SAFENET


SAFENET

Wildland Fire Safety & Health Reporting Network

SAFENET Event Information
Create Agency Response

SAFENET ID:
20190419-0001        [Corrective Actions]
Event Start Date:
03/18/2019 1400
Event Stop Date:
 
Incident Name:
Steering tire failures
Fire Number:
 
State:
Michigan
Jurisdiction:
USFS
Local Unit:
Hiawatha National Forest, Munising Ranger District
Incident Type:
Prescribed/Fuels Treatment
Incident Activity:
Transport to/from
Stage of Incident:
Other
Position Title:
ENGB 
Task:
 
Management Level:
N/A
Resources Involved:
Hiawatha E-631 
Contributing Factors
Contributing Factors:
Equipment
Human Factors:
 
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 replaced all tires on E631 on 08/22/2018 with Double Coin RLB1 Traction Tubeless tires while on a wildland fire assignment in Oregon. Shortly after replacement the engine was driven back to the home unit on the Hiawatha National Forest for the remained of the winter. At this point the tires were in good condition. Receiving a prescribed burn resource order for the Hoosier NF E631 made the drive to Bedford, IN. The following day at Bedford a firefighter operating the engine noticed a split in the sidewall of the passenger steering tire through to the wire on the sidewall. We had not contacted anything on the drive down to Indiana. The spot on the tire was hot to the touch after being driven on. After inspecting our other tires a spot on the passenger steering was found bubbled out and looked like it was ready to split as well.
Immediate Action Taken
Reporting Individual : please describe actions you took to correct or mitigate the unsafe/unhealthful event.
After the conditions of the tires were found discovered the tire with the split in the sidewall was replaced with a new tire immediately. Tire with bubbled side wall was rotated to spare pending approval to replace. We reached out to dealership to agreed to cover front two steering tires under warranty. We are working through to process with fleet manager to replace existing tires as I now believe they are prone to failure and a cause for concern even though they are on the back duels.


Agency Response

20190419-0001-CA003
20190419-0001-CA002

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