Safety is our number one priority in all fire management activities. As such the safety of fire personnel, park employees, visitors and the media were considered during planning and coordination and safety precautions were exercised throughout operations for the North HQ prescribed fire.
The North HQ unit is a unique burn unit. While the 1,685 acre burn unit encompasses a larger area of fire adapted vegetation, it also includes the EVER Headquarters (HQ) and Visitor Center (VC) complex. The HQ VC complex area is approximately 17 acres and includes Park administrative areas including the employee parking lot and HQ buildings as well as areas behind the administrative buildings which are not for public access. The Visitor Center area is approximately 7 acres and includes the parking lot, VC building, boardwalk, restrooms and chickee buildings, fragments of native pine rockland and wetland prairie vegetation and lake. The parking lot is approximately 1.5 acres of blacktop and unburnable landscaped grasses and shade trees. This area was identified as a safety zone during the planning phase which also contains 3 different ingress and egress roads. The lake is approximately 2.5 acres. Approximately 1.5 acres (less than 25%) of the visitor use areas contain flammable vegetation. Native vegetation fragments within the visitor use areas are broken up by bodies of water, roads/parking lot and sidewalks. As such it was determined that no public closures were necessary given the small isolated areas of fuel. Temporary closures were put in place as needed during periods of active firing.
The North HQ unit is also unique in that is provides an opportunity to educate the public on the benefits of prescribed fire in reducing the risk of wildland fire and providing ecosystem benefits. It provides an opportunity to directly speak to how prescribed fire can be safely and successfully be implemented in the WUI in a manner in which the general public can engage and understand through a unique, real world, captivating experience which hopefully can allay fears and aid in making people more comfortable with the idea of prescribed fire in their communities. During the North HQ prescribed fire, a fire information booth was continually staffed with PIOs who provided information to visitors regarding on going fire operations and safety precautions and answered questions and educated visitors on the benefits of use of prescribed fire in preventing future wildfires and the ecological benefits of fire. The feedback received was overwhelmingly positive.
Upon receipt of the SAFENET open discussions were had among fire overhead and staff assigned. Based on these discussions it appears that the concerns raised in the SAFENET may have resulted from a lack of communication or understanding of the full scope of operations.
The following outlines what was discovered during these discussions regarding operations and assignments on the North HQ Prescribed Fire:
• Temporary closures were implemented as planned during times of active firing. Operational staff directed temporary closures and were assisted by LE and PIO staff depending on the location of the closure and operational needs. Visitors were escorted around closures.
• Four Law Enforcement (LE) rangers were assigned to the burn. Two LE were fully committed and an additional two LE were identified to assist as needed during active firing and times of high visitor traffic.
• Four PIOs were assigned to the burn. Two fire staff and two interpretation staff. Additionally, two fire staff PIOs were present to coordinate media personnel and interviews. Media personnel were escorted by three fire line qualified personnel in areas otherwise closed to the public.
• Fire PIO staff had radio communications with personnel on the fire. Interpretation PIO staff conducted regular face to face communications with fire PIO staff.
• LE and PIOs were not engaged on the fireline nor accessing areas where full PPE was warranted. The assignment for these positions was to interact with the public, maintain crowd control and inform visitors of safety precautions to be followed around firefighters and equipment.
• Holding operations staged a type 3 engine along the road with no blockage of egress, an open lane was present throughout operations. Water sources were not blocked.
• A pump operator was assigned to the portable pump prior to starting it up, during and after pump operations stopped to ensure the public was not present during operations and pump noise and after to ensure the pump’s hot muffler was not left unattended or unmonitored.
• Following ignitions, fire personnel patrolled recently burned areas, once an area was determined to have no heat they were no longer monitored and patrolled by fire personnel.
• Fire management overhead including the FMO, Duty Officer and PFS were not assigned to operations but were onsite to observe and ensure execution of established safety protocols and mitigate unforeseen situations if they were to arise.
We agree wholeheartedly with the concern that these issues were not raised during the end of shift AAR. As stated previously, safety measures were implemented including temporary closures, fire personnel assigned to monitor equipment and recently burned areas and use of LE and PIOs. If at any point it was observed that the organization in place was having trouble with crowd control as planned, this issue should have been raised immediately for corrective action to be taken. Otherwise this should have been brought up at the AAR so that the PIO and LE staffing structure could be addressed for future burns of a similar nature where public interactions are likely. It is very concerning that any individual would not raise concerns during an AAR that could affect future operations. Additionally EVER fire and aviation management is aware that it not only the responsibility of individuals to speak up during AARs or when a concerning situation is observed, but that management needs to continually stress the importance of and encourage a culture where individuals feel empowered to speak up. EVER Fire and Aviation management continually strives to promote such a culture.
That having been said, I take this SAFENET very seriously and recognize there is opportunity to implement additional safety protocols when a prescribed fire operations occur in locations where the general public is concerned. We value the importance of engaging with the public and will continue to improve the training and guidance that we give our PIO staff in better ways of crowd control during prescribed fire operations.
We appreciate the opportunity to review and continually improve in all our operations and actions. |
