Twisp Fire Fatalities Overview (updated)

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
  • To view the Twisp River Fire Fatalities report, visit: lessons.wildfi... to download a pdf version.
    Updated Version

ความคิดเห็น • 120

  • @timengland2475
    @timengland2475 6 ปีที่แล้ว +77

    To build a learning culture you need to stop punishing firefighters for pointing out safety issues. I have been demobed from a fire for pointing out to the division commander (in private 1on1 conversations) the safety lapses i have witnessed. From dozer collisions with parked vehicles to abnormally bad road conditions on a very long escape route and oncoming traffic and broke down vehicles on the same (one way) escape route. And that is a small list. I was labeled a bad boy and demobed from the fire. I now refuse to work with that man because it is just a matter of time before he kills someone. I learned my lesson and now keep my mouth shut and protect myself and my crew.

    • @brokendown63
      @brokendown63 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Tim are you a crew boss?

    • @timengland2475
      @timengland2475 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      brokendown63, yes. I am an engine boss. Why?

    • @brokendown63
      @brokendown63 6 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      After reading the last line of your post I kinda figured is all. I'm a long retired Helitack crew member and that "protect myself and my crew" statement kinda hit home. My last fire was in 88 and back then we weren't a crew we were a family, and we watched out for each other like a family, overhead be damned! You do the best you can to bring your people home Tim we're losing way too many to stupid mistakes and poor leadership! Be safe man!

    • @OmmerSyssel
      @OmmerSyssel 6 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Tim England Certain people block important critic despite obvious failures.
      In our national training facility two men died bcs of desastrous decisions made by the local "heroic" hardcore instructor..
      He was finally dismissed & another kind of modern learning culture finally came in.
      Open communication along with respect for basic skills is mandatory.
      Some leaders tends to develop alternative procedures & see them self as unquestionable heroes..
      They are often dangerous to their employees & colleagues
      You can't trust anyone than yourself in such environment. Stay safe 🍻

    • @timengland2475
      @timengland2475 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @Joseph Bloe I know, right! thank you, i will friend.

  • @schlooonginator1227
    @schlooonginator1227 5 ปีที่แล้ว +33

    I am just someone fascinated with the subject and have zero involvement with wildland fire fighting.
    I have watched nearly every case study video and there are obvious themes I have learned.
    Number 1 is most fatalities and deployment situations are due to a severe change in wind direction and behavior.
    Number 2 is bad safety planning due to a presumption of the fire behaving as it is continually.
    Number 3 Is this bad plan is usually having resources seperated from the safety zome by fuel and or terrain that makes retreating difficult.
    As soon as I saw that long serpentine road to the safety zone, all of which is fuel, I knew where this was going.

    • @rossdunn2519
      @rossdunn2519 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      That long Serpentine road is is less than 1/8 of a mile.

    • @eliturner3499
      @eliturner3499 4 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      @@rossdunn2519 But also upslope of dense fuel and with three hairpin turns. I used to live up a road like this, and it makes for a TERRIBLE escape route.

    • @colinwatt00
      @colinwatt00 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I too have recently become interested in these case study videos and I too have started to pick-up on those same key themes you identified. Kudos to you for succinctly describing them.

    • @dylantaylor5829
      @dylantaylor5829 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Yeah they give us an incident response pocket guide and whenever stuff like this happens you can identify the rules broken or poor decisions made that caused problems.

  • @warplotus
    @warplotus ปีที่แล้ว +2

    as a burn survivor of a house fire when I was a baby, I have always respected all firefighters of all types. from the pilots and dozer operators all the way to the smokejumpers and line peeps.
    thank you all.

  • @KnittingPasta
    @KnittingPasta 4 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    I really like the special trucks that the Australian wildfire fighters use. They have external sprinklers to wet the truck exterior, and thick fire resistant curtains for the windows.

    • @eliturner3499
      @eliturner3499 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      They also almost never use handcrews, apparently.

    • @josephastier7421
      @josephastier7421 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@eliturner3499 Can you imagine trying to cut line in a eucalyptus forest?

    • @eliturner3499
      @eliturner3499 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@josephastier7421 I don't see how that would be any different than cutting line in any other forest.

