Beaver Fire Entrapment FLA
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- Опубликовано: 18 окт 2024
- For more, please read the Facilitated Learning Analysis: www.wildfirele...
At approximately 1730 on August, 11, a Division Supervisor, contract dozer operator and a Heavy Equipment Boss deployed their fire shelters on the Beaver Fire on the Klamath National Forest in northern California (U.S. Forest Service Incident CA-KNF-005497). The individuals involved were improving line on the far western edge of the fire, approximately 2 miles from the fire front.
The dude working the dozer till the last min.
balls of steel
Had to keep going, thr fresh dirt is your best friend
That was the absolute best spot for them to deploy, their decision to stay and deploy, along with having the dozer operator, saved their lives.
When swamping for my dozer operator he had perfected a method for creating a survivable deployment site under the dozer by spinning in circles to drill a hole then pushing through it, backing up and putting the blade over the berm.
An incredible situation. Bravery, fear, solidarity, and terror are all on exhibit here. Fire shelters have no windows, no thermometers, and once you've made the decision to deploy...your best shot at survival comes from staying put until the fire has passed--whenever that is. From what this video shows, once this crew was in this situation, they did the right thing and they lived.
I owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who is out on these fire lines. Firefighters risk their lives to protect so much, every day: today, a group of firefighters somewhere is saving lives, property, and natural treasures. I'm thankful for each of them. Brave, committed, dedicated women and men, across this country and the world.
Gabriel Watson I totally agree with you and they need to be more recognized for what they do! I don’t think enough people understand what these brave people do for us. It’s absolutely incredible.
Well put. Quite a moving comment
@3:00 when he apologized for getting the other guy into that mess....that must have been a surreal moment.
I have so much respect for these guys and anyone who voluntarily puts themselves in front of hells gates .. damn
@ 3:00
"I'm sorry I got you into this mess"
Wall of flame 200 feet high
"Aw hell this is nothin"
lmao
Tommy is a rough tough dude!!
That dude is a regular Billy BadAss.
if that does not scare you, nothing on this planet will
Thanks to whomever filmed this. It will help to explain to people what a flaming front looks like when it really gets up and boogies.
Okay, I guess this is where an ex firefighter is supposed to tell a bedtime story? We got into a bad situation on a fire up by LaGrande in 1991. The fire blew up at 2 in the afternoon. It was as if the whole canyon was gasoline. It happened so fast that we barely got out alive. We ran up the hill and the fire was right behind us all the way. Scary. I know I didn't say, "This is nothing." Our crew leader, a 25 year veteran in fighting forest fires, looked like he was about to poop his pants.
I know this was comment 3 years ago and the fire in La Grande 1991, but as an Oregonian with our state currently on fire like never before, I just want to say thanks for your work protecting our home. It means just as much to us now as it did in 1991.
Scary as hell that’s for sure. When a fire really takes off it’s so fast that it doesn’t look real
Salute to all for your service and bravery.
Good job to the dozer OP, pushing his ass off till the last minut he did exactly what i'd have done
@Fresh Start And you don't know what they *wouldn't* have done. And since you're not them, and they are; that makes their statement more qualified to predict what they would have done than yours.
It could also be a fact that they've done that many times before, as such they indeed know what they would do. You have no idea, yet make effort to dictate what they would or wouldn't have done. Why would you do that?
@Fresh Start You're stupider than I thought.
"Because I am a wild land firefighter and have faced fire and felt that fear,..."
*What does that have to do with*:
"... many people think they kno how they would react to fire and then panic."
You dont even know what you're trying to say, much less how to put it together. All you know is someone mentioned doing something on a fireline, and you - being The Grand Poobah of Wildland Firefighting - just *HAD* to pipe up and "correct" them, to show everyone how wise and experienced you are. Take YOUR bullshit somewhere else.
Dude said 'yay dozer, thats what I woulda done'. For all you know that's what he does on every incident he's been on. For all you know OP may have been your crew boss twice already. But no . . . that mouth on your face just HAD to take off to "correct" someone you dont know about something you really have no idea about. You sound like an inmate crew member who's just been on his first incident.
These guys are seriously unsung heros. I have gained a lot of knowledge and a huge amount of respect for these men and women
I love Billy Badass there. XD
"I'm sorry I got you into this :( "
Billy BadAss: "Aww hell, this is nothing!"
I'd have shit my heart out of my ass by that point, id be so freaked out.
Billy BadAss is calm
Strive to be Billy BadAss.
Also they're lucky the wind didn't blow those flames right onto them.
😂😂😂 same here!!
Tommy was my engine hand on a type 6 around 2007 on a severity assignment in Mississippi , polite /soft spoken /hard worker --good kid
If someone felt that it was there fault that I was about to possibly die and told me that I would say that just to make him feel a bit better..we all chose this job and on the line you always have the right to refuse dangerous work. Not gonna let the brother next to me blame himself
This, this right here makes me scared every single time my sons' dad goes out on a wild fire call.
8:19 look here how small their "safety" zone actually was.
Shelters and teamwork Mamma, notice how that dozer was pushing until the last second, no worries we got this.
So your husband????????
