Monday, August 29, 2005  Eva Schicke, the 23-year-old firefighter who was killed Sept. 12, 2004 battling a wildfire east of Groveland in southern Tuolumne County. The first woman in the history of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to die in action, Schicke was remembered by family and friends during a touching, three-hour public ceremony that attracted close to 4,000 people to the Calaveras County Fairgrounds (Report below) Here is a link to the final report on the fatality of Eva Schicke, a Firefighter with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. http://www.fire.ca.gov/php/fire_er_content/downloads/ExecutiveSummary.pdf  

Wednesday, June 1, 2005  Click on the link, below, to receive the final CDF accident report concerning the Novato engine entrapment on the Cedar Fire in 2003. At the end of the report a cause of the accident is listed as failure to provide adequate lookouts, however, read the report carefully and you will note that the primary contributing factor appears to be a NON-Novato Fire Captain and Fire Engineer, who were not assigned to the incident and who took independent action, lit backfires without communicating with command personnel or other firefighters. It appears that these backfires are what burned the Novato engine crew and also trapped other companies as well. Communicating effectively, operating within the incident command system structure, not engaging in independent actions, as well as having lookouts are critical lessons learned from this tragedy. http://www.fire.ca.gov/php/fire_er_content/downloads/CSAR2%20_05.pdf  

Monday, April 25, 2005  While responding to a brush fire call approx 1/2 mile from our station (after already out on 2 brush fires and a fully involved van fire) I came to a intersection and approached with lights and sirens. In the slow lane I had a tractor trailer approaching and stopped-I mistook the car in front of the truck as being in the fast lane. I then went through the intersection after traffic was stopped on other side of the roadway-only to just clear the fast lane and have a jeep barely miss the back end of the brush truck I was driving! We got to the call and my chief took me aside to give me more guidance on the proper way to go through a intersection. This has not only scared the crap out of me but it has carried over to the way I driven my POV. TAKE YOUR TIME we are worth it

 

Tuesday, April 5, 2005  Story by The KCRA Channel

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A new report on the death of a California Department of Forestry firefighter is providing few new details on what went wrong. Eva Schicke, of Arnold, was the first female CDF firefighter to die in the line of duty when her crew was overcome by flames while battling a wildfire in the Tuolumne River canyon last September. The six other firefighters in her crew escaped when the winds suddenly shifted the flames. The new report from the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined that no workplace violations led to Schicke's death. A final report by the CDF and the U.S. Forest Service that is still being worked on is expected give more details about what happened to Schicke.

 

Monday, February 28, 2005  28 Feb 2005 Source: Reuters LISBON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - A rare winter forest fire killed four Portuguese firefighters on Monday, authorities said. The four from the Coimbra fire brigade were among a group of five battling a blaze in mountains near Mortagua, about 210 km (130 miles) northeast of Lisbon, Coimbra Mayor Carlos Encarnacao told private TSF radio. "There was a shift in the wind and they were overwhelmed by flames. One was able to get away, but four were caught in the fire," Encarnacao said. About 90 firefighters were fighting the blaze, backed by one helicopter and 22 vehicles, the Lusa news agency said. Portugal is suffering one of its worst droughts in 100 years and the fire broke out on Monday during what is usually the Iberian nation's rainy season.  

Monday, January 3, 2005  The Forest Service plays a lead role in wildland firefighter safety. Check out http://www.wildfirelessons.net/ .....for some awesome safety info. Look to http://www.fireleadership.gov/values_principles.html ...for some great stuff as well. And for an excellent paper on causes of accidents look here: http://www.cami.jccbi.gov/AAM-400A/Abstracts/2000/FULLTXT/00_07.pdf The last describes the "Swiss cheese" theory of accident causation.  