    • @josephastier7421
      @josephastier7421 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@eliturner3499 th-cam.com/video/F3dPlVvkIZ8/w-d-xo.html

    • @eliturner3499
      @eliturner3499 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@josephastier7421 That's not remotely unique to eucalyptus or even Australia. Any crowning like that or even any decent run is going to jump hand line.

  • @AdamSmith-uv6kr
    @AdamSmith-uv6kr 4 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    To those families and firemen that live this life and those lost I envy and give you my highest respect. If anything ever happens at my home please save my family but put your lives before my things. My property can burn to the ground and be rebuilt but your lives can not be replaced.

  • @melissabacinskigreene8082
    @melissabacinskigreene8082 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I JUST LOST A BELOVED AND BEAUTIFUL SISTER IN LAW ,WIFE OF MY BROTHER A VOLUNTEER FIRE FIGHTER IN WYOMING TO THE LOUIS LAMOUR FIRE WHILE SHE WAS TRYING TO EVACUATE WITH THEIR PETS! UPON RUNNING INTO A FIRE FRONT BLOCKING HER ESCAPE SHE TRIED TO TURN BACK TO HER HOUSE AND OR A POSSIBLE SAFETY ZONE AND WITH WINDS GUSTING OVER 100 MILES AN HOUR COULDN'T ESCAPE! WE ARE ALL VERY HEARTBROKEN AND AS WELL AS THE FIREFIGHTING' COMMUNITY AND FIRST RESPONDERS THAT WERE ALSO FAMILY! 🙏🏼

    • @Cognitoman
      @Cognitoman หลายเดือนก่อน

      Sorry to hear that

  • @1stLtDavis
    @1stLtDavis 6 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    Yeah I’d sure appreciate a firefighter coming in to save my arse, but if I’m outside let’s just watch my house burn. No reason that guy should die for my stuff. That’s what insurance is for.

  • @Kyleromancito
    @Kyleromancito 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Damn !!!!!!! I was ther with my Zuni NM crew !!! Remember that day very well .

  • @diggergeensen860
    @diggergeensen860 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Excellent job making this video! Im not sure what is done differently up here in Canada, but we have some big ass fires up here in British Columbia, and there just isn’t the same history of so many lives being lost over the years? I guess it must be the lesser populated areas. Not nearly as much urban interface to deal with. What’s been changing lately, is we’re seeing more fires begin to encroach on cities up here. My home town of Williams Lake almost burnt up just last week. Thankfully, we have a regional tanker base at our local airport, and the air attack crew did an incredible job holding the fire into the river valley it swept through. The winds somehow went from an outright storm that was blowing for trees over, to no wind at all, just at the moment of truth. I believe god intervened and helped the firefighters save our city! RIP to all the heroes lost over the years. I hope one day the technology allows for a time when we’re seeing zero deaths on wild land fire fights!

  • @ArizonaSlots94
    @ArizonaSlots94 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks for your service brothers and sisters. Rest In Peace. ✝️✝️✝️

  • @kittygonzalez2827
    @kittygonzalez2827 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    It should always be life THEN Property 🔥

  • @casper8671
    @casper8671 6 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    Funny everyone watched the video but no one listened.
    Failure to communicate effectively between agencies was the main reason. They neglected to relay the weather forecast of the predicted weather change which turned out to be accurate.

    • @sparrowsparrow8223
      @sparrowsparrow8223 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      casper8671 take me through that again

    • @brokendown63
      @brokendown63 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      Casper8671, Exactly! Situational awareness includes ALWAYS being aware of the most recent weather info. I also think the only assets to be placed on the right flank of that fire in an IA situation such as this should have been minimal and for evaluating structure protection only until the situation became more clear. The Dozer in particular, in my opinion shouldn't have been on the right flank at all. Bad idea.

    • @rossdunn2519
      @rossdunn2519 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      The information of a predicted wind shift at 1500 out of the West was given to every resource that came up on the right hand side of the fire.

    • @johnnyhorizon8368
      @johnnyhorizon8368 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      What happened in South Canyon 1994 happened here...will repeat itself...

  • @owenroper-iw1jt
    @owenroper-iw1jt 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Thanks for the briefing.
    I am always thinking what if.
    Where is safety? What is the risk? How intense can it burn? How much do I know of the situation?
    Always maintain board situational awareness, if you loose it go back to safety and rebuild your situational awareness.
    Never watch a video like this and think it can't happen to you. Some of the most experienced people in the world of fire have died when they have lost that situational awareness.

