The two firefighters then began their three-day 48-mile trek to the Meadow Creek Trailhead via Big Prairie Work Center and Black Bear Cabin. Rain and snow was observed at Hahn Cabin on September 13 and 14. On September 14, the nearby Big Prairie RAWS logged precipitation for the first time over 30 days. A Facilitated Learning Analysis (FLA) Team was ordered on September 22. The FLA process was adopted by the U.S. Forest Service in part to reduce stigmatization around reporting close calls and to identify systemic issues in the way our firefighting professionals are trained to make decisions. Stigmas tend to exist around recognizing and vocalizing the presence of an unacceptable risk, being entrapped, or using the full range of tactics and tools provided to us, including our fire shelters. 2. Narrative “This was a normal operation for us here on The Bob,” informed a fire management employee who works for one of the Forests that administers the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. The 1.5 million-acre Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, often referred to as “The Bob,” is comprised of the Great Bear Wilderness, the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and the Scapegoat Wilderness. Managed by four National Forests and five Ranger Districts, it represents the Lower 48 States’ third largest wilderness complex. The northern edge of the Rice Ridge Fire, which started on July 24, 2017, located outside of the wilderness would merge with the Reef Fire within the boundary of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex on September 7. 3 The Rice Ridge Fire was being managed by a Type 1 Incident Management Team (IMT1). When this fire merged with the Reef Fire, the management of these two fires was also merged under the IMT1. In addition, the IMT1 was also managing the nearby Liberty Fire and was in discussions regarding assuming control of the Type 2 Park Fire, as well as managing a new fire start at the extreme east end of the Rice Ridge Fire. National Wildfire Coordinating Group Definition Point/Zone Protection – A wildfire response strategy which protects specific assets or highly valued resources from the wildfire without directly halting the continued spread of the wildfire. Definition Extension – 1) Points or Zones being protected may be communities, individual structures, areas of high resource value, etc. 2) Continued wildfire spread may be desirable in order to achieve management objectives or may be inevitable due to extreme burning conditions, safety concerns, or other limitations. Other wildfire response strategies are: Monitoring, Confine, Contained, and Suppression. Local Unit to Manage the Rice Ridge Fire A discussion occurred between the District Duty Officer and the IMT1 Operations Section Chief regarding the recently merged Reef Fire. It was decided that given the amount of activity on other portions of the Rice Ridge Fire and the knowledge and capabilities of the local unit, the values and tactical operations within the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex would be managed by the local unit. The northern edge of the Rice Ridge Fire that was actively burning in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex was being managed with a Point/Zone Protection Strategy (see definition above). Wildland fires are a naturally occurring disturbance in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex ecosystems. An objective of the wildland fire program is to allow fire to perform its natural role in the evolution and maintenance of these wilderness ecosystems. The fire suppression strategy that was selected would provide Point Protection at several historic administrative cabins dotted within the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, including the Hahn Cabin and the Jumbo Mountain Lookout. It was determined that these two structures were the primary infrastructure values within the fire area that could likely be impacted by wildfire. The area of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex where these two values are located is remote. Hahn Cabin is nested in the Youngs Creek drainage of the South Fork of the Flathead River, with Jumbo Mountain Lookout perched 2.5 miles to the east. Hahn Cabin is approximately 18 miles from the nearest trailhead. However, this trailhead route was impacted by wildfire and therefore had restricted access. Fire personnel would therefore be inserted via helicopter to implement Point Protection for Hahn Cabin, including wrapping the cabin and outbuildings with structure protection wrap and establishing a gravity feed water handling/sprinkler system and pump/sprinkler system for the structures. The local District had a structure protection plan and structure wrapping supplies cached at the Ranger District. Safety Zone Location Identified