Fireline Safety Class
Every spring we see the appearance of wildflowers on the hills, and the return of buzzards to our skies. Those of us who are fire season contractors with Calfire and the Forest Service also have a rites of spring event. We get to sit through an annual refresher course. Since this will be my 12th season as a vendor for “Type I Pickup with Driver” I’ve been through this information class 11 times before. Even as much as it seems a little boring, I always pick up something of use.
The California State Fire Marshall’s office deems it mandatory for those of us who want to be employed for service on fires, to annually be reminded of the many different aspects and dangers of our job. Every spring someone with the experience necessary to teach the class, sometimes an employee of Calfire or USFS, coordinates with the Fire Marshall as an approved instructor, finds a venue, and presents the eight-hour class. This has to be done several times to meet the needs of the large number of contractors. After sitting through the class each year, we’re awarded a “Fire Card” with our name on it, dated and signed by our instructor. Without that card for the current year, we won’t be allowed on a fire. It’s deemed that serious.
The National Wildfire Coordinating Group publishes a pocket-sized reference booklet called the Incident Response Pocket Guide. So many things around the fire service are called by their acronym, it’s better known as an IRPG. The current cover is a deep purple, preceded by an orange cover. When the IRPG is updated with new or updated information, the color of the cover is changed so it’s easy to know you have the latest version.
This amazing book has a wealth of information, each section color-coded for ease in finding. These range from Operational Engagement (green pages), Specific Hazards (gray pages), All Hazard Response (yellow pages), Aviation (blue pages), Other References (white pages), and finally to Emergency Medical Care, (red pages).
As an example, under Emergency Medical Care, there’s information on the Accepted Guidelines, Patient Assessment, Specific Treatments, CPR, Heat-related Injury, Burn Injuries, Multi-casualty Triage System, Injury/ Fatality Procedures, Helicopter Extraction Operation, and the Medical Incident Report.
Inside the front cover is a list of the points to cover in an initial size up report given to others. Under the back cover is a briefing checklist, a more complete list of subjects to report the fire situation to troops under your control.
On the back cover, we find the 10 Standard Firefighting Orders, as well as the 18 Watch Out Situations. These are more commonly referred to as the Tens and Eighteens. These are drilled into the heads of the young firefighters during their early training. The “nubies” are often asked to repeat them on a moment’s notice. Failure to properly recite them may even result in push-ups or other forms of punishment.
The Tens and Eighteens have also been summarized into one short mnemonic, LCES, which stands for Lookout, Communication, Escape, and Safety.
To properly practice LCES, especially when on the fireline itself, as firefighters are attempting to control or put out the fire, it’s vital to post one person as a lookout. This is someone who doesn’t watch the fire nearby, but is looking up and around, watching the bigger picture for developing problems which would endanger the crew.
That lookout needs to have established communications, either by radio or being close enough to shout to the crew, who are busy concentrating on the fire. Every person in the crew needs to know, and have knowledge of their escape route, especially when they work beside the flames. And finally, every crew needs to know where to find their safety zone. If fire conditions deteriorate, and the lookout communicates a danger to the crew, everyone should know what route they will follow to get to the safety zone. Practicing LCES is vital to surviving on the line.
A class size of 40 seems to be the most effective number of contractors in each annual class session. The Tulare County Health Department gave permission to hold a gathering of this size, but only if we all wore masks all day. We also had to disinfect each practice fire shelter between use.
Every year, the last thing we do in the daylong class is to practice deploying a fire shelter, while being observed and timed by the instructor.
This year we were given 60 seconds to properly deploy. We have to pull the practice shelter out of the hard plastic case, unwrap it from the clear plastic case with Velcro zippers, grab the handles of the shelter and shake it out, step into it, and fall forward, face down on the ground, “feet to the heat,” or with our boots toward the approaching fire.
When we’re in the shelter, we have to hold it tight to the ground using both arms and feet. In a real burn-over situation, we can expect hard, gusty winds, along with the roaring heat of the passing fire. If we don’t hold the shelter tight to the ground, the heat could easily be fatal.
The back, buttocks, legs and feet will almost certainly suffer some burns. However, if the airway is protected by keeping the mouth close to the ground, where the air isn’t as hot, it’s quite possible to survive. The body burns are survivable, though will certainly be uncomfortable. However, one breath of the hot air outside the shelter will sear the throat and lungs, and lead to immediate suffocation.
There are many instances of surviving burn-overs by properly deploying the shelters, then staying under them until the fire passes over. This may be anything from a few minutes, to as long as an hour. The material of the shelter reflects much of the radiant energy of the nearby blaze. Inside the shelter the heat will surely be intense, but not nearly as severe as outside.
As drivers, or runners as we’re sometimes called, our Ground Support Unit Leader will often take time to give a brief safety lecture. One morning my GSUL, a woman known for being gruff and often loud, asked her assembled drivers, “Everybody have an IRPG in your pocket? Let me see ‘em. Hold ‘em up.” When only about a third of us could display one, she roared, “Where are they? You’re supposed to carry ‘em. If you’ve got one in your truck, go get it.”
Drivers scrambled for the door. When we reassembled, she said, “OK, hold ‘em up.” She looked around the room. “Nope. Green’s the wrong color. That’s the old one. You should have an Orange one.”
Nobody had the right version. I explained at my Fireline Safety Class earlier that spring, we were told, “There’s a new one out, but the old ones are just fine. They’ll work OK. Not much was changed.” She was most unhappy about that, explaining though the differences were slight, some were important, and we needed the new copy.
The next morning, she walked into morning safety lecture carrying an armload of new, orange IRPGS. She may have been gruff, but she took care of her drivers.