  • @TwoGuns1891
    @TwoGuns1891 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I work on an engine/pumper crew and I was in this very area the year prior...Carlton Complex

    • @Kyleromancito
      @Kyleromancito 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I was ther too Zuni crew .... respects to you bro .... still got my shirt I bought " firestorm, carlton complex"

    • @TwoGuns1891
      @TwoGuns1891 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@Kyleromancito 😎 Bro, my engine was Mountain Camel, out of Blackfeet Country. Bro, to tell you the truth that complex had a lot of natives but also the first time I/we felt some negativeness from our own people. The native crews from the Dakota’s, East of us Blackfeet’s, they would not tell us hello, how you doing and they camped with the other shade of skin which really doesn’t matter now. We even caught up with some on our way home but yea it was good one for me because that was my last sign off for engine boss. Native Lives Matter Bro we got to stick together one Nation bro✊🏽

  • @djmaxamp
    @djmaxamp 19 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Sad loss and have been through that area years after RIP

  • @kylealexander7024
    @kylealexander7024 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Having done almost all red card training this is scary af to hear. "The wind has shifted..."

  • @NJFireBuff
    @NJFireBuff 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    What really happened was that they were not where they were supposed to be and were trying to protect a fellow firefighters house. Not a single member had proper ppe or fire shelters.

    • @NJFireBuff
      @NJFireBuff 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @PainIsGood80 how do you think I found out

  • @wills1110
    @wills1110 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    What happened to the 2 engines that came down behind E642?

    • @Cthippo1
      @Cthippo1 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      They mase it to the safety zone without incisent. E642 ran off the road and the other two engines passed them on the way down, bit didn't see them due to the smoke.

  • @bbbushhh
    @bbbushhh 7 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I have to ask why they didn't tightline from the main road and the first switchback?.....getting assets above the fire is bad business....this is not criticism by the way....just an earnest question.

  • @horsebattery9243
    @horsebattery9243 ปีที่แล้ว

    One of the lessons must be to block new build property development in wildland areas. The houses they died protecting are recently built. Did the property developers think about the fire risk? Have they made a donation to the families of the fallen and injured?

  • @cannonball9478
    @cannonball9478 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    With fire behaviour becoming more unpredictable and the intensity and speed home owners need to clear fuel from their property?

    • @dylantaylor5829
      @dylantaylor5829 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      That is advisable yes.

    • @TheNickademas1
      @TheNickademas1 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Yet as someone who works for and with WUI. Most scoff when you tell them their pretty trees next to their house has to go or that you want them to take an extra 50 steps to go get their firewood. Or that maintaining their gutters and decks could save it. It’s a joke I tell them straight up we will not save this house we will skip it and it will burn if you don’t do the work before the fire plain and simple

  • @leesenger3094
    @leesenger3094 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I thought there was a can in the garage on that wire shelf🤷🏻‍♂️

  • @peggymcculley5718
    @peggymcculley5718 7 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    I have to come down on the side of lives before property. The stakes grow exponentially higher each year in our approach to managing wildfires as the consequences of climate change increasingly manifest themselves. Coupled with our irresistible urge to build homes at the edge of wildlands, we have the perfect storm for tragedy. I value the lives of residents and fire fighters above anyone's property, including my own. We hang banners to tell fire fighters how much we love them in the midst of a crisis. It's past time to honor them with the directive to protect life before property. Peggy Mc

    • @lindanwfirefighter4973
      @lindanwfirefighter4973 7 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      Peggy McCulley there is no such thing as climate change! It's a lie. We need to be aware of varying years of drought and wet! It is a normal pattern. To just randomly blame it on climate change serves no benefit!

    • @buckfuttler2877
      @buckfuttler2877 7 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      gee, your opinion, or 97% of scientists on earth....TOUGH choice......

    • @bobbertee5945
      @bobbertee5945 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      Believe in climate change, highly doubt its man made.....

    • @TheBrushcutter
      @TheBrushcutter 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      And the scientists are paid by whom?