Associated Press 10-22-2004 RENO, Nev. (AP) - Inadequate briefings, radio problems, "freelancing" supervisors and confusion over who was in charge led to 21 firefighters being trapped and two people burned by a Nevada wildfire, a report said Wednesday. Firefighters and their supervisors broke a number of rules in the initial attack on the Waterfall fire that destroyed 17 homes and burned nearly 8,000 acres near Carson City in July, an interagency investigation found. The most serious breach of policy on the narrow canyon road where a fire engine operator and a television reporter were burned July 14 was a violation of the first rule of firefighting. "Safety was not the first priority," according to the accident investigation team and a board of review convened by the Nevada Division of Forestry, Carson City Fire Department and U.S. Forest Service. The danger could have been minimized if fire crews and their bosses had followed standard procedures before the wind-whipped blaze raced through a canyon, the report said. Firefighters were forced to scramble for safety as pine trees exploded into flames along Kings Canyon Road. Personnel on the road "were not advised about the buildup of fire activity south of their location nor the fire front spreading toward them," the investigation determined. The danger multiplied because vehicles had been parked improperly in the road _ some facing the wrong direction, others without keys in the ignition for a fast getaway, as is standard. The injured firefighter was burned when a crew was trapped as the blaze leapfrogged its position and destroyed a fire engine. Reporter John Tyson of KOLO-TV in Reno, who attempted to walk away from the area, suffered minor burns on his hands and face. Though neither was seriously injured, an investigation is required in any burnover. Among the key findings in the report issued Wednesday: Fire briefings were inconsistent and in some cases incomplete Communication was not maintained with supervisors and adjoining forces Radio frequencies were overloaded Several firefighters assigned didn't know who the incident commanders were Firefighters were at the site without full protective gear during the burnover Unassigned firefighters and administrators, news reporters and civilians were on Kings Canyon Road without approval and/or escorts Firefighters and supervisors recognized safety hazards with congestion on the road, yet took no effective action The report notes that the evacuation of hundreds of residents went smoothly and no residents were harmed in the fire that burned on the edge of Carson City and destroyed more homes than any Nevada wildfire in two decades. The fire, which burned for a week, was started by an illegal campfire. Among other things, the review board recommended federal, state and local fire agencies in Nevada and California reach an "immediate short-term agreement for a single incident commander" in responding to such fires. "Some unassigned `freelancing' fire management supervisors entered the fire and started giving tactical direction and assignments to resources without the knowledge or approval of operations overhead," the investigative team's report said. "These actions created confusion among firefighters about who was in charge. ... (and) may have contributed to untimely delays for disengagement." The board also called for a review of all firefighters involved to determine their training and qualifications and to consider decertification of any who responded to the fire without required protective equipment. The board report urged the Sierra Front Interagency Fire agencies to review past problems with burnovers under their jurisdiction, including three incidents in recent years. State and federal officials said they would move quickly to adopt the recommendations. "The Forest Service is committed to working with our wildland fire partners to make changes in the way we fight wildfires, improve safety and prevent accidents," said Bob Vaught, supervisor of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Peter Anderson, Nevada's state forester and fire warden, praised the review process. "Obviously, we are going to have more fires and we need to be prepared," he said. "I just thank God nobody else was hurt and the few injuries we had were very minor. "It's very difficult to fight fire in a subdivision," he said. He agreed officials should have done a better job of restricting access to the road. "I wouldn't single out the media. We had landowners on their riding lawnmowers, all sorts of different folks."  

Wildland firefighter Daniel Holmes, age 26, (shown here) of Bellingham, Washington was killed on October 2, 2004, when he was hit by a falling dead tree while fighting a fire in the Kings Canyon National Park. CLICK HERE FOR THE INITIAL REPORT IN PDF FORMAT (72 Hour Report)  

As you know, CDF Firefighter Eva Schicke was tragically killed in the line of duty while fighting the Tuolumne Fire last month. Here is a LINK to the INFORMATIONAL GREEN SHEET regarding the fire-and the tragic loss of Firefighter Schicke.  