@@joshr7781 lol
Plot twist: His girlfriend's husband. Or his wife's boyfriend?
To all firefighters who maybe watching this, weather u are on active duty or retired, thank you so much for everything that you do or did, you guys are very brave and have the third most dangerous job in the world, right after military and police. U guys are truly incredible to face such fury to save both houses and lives, thank u so much 👍😊❤️
Absolutely the most frightening scenario and the guys are as calm and professional as can be. Thank God for our firefighters, hotshots, smoke jumpers and everyone who runs into a nightmare like this when the rest of us run like hell.
This is nothing? Now I know what people say when they're close to death.
We live off the thrill of being on the edge. You feel the most alive closest to death
If they didnt have that dozzer.... theyd have been in the toaster
Now that is how you document an Entrapment site! So so glad they made it out ok, it's a wonder what the mistakes of the past can teach for those in the future. Thank you and God bless each and every one of you who dig, doze, douse, cut, chop, chisel, spray, fly, drop and scout... we should all donate a dollar an hour to your pay... no one works harder and longer to save idiots like us who build homes in fire prone areas. Not that anywhere can't be, but in the mountains, foothills, and forest... it's a foregone conclusion we're going to need you. Keep learning and stay safe... no house is worth a life. Smiles and blessings...
Scary situation to be in but glad they have made it through. Props to the dozer operator for operating till he couldn't no more.
Underrated video footage.
Notwithstanding the fact that the dozer driver was a hero for clearing that deployment site, he was completely cool while under fire (pun intended).
God bless these men and everything they do.
This is terrifying, I can’t even imagine the heat even after the fire went through.
People need to see this. Most don't understand the violence, intense heat of a wind blown bushfire/wildfire. People cant comprehend that this much heat creates its own weather. Stay safe all firefighters. 🔥❤❤❤
Respect! Bravest of the brave! You guys are true heroes.
wow...the guys on the radio were surprising calm
Why do you think that is?
didn't hear any screaming or panic in their voices
experience, been here before attitude
My brother was on this this fire for over a month
These fires we’re having today are child’s play compared to the fires we’re going to have in the future unfortunately.
Creepy an interesting at the same time how fast and powerfull this flame front went through the area and how quickly everything that fueled the fire burned down.
Did they deploy behind the dozer? I was trained years ago using the dozer that all that metal will block the heat better than the shelter. On a certain fire years ago 2 guys were killed but they found the fire shelter instructions on the one side of the dozer unburned and in perfect condition. Can't believe after all these years that event has not been relayed to dozer operators.
I was taught to use the fire shelter, but all the veterans snickered under their breath. Too many people die in those shelters. We called it being baked like a potato. Most of us said we'd rather take the chance of outrunning the flames than use the tinfoil. But yeah, I'd hide behind the dozer before getting inside a tinfoil wrap. I worked on a hotshot crew out of Redmond Or from 1990-1994. We were on quite a few large fires as that was a time period with very little rain and a lot of dry lightning.
Just watching it again now. Hind sight is always 20/20 I guess. Guess they could have also pushed out a deep trench 1 blade width for enough guys and park the dozer over it and everyone could have layed under that. The dozer would have taken ALL the heat. They were fortunate to that that ....what... a D-6 or D-7. Lots of radiant heat though. :-)
John Smith dozer is full of diesel and oil... that would be like hiding under a bomb
@@stevenvaughn8431 In that particular situation even the smaller pickup, including plastic parts, were hardly damaged..
Things doesn't just blow up..
Hollywood fiction isn't reality
You can see in that aerial image of the entrapment site where they placed the images of the truck, the dozer, and the individual deployment sites. Looks like the dozer operator deployed underneath the dozer with the machine facing the flaming front, and towards the backside of the site. With the blade dropped down and tracks on either side combined with a shelter, I’m sure that it was very manageable. I don’t know why the other 2 guys decided to deploy next to their truck, exposed.
Wow you guys are HEROES
Wow. That is nuts.
I'm curious, was the decision to deploy a last-second thing? Or was this video taken after the decision was made to deploy when the front got close enough? I was listening to the audio and I didn't hear an order?
I'm really interested in how and when the call was made.
Thanks for posting, glad no one was hurt!
+Joseph Gregory Thanks for the comment! Check out bit.ly/BeaverFireEntrapment2014 and open up the Beaver Fire FLA. This is a great report that will fill in a bunch of your questions.
+Joseph Gregory At about 4m15s you can faintly hear a voice over the radio say "Ok, why doesn't everybody get in their shelters, if they haven't done that already."
ill answer -, (in my opinion) not deploying too soon , allows you a chance of other options if conditions change such as one side lighting off quicker than the other and possibly moving the trucks and cat to an edge as opposed to the center -maybe lighting off one side --you be sure to have your location to deploy planned /prepped , but just as things go bad fast , sometimes things may ease up/change for the better and plan B may all of a sudden be a better plan
As scary as that was I had to laugh when he put out the papers that were on fire. Instinct!
I can feel the heat just watching the video !!
Thank you for the lesson.