    • @1stLtDavis
      @1stLtDavis 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      I’m old enough to remember what it was global cooling. Then global warming. Then climate change. Now it’s “climate change is complex”. They had to dump the warming bull for sure. Winters in the Midwest are getting colder and longer. Had blizzards in April this year. But even that’s not a first. Just take it as it comes.

  • @peterscherling9311
    @peterscherling9311 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    needs to pay better attention to wind direction and its changes! i got caught in a real bad fire too and was the last out as i saw a green tree explode with the heat coming up the hill! the road was on fire! the heat went up to 60k feet we lost 3 fire engines and it was as if the water fueled the fire! VERY dangerous! spot fires were starting all over the place down wind! it was insane to even try to fight that fire! 1993 i think near Mckall idaho! i was wearing the 1st infantry division combat patch lol in the national guard fighting the fire with the big red one out of ft cambel kentucky! lol none of us were preparred for such a thing but we ate good and did our best! looking back just let the fires burn lol

    • @rossproulx6998
      @rossproulx6998 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Peter Scherling the big red one isn't out of FT. Campbell.

  • @tony.bickert
    @tony.bickert 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    wind shift had been predicted. why was there surprise?

  • @kylealexander7024
    @kylealexander7024 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This is scary af. I hate fires in trees. Grass fires i can live through

    • @johnnyhorizon8368
      @johnnyhorizon8368 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      DUDE!!! REMEMBER ur Watch Out Situations!!! Most fatalities occur in light fuels!!!! NOT forested canopy cover!!!

    • @kylealexander7024
      @kylealexander7024 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Most deaths occur during wind change. 2-5 PM and the same in the AM. I do agree though. Always be aler for watch out situations

  • @peterscherling9311
    @peterscherling9311 7 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    sometimes the heat is so bad the tree trunk splits open like popcorn as the moister inside the tree boils its a hot fire when this is happening! stay away!

    • @dsmith377
      @dsmith377 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      ummm... yeah.... if that happens your probably in hell. aint no one gonna be that close when that starts to happen. unless you are a pile of ash.

    • @Cognitoman
      @Cognitoman 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@dsmith377 lol

  • @victor-th4qs
    @victor-th4qs ปีที่แล้ว

    That sound of fire. Making a run. Like a frieght train.

  • @jazzip
    @jazzip 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    After reading the fatality report my main take away was, there was a gross lack of communication. Also a lack of leadership each team acting independent of each other and no one was where they were suppose to be. For example the dozer team lead setup a line somewhere else than was agreed. Air support f@&k off for one hour to refuel and no one knew. Engine 642 was directed back into the fire after trying to escape the fire when the wind changed which lead to their demise apart from Jacob. In fact I believe Jacob’s actions lead to the death of the crew. He open the door to escape which left his crew exposed to heat and smoke. This whole thing was a mess.

    • @washedupwarvet2027
      @washedupwarvet2027 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Did you see what the truck looked like after the fire? No chance anyone is surviving that if they tried to stay inside and ride out the fire. Only way you survive is to get out and keep moving down that road. Rip to those guys. Sad and tragic but don’t blame the survivor you asshole

    • @jazzip
      @jazzip ปีที่แล้ว

      @@washedupwarvet2027 he got out and left everyone else behind. They were a team were they not? So why not plan an exit strategy for everyone to escape? 🙄come out of your feelings. We wouldn’t have a successful military if it was every man for himself.

    • @washedupwarvet2027
      @washedupwarvet2027 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@jazzip Of course they were a team but that has nothing to do with causing their deaths. The fire is what killed them, no chance they survive trying to ride out the fire in that truck. Maybe the didn't want to leave. maybe they already passed out. I don't know those details. But to put blame on the sole survivor who wasn't even driving is not right.

    • @washedupwarvet2027
      @washedupwarvet2027 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@jazzip also, I just saw the video of the surviving firefighter and he’s lucky to even be alive. His whole body and face is burned up. If he hesitated he’s dead. There’s no other option other then death there.

    • @user-nq5qc7jk1h
      @user-nq5qc7jk1h 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Blaming Jacob is despicable. You have no way of knowing what you are talking about. Trying to escape a burning vehicle is an utterly natural instinct. Shame on you.

  • @JurijFedorov
    @JurijFedorov 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    If they did the best they could with the knowledge they had then they definitely lacked training. I don't understand why the video just states this and then skips any logical conclusion to the statement.