By Lisa Leff ASSOCIATED PRESS 4:39 p.m. September 21, 2004 SAN FRANCISCO – Eva Schicke made it within five feet of the road where two colleagues safely found shelter before she disappeared in the fire that had turned on her seven-member crew 30 seconds after the wind shifted directions, according to a preliminary report on the death of the 23-year-old firefighter. The report, released to employees of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection last Friday as a training tool, offers a glimpse of how suddenly a routine late-summer mission in Stanislaus National Forest turned tragically awry for the members of CDF Columbia Helitack 404 on Sept. 12.The crew had been in the forest using hand tools to build a fire line on a steep slope between Lumsden Road and the Tuolumne River Canyon when the light and steady wind abruptly gusted, sending "a sheet of fire" uphill toward them, Schicke's crew mates told investigators from CDF and the U.S. Forest Service.Four crew members made it back down to the river –– the captain and a firefighter after running through a hole in the flames – and a fifth crew member who had gone back up to the road to retrieve a piece of equipment found safety there.One other firefighter and Schicke scrambled the 20 to 30 feet after him, according to the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. In the five-page document, which identifies the crew members by number instead of name, Schicke is Firefighter No. 3, the colleague closest to her Firefighter No. 2."FF{PI:EF}2 rolled over the lip of the road within the oncoming flame front as the fire hit the road," it states. "FF{PI:EF}3 was last seen by FF{PI:EF}2 immediately behind approximately 5 feet from the road. FF{PI:EF}3 did not reach the road."Schicke was discovered missing in the thick smoke after the captain conducted a crew count by walkie-talkie. They called for their helicopter to drop buckets of water on the area and started searching for her. By the time the water arrived, the wind had died back down and the fire had returned to its previous lateral direction."Firefighters on-scene estimated the elapsed time from the wind shift to the burn-over was less than 30 seconds with the total wind event lasting less than two minutes," the report states.But it was already too late."As the smoke cleared and bucket drops cooled the area, the searchers discovered the body of FF{PI:EF}3 located in the newly burned area approximately 100 feet below the road," according to the report.Schicke was in her fifth season as a firefighter but only her first as a member of an elite helicopter squad. A complete investigation into the circumstances that led to her death is expected to take several more weeks, if not months, according to CDF spokeswoman Karen Terrill.  

By Rob Young/Appeal-Democrat Tired but uninjured after a close call, a team of Yuba-Sutter firefighters came home Thursday after fighting a wildfire and rescuing occupants of a crashed helicopter in the Lassen National Forest. The strike team, made up of five engines and 18 firefighters from Yuba City, Sutter, East Nicolaus, Pleasant Grove and Linda, left Friday to fight the 3,200-acre Straylor Fire northeast of Redding and south of Fall River Mills, according to Bill Miles, team leader and division chief of the Yuba City Fire Department. The team was "mopping up" on the fire line about 2 p.m. Monday when a privately owned Bell Jet Ranger helicopter, which was transporting two California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials on a reconnaissance mission, crashed into an unburned area near the Yuba-Sutter team, Miles said. As the wrecked helicopter leaked fuel, team members and Lassen National Forest crews rescued a passenger whose foot was pinned in the wreckage, another passenger with a back injury, and the pilot, who suffered burns and a fractured sternum, Miles said. The injured were taken 250 yards up a steep hill to a 300-foot-diameter "safe zone" where the CDF earlier had cleared of trees. Meanwhile, a previously undetected "spot fire" was advancing up the hill, consuming the helicopter and destroying a CDF truck. The fire roared around the edges of the safe zone, Miles said. After a rescue helicopter was unable to lift all three victims, a second copter was called in. Although flames threatened the copters, they were not damaged, Miles said. Flames from the spot fire, which eventually burned about 500 acres, scorched paint and melted taillights on three of the fire engines from Yuba-Sutter, but all remained in service, Miles said. Miles said the CDF strategy of creating safe zones was effective, although flames "came right alongside." Yuba City Battalion Chief John Limas, a team member, said that flames reached a height of 75 feet around the safe zone. The fire "sounded like a freight train," he said. If the zone had not been there, "there would have been fatalities," he said. The Yuba-Sutter team and Lassen National Forest workers were trapped in the zone for about four hours, Battalion Chief Limas said. "There were high emotions. It was a sobering experience," he said. Limas, a 22-year firefighting veteran, said it was "definitely a close call." The cause of the helicopter crash is still being investigated, Miles said. Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young can be reached at 749-4710. You may e-mail him at rob_young@link.freedom.com.  

