San Francisco Chronicle

Agencies blamed for hampering fire crew

- By Michael Cabanatuan

A lack of communicat­ion and coordinati­on, coupled with a rivalry between state and federal fire agencies, left members of a firefighti­ng crew in last summer’s Mendocino Complex Fire trapped and then running for their lives, according to a report on last summer’s conflagrat­ion, the largest in the state’s history.

The report paints a chaotic scene deep in the Mendocino National Forest, three weeks into the fire when 22 firefighte­rs were surrounded by flames after the wind shifted as they burned off vegetation to help stop the fire’s spread. Most of the firefighte­rs were able to get to their vehicles and flee, but six were forced to run through an unburned area for a mile before they were picked up.

Some tripped, fell or were caught up on debris as they ran from approachin­g flames through thick smoke that turned the daytime skies dark as night. At least one thought they wouldn’t make it out alive, the report said.

“Man, this is where we are going to die,” the unidentifi­ed firefighte­r is quoted as telling investigat­ors. “This is how it ends.

We are going to be vaporized.”

None of the firefighte­rs in the Aug. 19 incident was killed, but the six who had to run for their lives were injured.

The report released Friday by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the U.S. Forest Service and the Los Angeles Fire Department, focused on what happened that day because the firefighte­rs’ lives were endangered.

Firefighte­rs on the ground, in the air and in command centers described several hours of pandemoniu­m that began when they were sent from a base camp in Ukiah into a remote area to set controlled burns. They said they were hampered by poor radio communicat­ion, long drives and general confusion about their strategy and mission.

“What are we doing? Why are we burning? What are our escape routes? I have a really bad feeling. This is not good,” the report quotes several firefighte­rs as thinking.

Confused and choking on thick smoke, the 22 firefighte­rs from the Los Angeles department and Cal Fire were forced to flee when the winds shifted and flames shot up around them. Two of the six injured firefighte­rs were taken by helicopter to hospitals — one for a shoulder injury, the other for burns. Four were admitted to hospitals for less severe burns. They were treated and released.

The incident occurred as the Mendocino Complex, made up of two fires in Lake County, grew to about 384,568 acres combined in their third week. At the same time, the Carr and Ferguson fires were burning in other parts of Northern California, leaving resources limited.

With firefighti­ng ranks thinned, Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service had earlier decided to break from tradition and jointly manage the Mendocino Complex firefight. But the plan didn’t always go well, the report concluded.

“The Cal Fire-Fed rivalry was evident on this fire, and I believe it was a detriment to the operationa­l tempo and production,” one firefighte­r said.

Investigat­ors blamed neither agency, but said the conflicts created inconsiste­nt communicat­ion, added unnecessar­y bureaucrac­y and duplicated efforts, hampering firefighti­ng efforts and endangerin­g firefighte­rs. The overall effort to stop the Mendocino Complex Fire, which erupted in late July and wasn’t fully contained until mid-September, was complicate­d by dead spots that made radio communicat­ion impossible.

Long drives by firefighte­rs and inconsiste­nt directions as well as logistical difficulti­es presented by as many as 4,000 firefighte­rs from dozens of different agencies led to confusion and poor communicat­ion, the 34-page report said.

Several firefighte­rs were critical of decisions made in the Aug. 19 incident but were afraid to speak up at the time out of a fear of reprisal, or of looking foolish or offending their supervisor­s, the report said.

The Mendocino Complex Fire eventually consumed 459,123 acres and 280 structures. A Utah firefighte­r died when he was hit by a tree knocked over by a heavy load of flame retardant dropped from a plane.

The firefighti­ng effort drew from 34 different agencies, including fire and law enforcemen­t department­s and utilities, the report said.

Neither the U.S. Forest Service nor Cal Fire commented on the report’s findings.

 ?? Noah Berger / Associated Press 2018 ?? Firefighte­rs monitor a backfire while battling the Mendocino Complex Fire in August. The actions of state and federal agencies hindered efforts to fight the blazes, a report says.
Noah Berger / Associated Press 2018 Firefighte­rs monitor a backfire while battling the Mendocino Complex Fire in August. The actions of state and federal agencies hindered efforts to fight the blazes, a report says.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States