Being in the middle of that will make the hardiest Atheist convert to Christianity really quickly. Prayers start coming fast!
this is the most scarings thing i never seen in my life i hope🙏 everyone is ok
Does it make really sense to have a small dozer line in the woods??
NO ONE CAN PREDICT THE FRONT,NO ONE. to my fallen freinds
That gave me chills
I'm speechless
I wonder if the decision to deploy was delayed because it would be an official admission that they had screwed up. 6:06 "We're doing good sir, we're doing good. everything is good" when they almost just died.
They knew they would have to deploy but the guy in the dozer was trying until the last second to make the safety zone bigger which almost cost him but might have saved them. There’s another video on this incident out there where they go into the details. The fire captain knew he screwed up and went in to find them because he knew he put these guys in a bad spot. Heroic stuff from all 3 of them.
Amazing.
So I've always wondered, wondered it ever since I seen that video with the road grader that got stuck and burned over. How does the heavy equipment fare in this type of situation since I see the dozer isnt crispy. Are they still operable or do they get put out and checked over before hitting it again?
Good question. Obviously doesn't have tires but there are wires that the insulation could burn and hoses and belts.
That would freak me smooth out
The sozer operator deployed under his dozer the 2 forset servise guys deployed by there pickup i was there abought 1 mile away on a dozer we could not get to them all the pink eibbon is for the investagation becus of the fire shelter deployment that fire blew up so dam fast that day so lucky all is well
I was one of the FEMPS on the Div north of this. I had just driven down
there earlier in the day to scout for any LZ's and to get a crew
accountability for the area. We were sitting off a hoseline and
aiding in a firing op, and watched this thing go ape. It was expected
behavior as we watched it 2 previous nights freight train down hill in a
running crown fire DOWN HILL ! The thunderstorms that rolled through
earlier started the happy camp fire, and caused this blow up. Scariest
radio traffic I've ever heard, especially when the mobilized us to Div
break to stage for possible rescue and medical. The crazy thing... I
was on the King fire after this, and heard the Structure protection
group sup going into the river after he was cut off. Same thing, long
long long radio silence, and thinking this isn't good.
(I'm an ignorant non-FF.) If you have dozers, why not just dig a small hole/trench, and deploy down in there?
That line cut by the dozer was the best spot for deployment, the dozer was raking a bare and soft earth region for the shelters.
That was an angry fire right then, yellow flames went darker as the flame front widened. I've been in a similar situation with my crew, but we had a light grass clearing about 5 chains in circumference. We planned ahead, cutting a scratch line and firing half of the clearing ahead of the fire.
No deployment required in our case, but we didn't have any spot fire on the other side. Our assignment was to protect the campground structures behind us.
Imagine if you didn’t have a dozer and just had a mattock and a saw.
If you have dozers, why not just dig a small hole/trench, and deploy down in there?
It's a dozer, not a backhoe
🤣
What happened?
Was the guy in the dozer making a better deployment site?
Jeff Whitelock Yes. His initial job was to cut a line along the ridge there you can see in the chopper footage next to the road, but I’m sure when they knew they were going to get burned over he started improving the site as best he could. He also deployed underneath the dozer
Yes! Spent plenty of time working with fire cats. These guys are the best, man. Long hours in that cramped cabin, it's hard work. Hand crews have to adapt and improvise, we're in the thick of it.
Nothing like sharing time with your dozers, I've found safety zones cut as a courtesy, and nice off the line berms to give my boys a rest.
Like being a burger on the grill. What a terrifying situation.
Doesn't seem like a very chill situation if u ask me
So where in Florida
It was California, FLA is possibly an acronym.
FLA stands for "Facilitated Learning Analysis." We added a link in the description to the FLA report, which gives tons more context. Check out the written report here:
WHATS ALL THE PINK RIBBON FOR
Safety zones or deployment site. We generally mark them
It's a whole other world to inside a open cab Cat
I wish this had saved the granite mountain hotshots.
We’re good. Might of been last words. Not sure why u would been in the area when main fire heading your way . Lucky radiated heat did burn u guys
Seems like one of them would have thought to burn out around themselves before the main front got there. Someone should have used that torch. It wasn't even prepared to light, though they had plenty of time to see what was coming. "This is nothing"....
Chip Brocious what does it mean to "burn out around the fire" and how does it help?
to deliberately start a fire to "burn out" the surrounding fuels - burn things in a "controlled" way vs waiting for a firestorm. From the fuel load and all the surrounding tall trees, I guess they decided to use their time to make a bigger safety zone.
Chip Brocious He considered it, but was worried his fire would make a draft and draw the main fire closer, quicker.
The ground in that safety zone didn't need burning out. They had the advantage of a dozer to scratch the earth.
Dozer. Two dead men without it.
No one should be risking their life in this kind of situation. Your life is not worth saving a few acres of land
It's not only land. If we don't stop it when we can it'll come out of the bush bigger and meaner gunning for somthing we really care about. Think if this was along the edge of a suburb and ember attacking a subdivision.
I would be filling my pants right about now ! Should have pushed that ford into the fire would have helped it's resale value ! 😁👍
Avoidable, head for day light and don't stop , , standing waiting for orders gets you cooked alive