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SAFENET

Wildland Fire Safety & Health Reporting Network

SAFENET Event Information

Create Agency Response

SAFENET ID:

20180803-0001        [Corrective Actions]

Event Start Date:

08/02/2018 1700

Event Stop Date:

08/03/2018 1200 

Incident Name:

Saddle Mountain Fire

Fire Number:

L2GV 

State:

Washington

Jurisdiction:

BLM

Local Unit:

Washington BLM

Incident Type:

Wildland

Incident Activity:

Line

Stage of Incident:

Initial Attack

Position Title:

ICT3 

Task:

Initial Attack 

Management Level:

3

Resources Involved:

Engines, Dozer, Overhead, Aircraft 

Contributing Factors

Contributing Factors:

Communications, Human Factors

Human Factors:

Decision Making, Leadership  

Other Factors:

 

Narrative

Describe in detail what happened including the concern or potential issue, the environment (weather, terrain, fire behavior, etc), and the resulting health issue.

We responded to the Saddle Mountain fire as an ICT3 and ICT3 Trainee. When we arrived at the incident on August 2, 2018 at approximately 1707, we proceeded to attempt to contact the “Saddle IC”. No contact was made by radio, and we were unable to find an identified federal agency IC on the ground. One federal engine on scene was contacted, and responded that the county was in command, but no federal IC was established. We discussed the IC role with resources on the fire, and they directed us to a local county fire chief. He seemed to be the one in charge of most of the resources, so we proceeded to establish a unified command between him, myself (ICT3) and the ICT3-t. No federal resources seemed to have made any effort to establish themselves as an IC at that point. This was all during an operationally complex incident that included 2 fire boss aircraft, a helicopter, air attack, 4-6 federal engines and 8-12 county apparatus. Once we established a command structure, we were able to assign, communicate with, and account for all resources on the incident.

Immediate Action Taken

Reporting Individual : please describe actions you took to correct or mitigate the unsafe/unhealthful event.

Once it was determined that the incident did not have a clear Incident Commander or leadership structure in place, we immediately established a unified command with the local county fire chief. Our ICT3 team established divisions, assigned division supervisors, relayed a communication plan, and accounted for all resources on the fire. An action plan and tactical assignments were also communicated to all resources on the fire. After the incident, incident and unit level leadership discussed the complexities of responding to incidents under federal jurisdiction that involve many different cooperators. The importance of establishing a federal agency incident commander, or at a minimum a chief of party or point of contact, was discussed as an essential step to safely managing such complex incidents on federal lands.

Agency Response

20180803-0001-CA001

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