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0729wildfire-jetliners29.html  

JULY 30 -- SACRAMENTO, CA: State lawmakers nixed a controversial fire protection fee on rural property owners yesterday, replacing the lost funds with general taxes as part of the new California state budget. The California Farm Bureau Federation had sued over the proposed $35 per parcel annual fee to cover part of rural fire protection costs on 31 million acres of rural land. According to an AP report, CDF was working with county assessors in 56 of the state's 58 counties to collect a double fee on each parcel this winter to pay back a projected $102.5 million borrowed from the general fund to help pay firefighting costs. The Farm Bureau and rural legislators and residents said the fee was an illegal tax that unfairly burdened rural residents for statewide fire costs. The Sacramento Bee reported that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to sign the spending plan tomorrow, after he reviews it for possible line-item vetoes. The Senate approved the $105 billion spending plan on a 28-11 vote, a day after the Assembly voted 69-11 to pass it. The Ukiah Daily Journal reported that the budget includes funds to keep open a local California Conservation Corps center. The CCC youths help with environmental clean-ups and emergency and fire assistance. When the governor announced his budget proposal in January, the center was scheduled for closure, but that was delayed pending a final budget. The Ukiah center instead has operated at a reduced level, and new members haven't been recruited.  

FALL RIVER MIL, CALIF. - A private helicopter crashed Monday afternoon, injuring three firefighters while doing mapping and reconnaissance work on the Straylor Fire near Fall River Mills. "It went down and we don't know why," said Information Officer Jeff Fontana at the Interagency Center in Susanville. "The Bell 206 Jet Ranger Helicopter was being used for mapping and reconnaissance work on the fire." Fontana said the pilot and two passengers were injured in the crash. All three were treated at Mercy Medical Center in Redding. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) firefighter Bill Baxter from Mendocino suffered a broken leg and CDF firefighter Rich Sampson from Santa Cruse a broken sternum. The name and injuries of the pilot have yet to be released by helicopter company. Fontana said that CDF has assigned a serious accident investigation team to investigate the incident and determine its cause. This is a multi-agency team that includes FAA and fire behavior experts. Sparks from a "hot saw" working on a logging project started the Straylor Fire on July 22. It is located southeast of Fall River Mills and has burned 3,600 acres. Fontana reported that the fire is now 85 percent contained with full containment expected on Thursday. No structures have been damaged. More 1,800 firefighters, including crews from Yreka, have worked on the Straylor Fire.  

FROM: National Wildfire Coordinating Group REPLY TO: NWCG@nifc.gov DATE: 07/06/2004 SUBJECT: Nuttall Fire Deployment - Coronado NF, Arizona Below is a fact sheet that describes the circumstances surrounding the shelter deployment on the Nuttall Fire, Coronado National Forest (R3), 7/2/04. After communicating the facts as we knew them to Ed Hollenshead, it was determined that this deployment classified as a "Fire Operations Incident" where LCES functioned as planned and no injuries were sustained as a direct result of the deployment. The Forest and IMT performed Critical Incident Stress Debriefings and an After Action Review to document the facts and lessons learned. The proceedings from the AAR will be disseminated as they become available as well as opportunities to develop a lessons learned fact sheet. The AAR and Lessons Learned Fact Sheet will meet the requirements for a Local Level Review (Red Book) and Unit Level Review (FSM 5100), unless further information suggests a higher level investigation is warranted. CLICK THIS LINK FOR THE SHELTER DEPLOYMENT FACT SHEET