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SAFENET Event Information
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SAFENET ID:
20180820-0001        [Corrective Actions]
Event Start Date:
07/31/2018 1400
Event Stop Date:
 
Incident Name:
Carr
Fire Number:
PPL1A618 
State:
California
Jurisdiction:
State
Local Unit:
SHU
Incident Type:
Wildland
Incident Activity:
Line
Stage of Incident:
Extended Attack
Position Title:
ENGB 
Task:
Line Construction And Hoselay 
Management Level:
1
Resources Involved:
two type three engines, one type two crew, and a Divsion and his trainee 
Contributing Factors
Contributing Factors:
Fire Behavior, Human Factors
Human Factors:
Decision Making, Leadership, Risk Assessment, Situational Awareness  
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.
On the morning of July 31st on the Carr fire, we were patrolling for spots on the southern end of the division we were assigned. The wind was out of the west and the previous nights burn was holding successfully , at around 1400 we were called by our Strike team leader (STEN)to meet with them about a mission for division (DIVS), (in route we heard that division actual was using his drip torch and lighting fire with the dozers that were assigned to the division) we met with our STEN and he told us that our DIVS wanted us to lay hose down hill toward active fire to light off a section of line at the top of the ridge along County line road after discussion with the other engine and the the STEN we concluded that the line was not wide enough to hold and that we did not know what the fire or DIVS were doing below. The fire at this point was flanking toward a drainage to the south as the winds would occasionally surface and increase the fire behavior moving it toward the north closer to the planned operation, the road and dozer line formed a 90 degree angle going north along county line road and to the west along a ridge above the papoose arm of trinity lake. The type 2 crew decided to move closer to the fires edge and construct line indirect in the drainage and wanted us to lay hose after they were done, there was a road below and we told the STEN and DIVS that we would feel a lot safer if we could go direct and lay hose from the bottom, the type 2 crew ended up taking our hose and were approximately 300ft out of 700ft to finish and were chased out of the drainage, that mission was abandoned and we were asked to work with the dozers down below where the DIVS had lit fire.
I tied in with the dozer boss and tried to figure out what was wanted of us, I found out at that point that the DIVS was attempting to stay ahead of the fire by lighting off of the dozer line as we had heard on the radio earlier, the dozer boss had stated that he had been working with this DIVS for the past few days and that he had not felt safe with the DIVS actions on previous shifts. During the my discussion with the dozer boss the fire had jumped the dozer line 100 yards to the west of my engine the STEN trainee was scouting it while my engine and the other one were getting in position to attack the spot, the engines started laying hose as I tied in with the division trainee and I asked him what the fire below us was doing, he had told me that the fire was not active below and that we had plenty of time to take care of the spot I turned around to meet with my crew and they were approximately 5 packs into there lay 500ft when DIVS trainee called to abandon the hose lay that it had crossed there trigger point below us, I had found out later that there were no resources below us holding the line along the ridge line that extended to Trinity lake approximately two miles of line. We pulled out of that portion of line back to County line road as the DIVS trainee got accountability for the resources, while the DIVS trainee was finishing up the accountability the DIVS actual was planning to fire from trinity mountain road up toward county line road within a plantation, as I was sitting with DIVS trainee I was able to discuss that I thought that was a bad idea and thankfully the type 2 crew he was asking to perform the burn talked him out of it as this would cause head fire and would create a lot of holding concerns.
Immediate Action Taken
Reporting Individual : please describe actions you took to correct or mitigate the unsafe/unhealthful event.
For the initial down hill hose lay we had brought up that we would work from the lower road up toward county line road going direct, that plan was rejected and the type 2 crew started laying hose as we went to the bottom to go pump the hose lay, that was abandoned and we were sent to work with the dozers.
With the work along the dozer line I was keeping the crew closer to the engine as I was already uncomfortable with the decisions being made, we were slower to action as I was trying to figure out what the fire was doing on our section of line. I had the STEN actual as our lookout looking from our location back to the east and down the next drainage to the north. I was told by DIVS trainee that the had eyes down below toward the lake and that the fire wasn't doing much as we laid hose on the spot. We left the hose lay in place as we were told to abandon that mission and we loaded up and returned to County line road and told DIVS trainee in person that he had accountability for my engine.


Agency Response

20180820-0001-CA001

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