SAFENET


SAFENET

Wildland Fire Safety & Health Reporting Network

SAFENET Event Information
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SAFENET ID:
20210826-0001        [Corrective Actions]
Event Start Date:
08/06/2021 1900
Event Stop Date:
 
Incident Name:
Stateline Complex
Fire Number:
ID-IPF-423 
State:
Idaho
Jurisdiction:
USFS
Local Unit:
Incident Type:
Wildland
Incident Activity:
Line
Stage of Incident:
Extended Attack
Position Title:
TFLD 
Task:
Camp 
Management Level:
1
Resources Involved:
Hand Crews, Engines, Contracted heavy equipment 
Contributing Factors
Contributing Factors:
Communications, Environmental, Human Factors
Human Factors:
Decision Making, Leadership, Risk Assessment  
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.
The decision was made to place resources from three divisions into a single spike camp.

The location of the spike camp (Avery ID) was a 15 to 20 minute drive away from being able to reach an incident repeater via handheld radio. Reliable communication had to go through Coeur d-Alene dispatch over the forest network. At one point a 2050 IMET update was completely missed because of inadequate radio coverage.

Cell phone coverage did not exist, the team did bring in a mobile Wi-Fi unit that allowed for limited access to internet.

Division supervisors were not allowed to remain in spike camp, a TFLD and SOFR conducted briefings and downloaded the IAP daily to share electronically. Briefings were incomplete due to the limited power of the mobile Wi-Fi, and resources usually did not interact with their DIVS until at least 0900 each shift.

At points we had close to 100 personnel assigned to the spike camp without any portable wash stations or showers, and during a possible COVID exposure it was noted that there were exactly three foot pump wash stations for the entire camp of 97 personnel.

The camp location was situated between a logging road with the first log trucks coming downhill with their exhaust brakes on starting at 0330 every morning, and continuing along a highway on the other side of the camp.

The average slope on this incident was between 75 and 100%. Breakfasts were delivered the day before (cold breakfast) and inadequate in calories or content for the work being accomplished. Ice was requested to be brought out, and we received either 3 or 4 coolers of bagged ice (9 to 12 bags total), each night.
Concerns were brought to the IMT, but the overall thought was that driving along a closed two-lane highway was more dangerous than all of the exposure listed above.
Immediate Action Taken
Reporting Individual : please describe actions you took to correct or mitigate the unsafe/unhealthful event.
TFLD and SOFR held morning briefings. TFLD ensured that the daily IAP was downloaded and shared electronically.
Crews were rotated back to ICP in order to shower and also have a hot breakfast with enough calories to accomplish daily tasks.
The total lack of quality sleep was not mitigatable at this location.
After the possible COVID exposure, additional masks and hand sanitizer were delivered to the spike camp by a Branch supervisor. This request was made through Coeur d-Alene dispatch because the incident repeaters were out of range.
Once the Type III team assumed command the spike camp was closed down and all resources returned to the main ICP in St. Regis, MT.


Agency Response

20210826-0001-CA001

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