  • @DrunkenGuitarGuy
    @DrunkenGuitarGuy ปีที่แล้ว

    website dead it seems, too bad!

    • @WildfirelessonsNet
      @WildfirelessonsNet  ปีที่แล้ว +1

      We updated it: lessons.wildfire.gov/incident/twisp-river-fire-entrapments-and-fatalities-2015

  • @peterscherling9311
    @peterscherling9311 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    its also possible to scoop the water out of the lake by the c130 fitted with a water tank as it flys over the water! needs video camera and two pilots one a spotter! and a swing hinge c shape pipe! you build a learning colture just as you are doing! fear and lazy fire fighters that care!

    • @allie2253
      @allie2253 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      you seem to have zero conception of the existence of the well equipped and professional aerial firefighters who do all of these 'brainstorm' ideas of yours full-time. maybe you should leave this to the pros

  • @donaldgray2128
    @donaldgray2128 7 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Their should always be a chopper on stand by for evacuation

  • @peterscherling9311
    @peterscherling9311 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    never fight a fire burning up the hill catch it as it burns down the hil over the top!

    • @theconvictedquokka
      @theconvictedquokka 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      In aus we burn from the bottom of the other side of the hill

    • @historyandstuff5794
      @historyandstuff5794 ปีที่แล้ว

      Man gulch fire killed 13 smokejumpers going down hill

  • @mnpd3
    @mnpd3 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    I can't pronounce "Twisp"; apparently having a lisp helps.

  • @johnmilner3030
    @johnmilner3030 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    failure was to drive down the road right into the fire. they should have gone up the road at full speed. perhaps they would be able to deploy then. sad. :(

    • @rogerwong5719
      @rogerwong5719 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      “...should have have gone up the road at full speed...deploy then...”
      Yeah - just like what NWR #6 thought at Thirty Mile in 2001? Not that intuitive...

    • @johnmilner3030
      @johnmilner3030 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@rogerwong5719 the two guys up the road obviously survived, so I don't get your point.

    • @rogerwong5719
      @rogerwong5719 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @John Milner it’s been a year since we commented on this. Were u able to read the 30 Mile Fatality Investigation or watch the WF Lessons Learned video?
      Basically in heading uphill, in both incidents u would be heading in the direction where fire is aligned with slope & wind...the 30 Mile crew did the same thing & found themselves running out of time...
      Additionally the 30 Mile crew found out too late that by heading uphill the road dead ended...their escape route was already compromised so they too had to head down river. And we know what happened then...
      E642 could not have known what was further uphill on the road. Dead end? Better to head downhill back thru ur pre-determined escape route.

    • @jazzip
      @jazzip 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@rogerwong5719 they were directed back downhill by Morgan. Unfortunately they did not know the terrain and ended up down an embankment. The only survivor was Jacob because he ditched his crew and escaped through a door which he left open allowing heat and smoke to compromise his crew.

    • @slackjawedyokel1
      @slackjawedyokel1 ปีที่แล้ว

      and sometimes the smoke makes driving out near impossible

  • @peterscherling9311
    @peterscherling9311 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    the airforce needs to have conversion kits made for there c130s! never hire private aircraft! its way to expencive! 6000 dollars an hour who would start the fire to fight it! use the military as much as possible! also the airports need to be fitted to pump water into the plains! 12 inch lines from the lakes! also the trees need lightning rods! place to place!

    • @mikel9567
      @mikel9567 7 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      And who do you think pays for those Air Force tankers? On top of that, planes need to be converted to fight wildfires. You don't just throw a tank into a cargo plane and call it a tanker. The engines need to be modified to handle the conditions. The fuel and fluid systems need to be upgraded among other modifications. Yes, the Air force uses its cargo planes in firefighting roles when available, but they are limited in how they can attack the fire. Also consider the fact that firefighting is not the responsibility of the Air Force, or any military branch, and therefore takes a back seat to combat missions.

    • @peterscherling9311
      @peterscherling9311 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      Mike L if possible if not let the fire burn!

    • @disguy2003
      @disguy2003 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Peter Scherling such an expert. Sure nobody thought of this. Mensa should induct you immediately!

    • @phaseadept78
      @phaseadept78 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I’m guessing this person has never seen what happens when lightning strikes a lightning rod